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Bar &
Grill
Southbound
Records 1998
The
album Bar & Grill was a 1999 Los Angeles Music Awards
“Outstanding Independent Rock Album” nominee, and The
Regulators were also chosen by respected Music Connection
Magazine as one of the year-ending “1999 Top 100 Hottest
Unsigned Artists” winners. “My brother said we were the
dying’ breed” goes the line in “Money, Pride &
Greed”, 2nd track on The Regulators’ Bar & Grill on
Southbound Records. One glance at the press photo, and you
know exactly the preferred decade and who the dying breed
are, or at least you thought they were a dying breed... The
Regulators are a nostalgic image of the legendary Lynyrd
Skynyrd, and though some of their material is even
reminiscent of such bands as Molly Hatchet or Poison, you
could never (or would never want to) accuse them of being
posers!
Standouts include: 1st track “Breakin’ Out” ,
which is a burst of ambient duo guitar shredding - deep
southern-style rock and roll, 2nd track, “Money, Pride
& Greed” is equally as powerful with added harmonious
back vocals, truly superb bass lines (Randy Smith), and a
Great White resin in the break of the song. A (Head East
meets Aerosmith) “Eatin’ Crow” comes next before 4th
track, “The Real Deal” kicks in with the gift of Chris
Turbis’ rich piano offerings. Track 5, “Burn Them
Bridges Down” arrives as, perhaps a peak in the album, and
introduces the band’s Poison tendencies, especially in the
song structure and lead vocal - catchy chorus line.
Diversity is most represented in songs like the 6th track,
“The Fire” where vocals are the strong-point, supported
by a solid groove that comes with lots of guitar and a great
underlining bass structure. Also the 36 second “Mapleleaf
Rag” by S. Joplin is a great intermission right before “My
Bags Are Packed” , which is just short of being a huge “rip-off”
of Skynyrd’s “What’s Your Name” from Street
Survivors! But like I read somewhere, I have to agree that
the song absolutely rocks, and the keyboard playing by Chris
Turbis is sooo! good you just have to let it go. “Lies”
comes before the end, another song that hints at Poison,
again in the song structure and vocal. Throughout ‘Bar
& Grill’, it is evident that any southern-rock
enthusiast would love this band and their release - it is an
honest down-home southern masterpiece of good ol’ boys,
whiskey, dueling guitars and a strong sense of brotherhood
between them, as also witnessed in the tribute song to Jimi
Hughes (lost band member), “Sweet Sustain” - it ends the
album perfectly with a southern spirit soaring high and
slowly off into the sunset....
G. Cataline
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