Brad Shepik: Hard Believer

The first burst of noise from a recording can be telling, predictive of what will come. The Believers' Hard Believer title tune says as much. A guitar, bass and drums group, the music comes to life with some resonant metallic chords. The drums and bass push their weight around. It is assertive music laid down with a gentle and intricate touch. This "Hard Believer" is an introspective entity.

Guitarist Brad Shepik, bassist Sam Minaie and drummer John Hadfield are the Believers. Their "Broken English" finds Shepik soaring over a clamorous ground-bound bass-drums fistfight, and "In the Weeds" gives off a country vibe with Shepik going off-roading on his guitar.

The influences are the music of South Indian and Balkan grooves, traditional Armenian folk songs and Middle Eastern shadings. These are mixed into a brew of hard rock, jazz and Frank Zappa-like noodlings,

Compositional contributions are shared. Shepik wrote and contributed four tunes; Hadfield and Minaie each brought in one and Steve Swallow's "Falling Grace" is also covered. "Ranglin'" is a nod to Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin. Shepik and company give it a spicy island mood with a laid-back rhythm acting as a cushioning for Shepik's serrated steely guitar. Swaying palm trees and steel drums come to mind..

The weave of sound in this relatively simple configuration is tightly textured in the Shepik-Minaie-Hadfield triangle. Sometimes a good guitar trio diving deep into the music with passion and grit is what the ears crave and the world needs. With, at this writing, as an American coup unfolds, the Believers who believe in the music are good medicine.