Record Label: Crafty Records
Genre: Blues-Punk
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com

One-man bands can be sketchy, but Guitar Bomb was a nice surprise. Guitar Bomb (I don’t know his real name) plays a mix of delta blues and punk, and it works really well. His guitar’s got a great hollow-body, muddily-distorted sound, and even though he uses a drum machine, it provides a surprisingly genuine washboard-n-skiffle sound.

I also like that Guitar Bomb avoids the sleaziness and creepiness of similar genre mashups, like dixiepunk and swamp rock. He goes for Tom Waits vocals, but Guitar Bomb’s voice is younger and less whiskey-ravaged. The lyrics have a lived-through-everything, down-in-the-alley pathos, which probably reflects more Bukowski influence than reality. But it sounds good and who wouldn’t want to live in an alley?

4 stars, minus 1 for ripping off Tom Waits, but a half is added for being just one guy and producing a full band sound.

Bottom Line: Tom Waits Mach II.
Notable Tracks: American Holiday, Rudy Can Fail
Overall Rating: