Have you heard of Soften the Glare? Sure you have, just maybe not in this particular form. Heard of Mudvayne? How about that bad-ass bass player and songwriter? What’s his name again? Oh yeah, right: Ryan Martinie. You game now? Alright then, add the mind-bending guitar talent of Bon Lozaga. That’s right, the one from Gong, Tiny Boxes and been featured with other notable guitar gods as Allan Holdsworth, Kai Eckhardt, David Torn, David Fiuczynski among many others. This match made in heaven is joined by the drumming skills of Mitch Hull who has played with Gongzilla, Staxx, Chameleon, War 4 Peace and shared the stage with Tiny Boxes and many other in the past. Well, now you know and you can see them on “The Funky Lady Tour” that kicks off tomorrow in Jacksonville, NC!
Interesting… All fine and good but how do they sound, right? Two simple words: HOLY COW! Soften the Glare is absolutely a pleasure to listen to and is absolutely all over the place (in a good way). There is something there for everyone. Seriously. Everyone. When the Jazz/Blues based world of Bon met the Rock/Metal world of Ryan, anything could have happened and, apparently did! Being an instrumental band requires that all musicians be on point and fill the space normally left for the vocals and this band does so with such a unique style and sound is is scary. Honestly, there is no room left for vocals anyway. A little Jazz, a lot of Funk, a bit of Metal, a bunch of Heavy Blues and Rock and, as they say: “a touch of chaos” and you have the sound of Soften the Glare. The talent scale for this band is off of the friggin’ charts and this trio plays incredibly well together, even with their drastically different backgrounds. Where one leads, the others follow, no matter who is doing the leading. All extremely heady and complex while remaining accessible and unbelievably fun at the same time. This is the music of pure inspiration. Check out the videos below and see for yourself if you have any doubts. Hard to tell whether the audience or the band is having the better time. This is the way music should be played and performed. There is nothing that this band produces that even approaches mediocre. What they need now is to make about twenty albums and put them all out right now so that their variety can be enjoyed for days at a time. I guess right now my only complaint is that they are not playing within a few hours from me but, if they are playing ANYWHERE near you, go. It is rare to see so much talent in one place, at one time, much less, playing together. This is a guaranteed good time tour. Check the dates and enjoy their gift of music as much as they enjoy sharing it with you! Soften the Glare is just stoopid good!!!
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