Why - Red
The collaboration of influences of bands such as Radiohead and U2 come alive in the album Red by Why.
Why is a four member Canadian band that hails from Winnipeg Manitoba. The members are Greg Barre on Bass Guitar, Derek James on Drums, Brian cook on Vocals and Stephen Makarewicz on Lead Guitar.
When I first listened to the album I was surprised to hear such a focused sound. Why stays with the same demographic throughout all their songs. There is the blend of a few different influences other than Radiohead and U2, I can hear a strong Indie Rock sound, in a couple of the tracks a blues feel comes out of the tracks.
“Burn” right away grabs your attention with a basic blues style guitar riff. The song leans more into a Rock sound then a Blues sound, but being as distinct as the song is there is still a heavy feeling of the blues, which makes this album a little more diverse in its entirety. I find though that the vocals don’t really follow the same feel and the sound as the guitars. Even though it is the same riff that is played throughout most of the song, Stephen diffidently carries out the “Burn” throughout its entirety.
“Rewind/Erase” picks up a few songs down the album where “Burn” left off. The song picks up the tempo on the album again. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be another good solid rock song on the album because the tempo an sound seemed to slow and lighten off a little bit after “Burn”. In this song the vocals are roughed up a little bit which in return blends in with the instruments nicely. The main guitar riff in the song is the backbone to the song. The guitar riff at the start of the song brings you right into listening to the song, but I would start the riff right away and not have a few seconds of “Dead air” before the riff starts off quietly and picks up strength. To come into terms in what the riff sounds like it is a light Stevie Ray Vaughn step style of riff. I am a fan of the higher pitched guitar solo that is played at around the two minute mark and the riff that finishes out the song.
“Petrolhead” is second last song on the album and has the title of being the heaviest song on the album. This is where the U2 vocals styling really seems to shine. Even when there is no other song on the album that sound like this track, Brian still stays true to his vocals sounds. The vocals in this song are a little rawer and a bit rougher which turns out great in the end. The vocals are easily matched by the Guitar and also the Bass Guitar. In this song the Bass Guitar is more noticeable than the other tracks which I like. The beginning of the song even belongs to the Bass Guitar and Drums. The lyrics and the instruments reminds me of a Ottawa band Called Big Jeezus Truck. The strength of the song works for me throughout its entirety even including when the song has a couple of lines that are spoken, but in turn only leads you getting into the song even more when the song takes off again after the couple of lines that are spoken. This is the song that should be considered by radio stations for airplay.
My Favourite pick off of the album is going to be “Petrolhead”. I picked this song because of the heaviness of the song compared to the other songs on the album. I was going to pick “Burn” because of the blues guitar riff but I found I still preferred “Petrolhead” the most because the sound wasn’t the same throughout most of the song.
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