Collisionville: The Revenge of Two-Gun Pete [Album]

Any true fan of rock n roll music can relate to the feeling that being reminiscent of days past can be a dangerous bit of ground to tread when it comes to digging in to new music.  There will always be many nostalgia driven musicians out there who will be stuck in their ways from the “good old days”, and we should be entirely thankful for this.  So let’s say that I am very grateful for a bad like Collisionville.  This San Francisco based group of old school stylized rockers is almost too good to be true for fans of modernized “classic” rock, and their latest album The Revenge of Two-Gun Pete is a phenomenal collection of original tracks from a group that blends CCR with a bit of Neil Young, and then throws in some Jack White-esque creativity in there for good measure.

The Revenge of Two-Gun Pete in its entirety seems like a tribute to so many different styles of music, spanning 60 years or so.  There is a bit of a jingle jangling country on the album’s title track, as well as on “Heart Out in the Sun”, although this cut quickly turns in to a terrific sort of power rock ballad pretty quickly as well.  There is even a bit of 90’s radio friendly alternative on the album’s opening cut “The Ballad of Herman P. Willis”.  But beyond the homages to several decades of rock and roll, there is also some damn beautiful songwriting going on here.  Beautifully sad, or simplistically true tales of a life better left lived.  Frontman Stephen Pride spills his soul to us so perfectly whether he is picking a banjo, or strumming the old six string until his heart bleeds.  This is good time music for all the sad times, and down beat music for the upbeat times.

Collisionville may not strike you as a truly innovative group on first listen.  But, give it a second listen, and you might just fall in love with their divine nature.  The are old timey, filled with stripped down acoustics, and just a whole gaggle of fun.  And their album The Revenge of Two-Gun Pete is a wonderful example of the well orchestrated mayhem these rocking ramblers are able to create.  If you find yourself in the Bay Area, or wherever the road may take these cool cats, it would behoove you see these guys live and in person.  I could only imagine just how much fun that could be!

Pick up a copy of The Revenge of Two-Gun Pete for yourself right HERE.