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Double Back premiered December 16, 2011 at Birmingham, Alabama’s Sidewalk Moving Pictures Film Festival.  Sidewalk festival entries are screened at nine venues located within Birmingham’s historic Theatre District, including the newly restored Albama Theatre, a 2,200 seat movie palace built by Paramount in 1927.

“Little Cisco” was written, performed and produced by Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen, and is track #2 on The Reds® album, Fugitives From The Laughing House.

Peloton was the Official Selection of the 2011, Heartland Film Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, and the Lucerne International Film Festival. To learn more about film click on . . . VIEW TRAILER . . . and CAST.

“Dark As Night” was written, performed and produced by Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen, and is track #8 on The Reds® album, Fugitives From The Laughing House.

STOLI & BRUCE COHEN TAKE IT BACK TO ‘TWO BC’

My guest today is well known as one half of the famous band, The Reds®. Well as we are going to see today there is a lot more to Bruce Cohen. Bruce was gracious enough to take time away from a beautiful day in Miami, FL to talk all about his new album, ‘Two BC.’ It has been about two years since Bruce released the first edition ‘One BC.’ I am thrilled to talk with an authentic musician who has no choice but to do music. Bruce Cohen talks about the new album, The Reds®, juggling various bands/projects, and so much more!

Stoli: Where are we talking from today, and will you miss summertime now that fall is here?
Bruce Cohen: Right now I live in Miami, Florida, where there are no seasons. Maybe, around November/December, it will get down to a bone chilling 70 degrees. Love it!

Stoli: Would you say the cold or warm weather effects your ambition to write music, or does it not matter?
BC: Miami is always warm, so it really doesn’t matter.

Stoli: This is your second edition of ‘Two BC.’ How did you know this was the right time for the album, and how long have you been writing songs for this album?
BC: I’m always writing and recording ideas or songs. One BC was released a couple of years ago and it felt like a new edition was in order. So I went through my library of songs I’ve recorded over the years, and with my manager, Theresa (Marchione), came up with the final songs for Two BC.

Stoli: What differences is there between ‘One BC’ and ‘Two BC’?
BC: One BC was really an experiment to see what I could do with an all instrumental album. With Two BC everything came faster to me, and was easier to record, I guess because of One BC Two is a little harder and bigger sounding, more spacial, and can get your feet moving at the same time. It really expanded from what I did on One and took it even further. I even got into some heavy Dub with the song “In Limbo,” and fooled around with some “treated guitar” sounds on “Thumpalina” and “You Think.” And, I have a lot more percussion on the track “Puzzle Piece.” Two BC is definitely a progression from One BC.

Stoli: Did Rick Shaffer from The Reds® contribute at all to this new album, and did you miss his input and guitar skills?
BC: Well the whole concept was to make an instrumental album without any guitars, just all keyboards along with bass and drums. Rick would listen to the final versions and give pointers production wise, like suggesting making the bass deeper, or keyboard louder.

Stoli: You are world renowned for your skills on the keyboard. At what age did you learn to play, and what brand equipment do you use?
BC: Thanks for that compliment. When I was seven, out of the clear blue sky, I told my parents I wanted to play the accordion. Don’t ask why, I just did. Then when I was about fourteen, I heard Gimme Some Lovin’ by Spencer Davis and knew I had to switch to organ. The sound that Winwood got out of that Hammond organ changed everything for me. The next time I felt like that was when I heard Eno on the first Roxy Music album. So I combine the two sounds that influenced me the most. I play mainly a Hammond XK-1, along with a old 05R/W Korg module, plus a mess of VST plug-ins which include mellotron’s, Farfisa and Vox organs, and synths galore.

Stoli: I love your song “Martian River.” What is the meaning and inspiration behind that tune?
BC: That’s one of my favorites on the album. When I write I always think of a movie, be it real or imaginary. I saw on the news that scientists think they may have discovered a lake or river on Mars. Well that got me thinking. What if some Astronauts were on Mars and were sailing down that river. Then I thought of “Apocalypse, Now!” and how Kurtz was at the end of the river, but this time on Mars. So it became, Apocalypse, Mars!.

Stoli: Through Tarock Music you are truly in charge of your own musical destiny. How important is it that you control your music, and everything from production, distribution, and marketing?
BC: The only control I like having is the writing and recording of the projects. Once it’s all done and I’m happy with the results it doesn’t matter to me what happens next. If someone decides they want to use a track in a film or TV show, once they license it, you have no control of what they do with it. You do have the control though to say yes, or no, to a project. So that’s cool. As far as marketing, distribution, and promotion that’s all in the trusting hands of Theresa.

