Black Gasoline :: She Gave Us Magic

I don’t know what they are growing in those plains of Kansas, but mix it with the Blue Collar work ethic of the Aerospace industry, throw in some early BLACK SABBATH, some MONSTER MAGNET and some BLUE CHEER, put it in a corn cob pipe and smoke it. Oh yea, what does the singer sound like? Well, if David Lee Roth and Jim Dandy had a shouting contest, the first one to lose their voice is out and the winner sings for BLACK GASOLINE, hoarse and all. Now you get the picture? What we’ve got here is 50 minutes of loud, groove-laden, bluesy stoner rock called ‘She Gave Us Magic’. The band is of course BLACK GASOLINE, a Wichita based quintet. This is not clean cut conservative rock from Kansas. No, these guys get down and dirty, while adding muscle to their boogie. The band is made up of Scott Baddhart, who plays badass bass, soulful singer Bobby Comfort, along with drummer Kendall Newby and Mr.Tone Paul Deceglie on guitar, while keyboardist/guitarist Lovell Hackman adds that extra perfect touch to the band’s sound. Oh brother what art a sound it is. The CD seems to have a unique intro to every song, sometimes the songs start one right after the other. Check out the very first intro to “All Night”, a high energy rocker that kicks the CD off in the right damn way. Listen for the wah + fuzz = badassolo from Paul. Listen for drummer Kendall’s lead foot stomping drum beat and cowbell kicking off “Dirty White T-Shirt” while he channels Keith Moon with his drum fill. It’s songs like “Castor Oil and Marmelade” along with “Sattellite Girl” that you really hear the David Lee Roth in the husky voice of frontman Bobby. All this is wrapped around the low end, Geezer Butler like bass playing of Scott that drives these songs. Songs that include the six minutes opuses ‘A Ghost Is The Highway” and the final track ‘The Boy Who Destroyed The World”. The CD is almost split in half by the groove laden instrumental called, “Transmission Interlude”. This CD takes us on one hell of a ride. The only question is, what did Wichita, Kansas give us? “She gave us magic” and BLACK GASOLINE, will put a spell on you.