Gambles Bride

[martinsane]

 

http://www.gamblesbride.com/

Mike Gamble is the co-producer of Shang's "Beautiful" with Maurice Chevalier Davis, Mike Gamble is a guitarist extraordinaire.  Capable of creating richness within any context, Mike is humble to a fault.  It is for this reason you are  as likely to find him on stage with a pop band as a jazz quartet.  

 

Gene McBride is a funkmaster, dynamics genius, and extraordinary vocalist.  He is capable of styles as varied as Philip Bailey or Barry White.  But Gene is most exciting when expressing his own sound. 



Mike and Gene are currently putting the final touches on their first rock release as the group "Gamble's Bride"

 

[martinsane]

Shame but seems standard that no one took a poke at this excellent disc and commented, oh well.

 

If you care I have reviewed it and it should go out soon:

Gambles Bride
Flesh

Released January 21st 2018 (Urban Renaissance Music Group)

Review:

From the opening chord of track one State of Emergency from the debut long play Flesh from Washington DC/Maryland's power duo Gambles Bride you are hooked, line and sinker.

The opener is easily worthy of the cost of admission on its own. A must for fans of Kings X as this track could slip in between the sheets of any KX release and both guitarist Mike Gamble and vocalist Gene McBride could stand in for Ty Tabor and Dug Pinnick if needed. I kid you not.

As we move through the disc the similarities to KX stay true and strong but we see Mike and Gene dabble into some more modern sounding hard rock bands they are influenced by in the likes of say Sevendust or the Deftones, I hear 2 heaping handful of Living Colour, maybe even some Fishbone and dare I say some Suicidal Tenancies in there too, but this menagerie of influences are just that, influences and Gamble Bride are 100% original in the 11 hard rock songs presented on Flesh. 

Hey You, Flesh and Day of Atonement all carry the hard rock torch onward keeping the listeners heart, head and fists a pounding with 2 tackle boxes full of harmonies and hooks, melodies and rhythms to shake anyone's hips and fretwork from Mike that will have the guitar aficionados clamoring to get into Mike's head to figure out how he did that. Let This Be The Last Time and Never Thought "slow" things down a bit and give the listener a taste of Mike and Gene's "softer" side with a pair of arena rockers with a healthy smattering of cigarette lighter love song styled rhythms and poignant heart felt songwriting that would be fodder for many's broken, healing or just plain ole heart. The solo in Never Thought is a standout for me as it plays well with the songs timbre and it is played quite proficiently and pairs nicely with Maurice's synth work. Left Side is another hard rocker that sways between modern hard rock to slower melodic rock to almost arena rock and back, with clean guitar vs distorted and the always present Gene's Pinnick fueled wail tying all the elements together perfectly. There is a definite Tom Morello guitar element in this one see if you can catch it its not that hidden so not to worry. Letters slows things down ever so slightly, but mostly tempo speaking as the guitar work is still distorted and heavy, but Gene's vocal work is as pure as the driven snow and layered in harmonies. The lyrical topic is a bit heavy as can be implied in the songs title "Letters", a man's journey captured in his "letters". Of course where and why he is writing these letters is up for interpretation and only adds to the songs impact. Return The Pain is another poignant hard rocker with a very heavy song topic yet presented in a nice lil hard rock package that you might miss if you get swept up in the tidal wave of the music. Testing Time is a definite modernistic metal tune, but still keeps its hard rock principles with its layered harmonies/vocals and a killer supremely infectious "hit me with the ya ya ya's" vocal. This track is a real dinger for certain and one of my favorites. The disc wraps up with The Ride and Tease, which is just that a little teaser of the guys talking while on a "drive" and fanning through the radio stations trying to find something worth a listen, stopping shortly on song snippets (played by the band themselves) in various styles from country to gospel, finally landing on an alternate version of the bands very own Letters, which they play to the fade out and I must say I'd like to hear the whole tune in the manner they presented it here as it is a great song period but the alternate is just that, I nice alternative to the original.

Standouts are a plenty on Flesh, but today Letters, State of Emergency, Never Thought and Let This Be the Last Time are front runners. This disc sits proudly in the Martinsane's unknown but must own collection. Do yourself a musical favor and get your hands on this silver pressed digipac release from Gambles Bride, show them some love so they can make some more music for us to enjoy. 

Track List:

State of Emergency
Hey You
Flesh
Day of Atonement
Let This Be the Last Time
Never Thought
Left Side
Letters
Return the Pain
Testing Times
The Ride and Tease
Band Members:

Mike Gamble: Guitars & Bass 

Gene McBride: Vocals & Ambient Vocals 

Additional Players:

Maurice Chevalier: Keyboards, Synth, Melodica, Dictionary Vocals, Lapsteel Guitar, Bass & Strings 

Gary Grainger: Bass on Let This Be The Last Time, Never Thought

Victor Douglas: Bass on Never Thought,

Paul Reed Smith: Guitar Solo on: Letters, 

Derrin "Buck" Brown: Drums on State of Emergency, Testing Times, 

Corey Baker: Drums on Hey You, Letters, 

Brian "Syda" Wheatley: Drums on Flesh, 

Chris "Biscuit" Bynum: Drums on Day of Atonement, Let This Be The Last Time, Left Side, 

Carl "C-Man" Anderson: Drums on Never Thought, Return The Pain, 

Production:

Recorded by Maurice Chevalier @ Urban Renaissance

Written & Produced by Gambles Bride & Maurice  Chevalier

Songs 1,2,4,5,67 & 8 mixed by Mike Ferretti @ Architekt Studios NJ

Songs 3,9,10 & 11 mixed by Maurice Chevalier @ Urban Renaissance Studios Washington DC

Mastered by Andy VanDette @ Engine Room Audio NY NY

Band Websites:

https://www.facebook.com/gamblesbride/

http://www.gamblesbride.com/

Available from:

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/gamblesbride

https://www.amazon.com/Flesh-Gambles-Bride/dp/B07964YCPP