Freeloader Custom/10 Independent Release by Scott Snidow

"I don't care what people say, rock and roll is here to stay!" Dave White (Danny and the Juniors)   For the last ten or so years, rock and roll at its best has been anemic. Rock and the 1990's just wasn't very inspiring, especially for those of us old enough to have witnessed the finer hours of rock and roll. Paved in the 50's by Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, and the like, rock was redefined in the 60's into a truly universal sound by everyone from the Beatles to the Stones to Hendrix. The 70's saw it become an art form to be reckoned with, the decade dawning with the San Francisco/folk rock sound and the development of Southern rock, then ending with punk and metal. Even the 80's had something to contribute to the genre, with the rise of the retro sounding bands like the Heartbreakers and the Bangles, not to mention the new wavers. But since then, there has been very few stand out rockers. Many of us have been quite prepared to sound the death knell on rock and roll altogether, and be content to merely live with our memories. Enter Freeloader and their first independent release, Custom/10. This was a truly surprising and refreshing find in the stack of CD's that sit here beside my desk. From the opening strains of this album, my attention was riveted to what I was hearing. This was rock and roll! The real deal! You know, like they used to do it back in the day; raw, honest, simple, and brimming with a thousand possibilities. I sat there at my desk listening, no doubt a sly smile on my face as track after track of real rock unfolded, undisturbed by anyone or anything save my wife, who had heard the Freeloader CD playing and had come to the doorway to see what it was that I was listening to. This is a sign of how powerful the music on this album is, as she usually is happy to leave the door closed and me to whoever it is that I am reviewing at the time. But this time, she joined me in listening to Custom/10. Silently we sat there, and soon we both were transported to another place and time. Born in New York in 1999 as the brainchild of Texan Scott Sinclair, Freeloader takes its name from the Miles Davis tune "Freddie Freeloader." In the time since their inception, the band has already undergone a personnel change. In its current incarnation, Freeloader consists of Sinclair on guitar and vocals, Tarheel Mason Pitts on bass, and the Empire State's own Adam Chasan on drums. This is the configuration that band members feel have the chemistry and the staying power. However, this is not the band that you will hear on Custom/10. For those sessions, bass was played by Matt Dublin, who also provided some keyboard parts, and the percussion duties were held by Ezra Oklan. Custom/10 was recorded in one early morning session shortly after the band was formed. This may help add to the edginess and intensity that can literally be felt on this album. During this one session that lasted from 10 p.m. right up until dawn, the band managed to lay down 13 magically captivating tracks. There is no doubt that the passion that pervades each of the tracks is in part the result of the fervor the band must have felt in trying to achieve this truly mammoth goal of recording an entire album in only a matter of hours. Freeloader's sound brings to mind all at once a thousand bands from the past and then no one at all. This is 70's rock and roll and it isn't. It is a Southern rock trio and the Rolling Stones, and it is completely and totally unique. In short, the sound is pure and raw, and you are sure that you can place it to another time and place, then you suddenly realize that you have never heard the likes of this band before. Finally you give in, and decide to just kick back and enjoy the ride. Of course, defying classification is the hallmark of many good rockers throughout the years. Compositional flexibility is another, and one that Freeloader certainly has as well. A quick sampling of three tracks will give you an idea of how diverse Freeloader's sound can really be. "Entitled" is a hard rocking roadhouse style number that could easily have felt at home on, say, a Georgia Satellites album. "Senorita" is a country rock tune much in the style the Rolling Stones tried for on their Sticky Fingers album. I could close my eyes and easily hear Jagger crowing out the lines; I'm leaving here today, bound for Texas I'll be sure to say hello to all your folk in Tennessee and I'm gwine to see that girl in sweet Virginia cause this new York living is just too doggone slow for me. "Ghost Town" is a poignant acoustic ballad that tackles the environmental issues surrounding the commercial destruction of the Rocky Mountain landscape. Like all true rockers, Sinclair and Company are not afraid to voice their opinion on an issue they feel strongly about. One big difference, though, is how readily they can paint a vivid visual with such a limiting medium as words. Broken fence, coiled barbwire, road in fragrant bloom. Your words flew by in blur, the wind blew your stale perfume and I shuddered down the road. A pen is bleeding for a withered heart, fan turns overhead taunting, reminding (what might have been). Down spiral staircase, lamps hang over the dustbowl, empty spittoon chambermaid has left here for the last chance saloon. Environmentalists are saving the whales, but even roaches are doomed in ghost town. Telegraph man is tapping a frantic line from a splintered chair that barely holds his skeleton frame, boards of cedar crack and moan like brittle jawbones grinded by the wind. Over and over the message is sounded on leather eardrums 'beware of false prophets that whisper of gold with their backs turned and hands hidden!' A lusting horse has dragged red flesh down this same street, once sandpaper, now slithers with snakes. Come settle down! In ghost town. Telegraph man is tapping a frantic line from a splintered chair that barely holds his skeleton frame, boards of cedar crack and moan like brittle jawbones grinded by the wind. 'The future has become the past, the first one now will never be last!' The revolutionary crystal ball lies in pieces under the train of progress standing in the station of ghost town. If you have been longing for the days when rock and roll was something real, something that you could sink your teeth into, then wait no longer friend. Freeloader has revived what seemed to be a lost art form. With a rebellious spirit and a dedication to make music that is raw and powerful, and that truly speaks to the listener, we can only hope that they are in for what promises to be a very long and successful ride. Don't hesitate to get your rock and roll fix. Get yourself on over to www.freeloaderband.com to get what is one of the premiere rock albums of the new millenium. While you are there, you can meet the virtual band, download four MP3's, or check out the tour schedule to see when they will be appearing at a venue near you. You can contact Scott Snidow at: scott-at-rockzilla.net

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