Songwriters - Music Connection

LIVE REVIEWS
Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown: Sickeningly talented
with sweet guitar riffs and refreshing antics.
Camille Bloom
Genghis Cohen
Los Angeles, CA
Contact: wendy@hellowendy.com
Web: http://camillebloom.com
The Players: Camille Bloom, guitar, vocals.
Username: cambloom
Material: English teacher turned touring artist,
Camille Bloom tells her story through a medium
of impeccably structured acoustic rock songs.
Possessing a clever way with words, this Seattlebased
singer paints the most unpleasant situation
into a lyrical masterpiece. A perfect example is
“Here You Come Again,” which could easily be
interpreted as a lament from a scorned lover.
However, as the singer admits with a smile, the
source lies within her torturous battle with a gluten
allergy. This, along with all of her other self-written
songs, make it quite clear that no matter what
sparks her inspiration, Bloom is not afraid to keep
it real.
Musicianship: With effortless control, Bloom’s
vocals resonate both strength and vulnerability.
She delivers each lyric with pristine clarity and
�lls the room with an intoxicating con�dence. To
top it off, the girl can play a mean acoustic guitar.
Finding a perfect balance between frantic strums
and melodious plucking, she builds a full-bodied
sound to accompany her powerful voice.
Performance: From the second Bloom stepped
up to the microphone, the scattered attention of
the room focused directly on her and it wasn’t
her brightly colored “ugly” shirt that commanded
it. The one-woman band coupled a captivating
talent with a stellar personality that kept all eyes
54 November 2012 www.musicconnection.com
Zack Whitford
Tyler Bryant & the
Shakedown
The Viper Room
West Hollywood, CA
Contact: alexis@npgpr.com, 323-522-3112
Web: http://tylerbryantmusic.com
The Players: Tyler Bryant, lead vocals, guitar;
Caleb Crosby, drums, percussion; Graham
Whitford, guitar, backup vocals; Noah Denney,
bass guitar, backup vocals, tambourine.
Username: alexis@npgpr.com
Material: Tyler Bryant is a 21-year-old guitar prodigy
from Texas with a long list of accomplishments.
Apparently Vince Gill called him a “future guitar
god.” In Nashville last year, he founded his permanent
backing band, the Shakedown, all of
whom studied music in college. Combined, Tyler
Bryant & the Shakedown sound like rock from
their dad’s generation—oh wait, that’s probably
because guitarist Graham Whitford’s dad is
Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford. For a more modern
comparison, imagine if the Black Keys blended
with the Toadies.
Musicianship: You can’t hear the lyrics at all, as
per normal, but who really cares? It’s more just
a bonus, because the listeners come to hear
guitars. There’s syrupy vamping, and good key
tonality. Their thick, heavy notes are purely rock &
roll—until they go into shredding mode and throw
any sense of strict phrasing out the window.
Bassist Noah Denney brings a sound to
the table that Deep Purple fans will recall with
fondness. Caleb Crosby is a trained drummer, and
he can easily morph from strict time-keeping to
showy power playing to Taiko-esque hammering
for dramatic effect—he could keep tempo in an
Camille Bloom: A perfect balance between frantic strums and melodious plucking.
and ears alert. Like a �ery ball of energy, every
aspect of Bloom seemed to illuminate the stage.
Her facial expressions sang with every note as
her body danced naturally through her guitar.
Between songs, she conversed with the crowd as
if they were her friends. She cracked jokes and
told stories that were interesting rather than an
awkward attempt to �ll space.
She closed the set with “Habit,” a sing-along in
which she intertwined her original song with clever
and sometimes humorous mash-ups that included
snippets from Chaka Khan, the Police and Donna
Summer, to name a few.
earthquake. Golden boy Tyler Bryant plays a
mean guitar, but his voice is probably the weakest
part of the band. Sure he can sing, and quite well
at that, but his voice sounds so young.
The group nails the “classic rock out�t” so well,
down to their Pink Floyd shirts, �ared jeans and
Graham’s Peter Frampton hair. But such a band
demands a singer with a more mature voice.
Hopefully, he’ll grow with the band.
Performance: Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown
started off with a bang performing “Fool’s Gold” and
made their way through nine songs. Bryant and his
boys knew how to make the best out of a tiny stage
and, oh god, so many guitar solos. Some were so
long that it was easy to lose track of when they
ended or began, like the enormous solo around the
time of “Lipstick Wonder Woman” and “Downtown
Tonight.” Bryant wasn’t content having another �t
of shredding, so he paused to introduce the other
players and gave them all time for their own solos.
Crosby actually dragged one of his tom toms
to the front of the stage to do his machine gun
demonstration, then drummed on the stand, the
amps, the �oor, the mic stand, and then back up to
the skin. It was nuts, and the audience went crazy.
Bryant then hopped onto the rest of the drum kit for
a whole band solo and only then were they done.
Phew!
Summary: Sickeningly talented, Tyler Bryant &
the Shakedown are bringing hope to a nostalgic
audience bored with autotune abuse and repetitive
bars of music. Their kinetic energy is tangible,
the guitars are sweet, their drummer’s antics are
refreshing, and they already are attracting all the
right attention. Even with Bryant’s voice needing a
few years on it, it seems his guitar playing is as big
a deal as people say. As Julian Cope was so fond
of writing in his bio, “Awlright!”
––Jessica Aves
Summary: It doesn’t take long to fall in love with
Camille Bloom. She is funny, down-to-earth and
an excellent songwriter. As strong as she is with
just a voice and a guitar, one can only imagine
what a powerhouse of a performance she could
rock with a back-up band. Whether solo or
supported, however, Bloom’s touring career has
a bright future.
––Allegra Azzopardi
ALLEGRA AZZOPARDI