Artist: The Bad Directions

Title: 8:05

When singer songwriter Bradley Weaver released 'Think' as a solo project a few years back he took the title as dogma and proceeded to recruit a band to help forge a sound still molten. Weaver only had to look across the stage during his bass duties with 'rachel's playpen' to find the 'metal' in the guitar of playpen bandmate Dan Garcia. Previous music acquaintance Carlos Neuman needed little coaxing to complete the three piece and readily embraced the challenge of laying down drum tracks to accommodate the ensuing collision of country and hard rock. Call it 'punk-try' if you wish. The Bad Directions spent the past year and a half paying their dues on the local live circuit and their raw sound grew increasingly refined. For a live band that managed to always stay true to its sound despite the mysterious-and sometimes unhealthy-dose of humility the local scene can dish out, several months in and out of the studio recording 8:05 was the answer. This studio album showcases guitarist Dan Garcia's intricate alternating riff and lead runs fusing metal to country, and should earn him overdue accolades as one of the top guitarists in Denver. Drummer Neuman emerged from his mostly enthusiastic and studious role to prove himself as an outright monster on the kit. Weaver carried solid songs forward from Think, and the band added punch to 'Wagon Wheel' among others, to push them to a new level. 'Truck Stop Hooker' hooks the listener as effectively as the name implies. Fittingly, this album is straightforward and genuine. There is very little fat to be chewed off the track list here. 8:05 will open many doors for The Bad Directions and should finally vault them into the lofty stratosphere occupied by local country flavored bands like the Railbenders, Rexway, and newcomers Ten Cent Redemption. For those of us who knew it all along we can only say 'It's your turn, boys!'

Russ Christiansen