The Paul DesLauriers Band

Bounce

Vizztone Label Group

Paul DesLauriers has long been thought of as a great guitarist and able vocalist. He played with the Canadian band “Black Cat Bone”; Johnny Ferriera, Bryan Lee and Canada’s “Queen of The Blues” Dawn Tyler Watson. In 1997 he formed The Paul DesLauriers Band. In 2014 the band released their widely acclaimed self-titled debut reaching number one, on the Canadian Blues Chart, within the first month of its release. The lineup included DesLauriers, guitar; Greg Morency, bass; and Sam Harrisson, drums. The band followed up with 2016’s “Relentless” and were crowned the “Electric Act of The Year”. DesLauriers is a two-time Maple Blues Award winner as “Entertainer of The Year”. The band also took 2^nd place at the 2016 International Blues Challenge held annually in Memphis.

“Bounce” is the bands third album. The current lineup features bassist Alec McElcheran, DesLauriers longtime songwriting partner, replacing Morency on seven of the thirteen tracks. The album is engineered and recorded by Harrisson at Sam’s Tone Studio. All of the tracks are written by the PDB; four with McElcheran and seven with Morency.

The songs written with McElcheran include the opener “Here We Go” with a fade in that reminds me of Canned Heat’s “On The Road Again”. DesLauriers vocal is commanding as is his slide guitar. “Happy Wasting Time With You” is a great song with a stones type vibe heavily recommended for airplay. “Feeling All Kinds Of Good” is a bit of rockabilly. “Waiting On You” is a slow burner with Lance Anderson added on organ as DesLauriers sings “tears on my pillow, drowning in my own dreams…; biding my time waiting on you”.

Seven more songs are from DesLauriers, Harrisson and Morency. Highlights include “It’s All On You”; “Let Me Go Down in Flames” with its infectious rhythm “if this ain’t love, it’s push and shove”; and “Take Me To The Brink”. “Driving Me Insane” contains the lyric “bless your gypsy heart”. “Working My Way Back Home” is another rockin’ tune deserving radio time “counting down the weeks and working my way back home”. The instrumental “Loosey Goosey Jam #769” features DesLauriers’ guitar and Harrisson’s big beats.

Guitarist JP Soars wrote “Picked A Bad Day’ to stop drinking”, and he sits in with the band. The only cover is “Jumpin’ At The Shadows” written by “Duster” Bennett and popularized by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac; it is DesLauriers’ most poignant vocal.

“Bounce” is more lyrical than PDB’s last album but the band remains relentless. Play It Loud! Congratulations to the newlyweds, Paul and his trophy winning wife.

Richard Ludmerer