Reviews : Albums : Victor Bravo, "Shut Out the Sky"

What we've got here is a self proclaimed punk-rock garage band from the East Coast's capital of weirdness, New York City, and this is a short EP of four songs. Collin does the guitars and vocals, Dan's on the drums, and for purposes of these recording, the producer Scott Mason played the bass (they've since picked up a permanent bass player in Dani).

My very first thought upon listening to this was that the MC5 influence is still percolating through the musical sub consciousness of punk. Maybe not MC5's music, exactly... they were still a sixties band at heart... but certainly their "fuck it all" attitude that served them, and so many punk bands, so well. The songs on the Shut Out the Sky EP are straight forward, catchy, and Collin has a distinctive voice that again reminds me of both late-sixties garage rock bands and mid-seventies punk. Remember when the Ramones did an album of sixties cover songs?

It's always interesting to hear what people are coming up with, how they're taking their influences and molding new music out of it. "Toxic Tornado" is probably my favorite song on here with a bouncy vocal melody, and Collin does a good job of snarling out the words. Not bad at all for a punk-rock garage band that has its roots in Maine and Indiana and is alive and well and kicking ass in New York, NY. Keep it up, guys and gal, only good things can happen from here on out.

S.Gregory