The BUGHOUSE FIVE (Canada)

DARK DAYS PASSING
-CD
1996 (East Side Records)





"Coming from a world where Gene Vincent and Leonard Cohen share the same brain... Bughouse 5 produces some of the most melancholy Rockabilly to ever stay at home, smash up the furniture, and drink itself to sleep every night." - eastvanmungo


"BUGHOUSE FIVE was formed in September, 1991 by the members of several of Vancouver's most notorious bands; The Nervous Fellas, The Rocking Edsels and Art Bergman, to name a few.

Fronted by the charismatic Butch "Big Boy" Murphy and backed up by the rock solid drumming of Taylor Little(Furies), the band quickly earned a name as one of the hardest working, most entertaining rockabilly bands around.

Their two early releases on East Side Records, Solid and Dark Days Passing, gave evidence to the strong songwriting and cool musicianship that are Bughouse Five's hallmark to this day." - Dense Milt


"Far from a mere rockabilly band, Vancouver's Bughouse Five stretch out in all directions on their first CD. Guitarist Russel Schindel's Peter Green-like slinky blues guitar, clipped country staccatos and pure pop strumming are excellent throughout, and he particularly shines on the opening cut "Move." Not that the rest of the band is to be ignored -- far from it. Upright bassist Ron Hayward is known all over town for his hard-hitting Railway Club jam sessions and he smokes here as ever; drummer Taylor Little has played with almost everyone of note in town, for good reason; and singer Butch Murphy holds down the ruckus with as soulful a set of pipes as Eddie Cochran.

This band kicks up some serious fun and furious frenetic boppin' on cuts like "Really Ugly," and covers like the classic "Tell Me Mama" and Dave Alvin's "I Don't Want To." Or they play sensitive country blues numbers, like Hayward's great "601 South Delta Blues." If they're chasing down a single it would be hard to best Schindel's "Old Tom Mullen," one of those catchy folk ballad rockers that has a timeless quality about it.

It's a hard road to travel down these days, being a rockabilly-influenced country rock band in the nineties, but genuine emotion should stand for something, and the Bughouse Five have plenty." - Stuart Derdeyn

BUTCH MURPHY - vocals, harmonica
RUSSELL SCHINDEL - guitars, backing vocals
RONNIE HAYWARD - Upright Bass
TAYLOR LITTLE - Drums, percussion

TRACKLIST:
01 Move
02 Really Ugly
03 Soothing Green
04 Leaving
05 Old Tom Mullen
06 Linger On
07 Tell Me Mama
08 Dark Days Passing
09 Colour Bearer
10 Truth
11 601 South Delta Blues
12 Sweet Virginia
13 I Don't Want To

DOWNLOAD (192k, 58 Mb)