Artist: Ten Year Vamp
Title: Don't Act Like You Know Me
Website: http://www.tenyearvamp.com
Style: Power Pop/ Rock
Rating: 9 out of 10
By C.W. Ross
There are a lot of bands around, but very few get the big picture, Ten Year Vamp is one of those few that gets it. I review hundreds of releases each year and a lot of them still come by old-fashioned postal mail.
A lot of times bands just throw their CD in a regular vanilla envelope and mail it to me. Then there are bands like Ten Year Vamp that take the time and money to put together a very professional looking package complete with press materials, stickers, business cards and more all nicely placed in a folder with the band's name, all of which is topped off with a nice cover letter.
Some of you are probably yelling at the computer screen what does that have to do with music? Band's that think only about the music side are those that are destined to never get past playing on the local clubs/bars circuit.
And by the way Ten Year Vamp plays a brand of power pop/ rock music that can hang with the best of them. The band is fronted by Debbie Gabrione (lead vocals, guitar), an attractive female, who has that self-assured look that if a fight broke out at the local bar and the broken beer bottles started to fly, that unlike most people instead of heading for the nearest exit she'd be looking for someone's ass to kick!
The band's sound is thick thanks to their sextuplet line-up that besides Gabrione includes, Mark Rose (rhythm guitar), Tim Keenan (bass), Andrew Foster (lead guitar), Gregory Nash (drums), and Bill Ketzer (vocals, percussion, keyboards).
The band's press material describes their sound as being, "No Doubt meets the Foo Fighters with pints full of personality, charm and sex appeal." The band's music does drip with a certain sensuality that unlike most songs dealing with sex that have a male perspective, the songs found on Don't Act Like You Know Me comes from the perspective of a confident, totally in control female.
While there are plenty of good examples of this powerful female sexuality found on this release one of the best examples of it is found on Track-4, "Pleasures (That I Call Mine)." A song that deals with defining your own female sexuality, not basing it on what others think it should be.
The band had a unique way of raising the money necessary to put out this independent release. Guitarist Mark Rose explains, "We had a crazy idea. We thought why not have our fans become the record company? We had 60 people give us anywhere from $25. to $2,000. We then put 80 songs up on a website and let our fans choose the 12 songs that would go on the album."
The songs found on this release play like a, 'life soundtrack,' for the relationship side of many people's lives.
"Never Know," gets things off to a rocking start with its up-tempo guitar filled rock beats. This is the album's first single and you can also see the video that the band made for the song at their website.
One song that will probably give the guys listening a cringe is, "Faked It," a pop rocker with lyrics about the dreaded faked female orgasmic screams.
Track-7, "One Night Ticket," gets the, 'huh award?' The songs new wave, club opening is a real change from the rest of the songs found on Don't Act Like You Know Me. It's not a bad song it just made me go huh?, that was a different sound.
The band's Don't Act Like You Know Me works well as a spotlight for the band's music. Frankly I can't understand why Ten Year Vamp isn't a household name already in the music scene. Instead of opening for major acts like Nickleback, 3 Doors Down, And Lifehouse, this band should be headlining the shows.
When done right female-fronted rock music is one of my favorite styles and Ten Year Vamp not only does it good, they do it really good!
For any record labels executives reading this do yourself a favor and head up to Albany, New York and sign this band, you won't be sorry.
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