Their statement of intent is right there in their debut album’s title: It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll. Blizzard is perhaps the best description of their sound: loud, brash and with countless influences swirling in its midst. Even the band’s name has a rock ‘n’ roll connection. It was bestowed upon them by none other than Beatles compatriot and rock legend, Tony Sheridan, at one of their first warm up dates. The duo of songwriters, Christopher Leyva (guitar, vocals) and Gerardo Baladon (lead guitar, vocals) teamed up with Adrian Ochiuzzi (drums) and Antonio Franko (bass)for their first three albums. The band honed their sound and skills through relentless recording and touring that saw them make several road trips around the U.S. and opened shows for a host of artists including: Dramarama, Modern English, Tom Petty, Jet, Unwritten Law and many others .The group became a perennial presence on the southern California concert scene.
A short list of facts would include that they were mentored by Danny Wilde & Phil Solem of the Rembrandts, and roadied for indie rockers Convoy. To date Blizzard released six albums with two more rumored to be in the vaults of recording studios. All the bands albums sound great – production by the afore mentioned Mr. Hill and others being uniformly top notch. But listening to the albums in sequence, it’s easy to hear a growing maturity, particularly in the lyrics, as well as wider cast net of influences. Nowhere is this clearer than on album #4, The Root of Evil (2004), which likely due to the departure of Ochiuzzi and Franko. It embraces acoustic, folk and country, but follow-ups, Curve of Evolution (2005) and particularly, Road to Excess (2011), which uses numerous musicians around the core of Leyva and Gerardo Baladon , also take their rock from a wider palette. It’s a denser more intense sound.
It all adds up to, Time Lapse, an album that both shows the growth of Blizzard as a band and serves as a terrific introduction to their music. Play it loud and play it often.
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L'articolo Biografia Blizzard the band di Blizzard the band è apparso su Rockit.it il 2015-07-29 12:47:40