Esce oggi il sesto album di Big John Bates, band di origine canadese che gli amanti del rock'n'roll più oscuro ben conoscono.Si intitola "From the Bestiary to the Leathering Room" ed è pubblicato in Europa dalla tedesca Rookie Records. Famosi per i loro selvaggi live show, che mescolano garage, rock'n'roll, blues, burlesque fino a creare un immaginario degno di un romanzo "southern gothic": pensate alle ambientazioni dei romanzi di Lansdale piuttosto che alla desolazione noir di True Detective.
Il cantante e chitarrista John Bates, da questo disco, condivide il songwriting e il cantato con la contrabbassista Brandy Bones, celebre per il suo stile acrobatico di suonare. La formazione live è completata dal batterista di Vancouver J.T. Massacre e dalla violoncellista Leanne Champan.
Big John Bates è il guilty pleasure di icone come Jello Biafra, che negli Stati Uniti distribuisce i dischi della band con la sua Alternative Tentacles e hanno in programma alcune date italiane a maggio per presentare il nuovo "From the Bestiary to the Leathering Room":Keep the whiskey within arm's reach ...

Big John Bates has revitalized his band with a gritty infusion of electrified western guitar into small town stories, trials and tribulations. No-depression lyrics and soulful screams infect Brandy Bones' voice while Bates' growl combines with accordion, cello & doom-wop piano to shake the ghosts out of the woodwork. Or as the band puts it; "it's like being serenaded with a rusty hammer because we don't just play from the heart, we tear it out by the roots." The Headless Fowl Tour was kicked off crossing the country with Indiana's Murder By Death. Vancouver's Georgia Straight reported "the Gretsch-slinging frontman drags his throwback roots music through the dark heart of Death Valley" while the Music Examiner at CMW Festival in Toronto saw Bones as "shining in all her sultry, gothic temptress glory. She is the true master of her massive bass, using it as not only a tool to make music but as an instrument of seduction." Producer Robert Ferbrache (16 Horsepower, Woven Hand, Slim Cessna) gives the album a sweet & sour feel from the depths of his aptly named Absinthe Studios. After two years of non-stop touring the band has finally been completed with long-time friend JT Massacre (Real Makenzies) on drums & trumpet and the debut of Khadijah on oompah tuba & organ. Bates was the original singer for Annihilator and co-wrote their first two critically acclaimed albums. He then sharpened his Gretsch with Big John Bates & the Voodoo Dollz; chiseling out a 10-year career with a sexy caravan of misfits, playing well over a thousand shows across North America & Europe. He's been featured on Battlestar Galactica, A&E; Discovery Channel; Bizarre Magazine; Tattooage; and has played for thousands at festivals across Europe and North America while his songs have shown up in dozens of movies and TV shows. ==The Band== * Big John Bates (vocal, guitars, banjo, dobro) * Brandy Bones (vocal, upright bass, cello) * JT Massacre (drums, percussion) * Khadijah (tuba, organ) ==Discography== 2012: Battered Bones - release date - Sept 2012 (Rookie Records CD/LP) 2012: Headless Fowl (Frontman Records CD/12" EP) 2010: Bad Pussy / Scarecrow Close (Rookie Records 7")