Stoli: You have The Reds®, Big Fun 3, and your solo work. How do you balance everything, and could you see yourself doing anything besides music?
BC: It’s too late for me to do anything besides music. Ha! It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds to balance everything. The Reds® is mainly a recording project now, and it could be years between albums. Big Fun 3 never rehearses, we just show up at the gig and play. Total improvisation. Even the first album was total improv on the spot, not rehearsed. On my solo projects I work at home on a computer, then when it’s all ready, I go into the studio. I can take as much time as I want on the solo stuff. So it all works out.

Stoli: As a big Reds fan, can I ask if and when a new album or single will be out?
BC: When Rick and I feel it’s time we’ll do a new Reds album. Meanwhile we both put out solo albums for now, but I’m sure we’ll get the itch to record together again. When? Who knows? What you should do in the meantime, if you can, play Rick’s solo CD’s and my solo CD’s together at the same time and there you go, a Reds album. Hey maybe someone can do a Danger Mouse, and mix the music from both CD’s into one crazy CD. Hmmmm . . . are you listening Danger Mouse?

Stoli: What is coming up for Bruce Cohen and where can we find you online?
BC: A new Big Fun 3 CD will be coming out in the near future comprised of live concert performances, and to find BF3 on-line go to reverbnation.com/bigfun3, or ropeadope.com. For anything related to The Reds®, Rick Shaffer, and Bruce Cohen, go to TarockMusic.com. Thanks for a great interview, Stoli.

The Stronger Silence and Fatal Slide albums, by The Reds®, are now available on CD Baby to buy 89¢ mp3′s, or get one song free when you buy an entire album.  Or, purchase on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic, or MOG.  To buy now, click on the album’s title . . . . STRONGER SILENCE . . . . FATAL SLIDE

Tarock Music has released Two BC, a new solo album by Bruce Cohen. The album is the second installment of instrumental tracks by The Reds® innovative keyboard player.

Two BC takes over where One BC left off, expanding on themes first explored, yet more experimental, and danceable. From spacial, lush, ambient soundscapes, to metal, space funk − every track gets the special Bruce Cohen treatment.

To read the Two BC liner notes, and listen to the album’s third track, Funky Gojira, click HERE

Johnny Lee Hooker once said: “The Blues had a child and that child was Rock N’ Roll.” And it is no secret that the success that British Invasion era bands enjoyed stateside was due in large part to their obsession with the Blues. The Yardbirds did it. The Rolling Stones did it. Zeppelin even did it. The melding of period British pop with Blues not only created an appeal to American fans, but it gave birth to a sound that seemed almost obvious and appropriate. But the trend of lacing Rock and Blues continues even today . . . John Spencer is doing it. The Black Keys are doing it and The White Stripes is nothing more than deconstructed Blues. But the front-running torchbearer of the 60s garage Rock and Blues amalgam has to be former Reds guitarist Rick Shaffer. When I spoke to Rick, the interview was one part Q&A, another part music history lesson on the benefits of “vintage,” why he obsesses over the Blues and the merits of making albums the old-fashioned way.

“I think for me there is just a purity to those records and their production style,” Rick said of his Blues influences. “I think a lot of newer acts that I see everything is so thought out it and there isn’t any reckless abandon to it. I just think the old production style of the Sun Records and Excello stuff that I like, the music just holds up and there’s a lot to it in both the performance and the production.”

The foundation of Rick’s commitment to vintage began in his teens at shows the likes of Muddy Waters and Magic Sam. “Getting in to these places to see these guys, and the fact that they were accessible,” he said. “You know, you could go up and talk with them and ask them stuff, they were just larger than life to me. They always had great outfits and great suits and they were just really dynamic performers. The way they did their shows and the set pace everything just kept moving and it had this sense of urgency to it.”

And it is that “sense of urgency” that Rick has successfully brought from ago to current. When asked if he worried whether his sound would translate to the contemporary, he eschewed the notion saying: “I stopped caring about that stuff. Even with The Reds stuff, we never really worried about what people thought about it. We didn’t ‘follow the program’ and try to produce hits. All this stuff is all subjective. I mean you take somebody like The Black Keys, what are they doing? Today people seem to think it’s phenomenal and I think their very good at what they do and I like the way they present their music. But that’s neither here nor there to me.”

So whether it translates or not, Rick’s focus is bringing the song in his head to his records in a manner of fair representation which has led him to take the reins of every facet of the record making process. And the process that he feels presents his songs best is in the same vein that the vintage records he admires were made. “Having done it both ways, I just prefer this,” he said. “And I prefer producing the stuff myself because I know the sound I have in my head that I want that I don’t have to translate to a producer or an engineer.”

