Actually, this should’ve been the Obelisk Radio’s Add of the Week for last week, since that’s when it went up and joined the playlist, but with all the server fuckery on the hosting company’s end and technical whathaveyou, I figured probably best to hold off highlighting it until there was a chance it might actually come up in the selection. As we seem to be back up and running, it’s a good time to point out the new Live in the Jam Room 2012 self-released EP from UK five-piece Smoke Pilot and all its dual-guitar riffing.

Back in the fall, I did a Buried Treasure post on the band Medamaki and their Warbird release. Smoke Pilot is all the same dudes (you might also notice it’s the same picture), just with a new name. The songwriting ethic seems also not to have changed much, and that works well for the four tracks on the Live in the Jam Room 2012 EP, the guitars of Rich Wright and Sean Bindy Philips leading the charge while the guttural-but-not-amelodic vocals of Max Ward add burl atop the fervent grooving. A strong bass performance from Shaun Webb and rocking sway in Paul Ford‘s drums makes the short offering a winner that should have no trouble finding friends amongst the heavy converted.

As the band lost some time prior to the name change, I’m hoping a full-length isn’t far behind the EP, as I’d be interested to hear how they develop their ideas over the course of a whole album. In the meantime though, Smoke Pilot‘s live EP engages in cask-ale fashion with inviting nod and little to distract it from the all-important business of rocking faces and a quality of recording that puts it well above most jam room demos. They’ve made it available as a pay-what-you-will download through the Smoke Pilot Bandcamp page, and here’s the stream as well to check out:

Tags: Evesham, Medamaki, Radio, Smoke Pilot, The Obelisk Radio, UK, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.