Bad Luck Friday
By Mike O’Cull
Bad Luck Friday takes the blues/rock guitar-and-harmonica combination way past its typical boundaries on the band’s self-titled debut album Bad Luck Friday.
Set to bust out September 2nd, 2022 on Wilde Fire Records, Bad Luck Friday has turned out to be one of the most-anticipated first sets from a British band in recent memory. The group has developed a signature sound that puts classic blues/rock influences into the aggressive context of modern hard rock that has already caught ears and turned heads.
Vocalist/harp man Will Wilde is a pioneer of the rock harmonica and has a knack for writing songs that combine the DNA of Little Walter, AC/DC, and Whitesnake into something heavy and original. The band came together during the Covid pandemic as a result of Wilde’s drive to remain creative when playing live was impossible. He’s a powerful rock singer in the timeless sense, owning a big, multifaceted vocal instrument that, when mixed with his ripping harp work, produces a performer you just don’t encounter every day.
The full Bad Luck Friday lineup is Wilde on harp and vocals, Steve “The Beak” Brook on guitar and backup vocals, Jack Turnbull on bass, and Alan Taylor on drums. Brook also produced the record, capturing the band at PA Studios and Brighton Road Studios in their hometown of Brighton. Wilde and Brook put themselves into the woodshed to write these songs and define their sound before bringing in the other two musicians, a tactic that delivered a taught, focused set of music with zero dead spots. It’s full of hard-edged riffs, soaring choruses, and exceptional performances at all positions and goes down smooth as one long listen.
Bad Luck Friday opens the record with their namesake song “Bad Luck Friday.” It’s a full-on rock track from the downbeat and kicks off with its stadium-sized chorus hook. Crunching guitars and raging drums carry the day from there and give Wilde all the support he needs to let his vocal pipes roar. When he finally goes for his harp, his tone and urgency are right on target. This isn’t the polite, jam rock of Blues Traveler; this is straight-up, punch-your-lights-out rock and roll that just so happens to have a harp player in the band who can kick most guitarists in the ass.
Watch “Bad Luck Friday”
“666 At The Crossroads” keeps the rock vibe going and, like its predecessor, deals lyrically with the idea that rock and roll is of the Devil. Wilde invokes both Bon Scott and David Coverdale on it, sneering one measure and flying high the next. He also lets his harp fly again, playing lines that wail and scream. Even though he overflows with energy, his phrasing and technique never suffer. All his ideas connect forward and his execution is sharp like a straight razor.
The melancholy power ballad “Dust & Bones” is the record’s only slow jam and tells the tale of a romance that has come to an end. It may run at a lower tempo than the other tracks here but it’s no flowery piece of radio fluff. It’s an angry, intensely-questioning song that speaks its truth in plain language. Wilde tackles the conflict head-on without becoming cliched and lame, gazing directly into his situation and telling us exactly what he sees with no sweetener added. Steve Brook adds his precise, emotive guitar lines to the arrangement and will hit you right in the feels. He’s impressive throughout the entire album.
The deep cuts also shine on Bad Luck Friday, so don’t miss “Low Down Dirty” or “Bonnie To My Clyde.” The set only contains ten songs, the perfect number, so it shouldn’t be too hard for even the shortest attention spans out there to blast through each tune. Bad Luck Friday is going to open a lot of doors for themselves with this album. They pack a lot of muscle into these tracks while keeping things accessible for fans of the old and the new. Get this lot into your headphones at once!
Pre-order Bad Luck Friday Here
Will that was crazy good .I have listened to many harp players, and they are good very good . But in my ears your the best