By Lisa Morgan
Josh Heinz and his talented band of blasters are the symbol of the musicians who have no choice but to produce the music that pumps his/her blood no matter what the cost. Many have fallen from the calling, prey to the strain of the circus juggle between creating, playing with the band and the ever dreadful day job. It is what separates the hobbyist from the fully invested. After all these years, Josh Heinz has proved himself as a card carrying member of local rock royalty, having paid his dues in full and then some. Now to the delight of all of those following his musical endeavors, that sweat and blood wrought from his years in the craft have been poured into this album, and as the title suggests, for Josh Heinz and Blasting Echo, the end is still so very far away for this band.
The production on the album is notably good, providing the message driven lyrics a front seat while still capturing the loud, dense goodness, driving it all into your ears and into your veins. Josh’s voice has an emotional integrity to it that pulls you into the lyrics. You believe him; a priceless and rare element today. The album is very nicely not over produced. Harmonies are injected just for flavor not for sound, and no one instrument screams “Look at me, look at me.” They play together passionately, creating a full, balanced album. All in all, this album is clean enough to hear every bit of musicality and dirty enough to bring out that sexy, rebel rocker inside us all.
This album had me on the first cut, Bad Radio, as they bellow an anthem of resentment toward commercial radio that force feed us what they consider music based on the corporate money behind it. But as I listened, I was confronted with the laughable dichotomy of saying to myself, “This is good enough for radio.” The other songs on this album beg the usual rock and roll questions, “What the hell?” and “Why the Hell?” and “Who the F…” but do so with contemporary flare, totally lacking in redundancy; another priceless and rare element being provided by this band. This is the album you want to bring on a long road trip, where you can let your mind run with its musical direction, and most definitely, one that you want to hear loud and live.
Blasting Echo is Josh Heinz, Mondo Flores, Jeff Fortson, Laramie Eve and Linda Lemke. Josh Heinz began making music as a singer/songwriter/guitarist in Memphis, TN with Wyndom Earle in the late 90’s. Here in the Coachella Valley, he created the band Dufreign who earned Best Rock Band and Best Song honors at the Coachella Valley Music Awards. Meeting in 2008, Josh and Jeff discovered a common love of powerful rock music. Upon the breakup of Dufreign, the two decided to begin Blasting Echo. Mondo had known both of the guys from playing around in the local music scene. Inspired by the band’s material, he felt he could provide the back beat needed for the music’s driving power.
Drummer, Mondo Flores, is also known for his bass playing in B Movie Superstars, Seven4, The Pedestrians and Lung Cookie. His drumming motto is K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid). Guitarist, Jeff Fortson, grew up in the Coachella Valley, playing bass and guitar in various bands including The Pucks and the underground indie rock band Lowercase during its infancy. Jeff’s love for indie and punk rock are evident. Originally starting as out as the bass player, he moved to his preferred position as guitar player and brings the raw energy and freshness of his beloved genre’s with him. New bassist Laramie Eve began playing bass with the local band Jekkel when she was 13 and continues to do so currently. She has stepped into Blasting Echo with a passion and excitement for the music, and she infuses her love of melodic rock into the veins of Blasting Echo. Linda Lemke, keyboardist, has been playing piano and writing music since age 6. Her extensive music background as a music educator brings a completely different element to the music.
The CD Release party will be held, Saturday, April 6th at the Hood Bar and Pizza at 10pm. For more information on Blasting Echo, follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/blastingecho and on Reverb Nation at http://www.reverbnation.com/blastingecho. More importantly, come out and hear them live and buy their CD.
