Sonic Strom

No Bull


I saw Mechanical Bull, the band for which Pierson and Peacock serve as front folks, at the Woodstock Film Festival last month, and I was very impressed.

This ensemble walks the line of country swing, Lynyrd Skynyrd southern rock and there is something about it for me that is reminiscent of Nirvana. These folks have a record release party tonight, Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Bearsville Theater, and I imagine it's going to be a rootsy, down-home, Saturday night on Thursday in the Catskill Mountains kind of evening.

Here's the deal, Doors at 8 p.m.; Show at 9 p.m.
Tickets $10
Visit www.bearsvilletheater.com or www.myspace.com/mechanincalbullpen for info.

Chase is an interesting guy. He was born in Nottingham, England, the land of Robin Hood, you know, that whole Sheriff of Nottingham thing. He said he has lived on "every state on the east coast" as well as Texas. He and his family moved around a lot when he was a kid. His father was a minister, Episcopalian.

But, Chase said, "I'm an atheist."

Chase has lived in Woodstock about eight years and had learned the guitar many moons ago, he is now 33, from his parents, but recently, "I got back into it."

Chase got introduced to country music through his parents, who listened to Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, that kind of thing. In high school, he was into punk - The Dead Kennedys anybody?

"When I was 20. I got really into Rev. Horton Heat," and that "led me into the world of country."

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys anybody? Chase loves them. And that's pretty cool in my book.
Chase, who has lived in Austin and while there, delved into a country scene that wsa Junior Brown, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard rather than Toby Keith, said "People, when they hear the word country, I think there is a lot, just like there is a lot of variety out there."

Chase describes Mechanical Bull as "country, with a little bit of southern rock. It's kind of eclectic."
Chase used to live in Jacksonville, Florida, which he told me is where those Skynyrd boys came from. That music, he said, "Is exciting. It kind of moves."

Adam Widoff, who regularly tours the world with major names but has also played cozy Catskill Mountain Rock with Stoney Clove Lane, plays guitar for Mechanical Bull. Avalon Peacock's voice is worth the price of admission alone, but the star of this show is Chris Zaloom and the Eric Clapton-like soulfulness he brings to the pedal steel guitar and Dobro. Oh my goodness.

"A Million Yesterdays," the CD that the Bull is releasing tonight, comes out on Woodstock MusicWorks Records, a new, local label that Chase speaks very highly of.

The band released its first record, "and we did it ourselves and I'm new to the music industry and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know how to work it.

The gang over at Woodstock MusicWorks, Chase said, a gentleman named Paul Schiavo specifically, "They're really helping us with P.R. and they paid for our record to be made and all these things."

"Paul is very clever," Chase said.

And how aboutz that name....

"I always liked that name. I liked the way it sounds. I don’t like to get too meteaphroical and it wasn’t metaphorical at all the way it was conceived. I just like the name Mecanical Bull. I liked the combination of something that is mechanical and something that is organic."

On top of being a very solid, very different band, I admire Chase's honesty, in this case, regarding the opener, Erin Sax Seymour.

"I haven’t heard her," he said. "But I heard she's awesome."

Posted by John W. Barry

http://sonicstorm.blogspot.com/2007/11/no-bull.html