The latest fruits of Rick’s labors lie with Hidden Charms, the follow-up to last year’s release Necessary Illusion. Being much in the vein of its predecessor, Charms boasts another 10-track full length of Rick’s guitar magic—prototypical 60s garage fuzz, Blues riff work and the raw and organic ethos that has become synonymous with his sound. “From a production standpoint what I wanted to do was a harder sounding record and try to better some of the things I did on Necessary Illusion,” Rick said. “Things like the songwriting, the production and the style part of it . . . I really wanted to bring more of the garage element, like the fuzz, to it but also keep the groove part of it.”

The focus on the garage aspect comes through with prominence on tracks like album opener “No Big Thing.” The distorted fuzz serves as a constant backbone over bent-note Blues fills while Rick channels early Jagger in the vocal delivery. Tambourine and shakers serve as the minimal percussion section and in his signature style; the entire track is stripped down to the barest of elements allowing all the facets to shine with equal merit. “Nobody Home” continues the fuzz, which sits just below the vocals in a constant distorted growl. The track also illustrates another of Rick’s signature elements—dual guitar interplay. The drone and finger picking mingle back and forth with the fuzz almost serving as a second time-keeping bass line with intermittent blasts of Blues lead. “Cruel World” boasts slick slide work and bent-note riff work that almost sounds at times like pedal steel. The midpoint slide solo is simply dirty. “Gonna Shout” is arguably the height of the fuzz from the opening notes straight through. There is nary one “clean” note to be found on the track and by its end the guitar sounds to be begging for mercy. Rounding out Charms is the down tempo trudge of “The Stranger.” Again, Rick sings in the range of a young Jagger as the track plods along over the Blues-laden guitar work. The midpoint guitar solo wails and continues through in occasional fills through the last verse on to the outro.

Once again, Rick has offered up another installment of his Blues/garage melding that shines with raw, gritty, organic power. It is borderline overwhelming the vast amount of soundscapes he is able to produce with a simple stripped-down rig and a head full of fuzz melodies and Blues sentimentality. But Rick is simply playing to his strengths, building on what he has down, all the while continuing to give that nod to those that came before him. But more so than anything, it’s his work ethic that shines the most. “I’m working all the time,” he said. “I’ve got material, I’ve got ideas, I want to do stuff.”

So again, Rick Shaffer has the Blues . . . and if this genre of music even remotely appeals to you, you’d do well to go out and get them yourself.

● Chris West ● Skope Magazine

Following up his debut solo album from last year called, ‘Necessary Illusion,’ Rick Shaffer reveals to you ‘Hidden Charms’. This multidimensional artist not only played the role of singer, guitarist, bassist and percussionist, but also wrote and produced the entire record. Additional members backed up Shaffer wonderfully to help ‘Hidden Charms’ become discovered gems.

Rick has plenty of experience playing with his band The Reds, but now looks to make a mark as a solo act. The 10 tracks on this CD would indicate that Shaffer has stolen the spotlight. Listening to this disc felt like I was literally taking a trip back in time to when the hair was long and the mood was far out. Rick Shaffer exhibits a style and feeling that screams 60s rock ‘n’ roll all the way. Rick is rolling together some rock and blues that will leave you feeling completely satisfied. I couldn’t help but notice a strong Rolling Stones/Mick Jagger-type vibe coming forth that focused on those early bluesy rock days. The Stones feel was heavy and the Jagger-isms were highly evident which was very cool to hear but you have to be careful to not mimic too closely. I gotta hear a Rolling Stones cover now after experiencing Rick Shaffer’s musical display so go for it!

I really love the fact that Shaffer is not afraid to play outside the box and has no room for mindless 2011 and beyond pop tart songs. People in the world will always move forward but Rick Shaffer and his music will instantly take you back to a different era. It almost seems like Rick was searching for just the right mojo for this project and man did he find it– “YEAHH BABY!” (Austin Powers aka Mike Myers).

Vocally and musically, Shaffer exhibited a very raw approach that was stripped down to the bone. Early garage band appeal at its finest as Shaffer and company brought the goods! Plenty of hip tambourine playing and distorted guitar chords made for one groovin’ listening experience. ‘Hidden Charms’ is lost no more and I can’t wait to see what Rick Shaffer pulls out of his magical mystery bag next!

• Jimmy Rae • SKOPE • jrae@skopemag.com
• Rating: 4 (OUT OF 5)