ALBUM REVIEW: Art of Persuasion – The Brew

Occasionally in the music world you get a band or group that come along that are made up of family members and English meat and potatoes band THE BREW are no exception, but with a twist. Consisting of Jason Barwick on guitar and lead vocals and including Tim and Kurtis Smith on bass and drums respectively, Tim just so happens to be the father of Kurtis. Imagine that having your dad in the band and travelling the world together, that’s pretty cool, looking over at the stage and not only seeing a band member but your dad as well.

Now approaching their sixth record, THE BREW have ploughed a career path that has produced a solid back catalogue that leads to the new record titled Art of Persuasion. Most bands at this point in their career should be playing bigger and bigger rooms but, the music industry being what it is, THE BREW have never seemed to move into bigger rooms and have plateaued somewhat. But that’s no big thing, not all bands can be METALLICA but they can damn well try to get there and why not.

THE BREW are the type of band akin to something like STATUS QUO what you see is what you get, take it or leave it. Opener Seven Days Too Long is a template for the rest of the record, a greasy riff melds into a muscly bass groove akin to the best of any band in the 70s, in fact if you knew next to nothing about THE BREW you would think this band were from that era. Less on the nose lyrics about “crisp packets blowing in the wind” though would have made this a highlight of the album. One Line Crimes follows is and is a shorter blast to the senses but is still a track that is ahem ‘brewed’ with THE BREW‘s sound.

If there is anything missing from the album as a collection though is its lack of variation and an out and out ‘single’. Now this works, or worked, for some bands like the aforementioned STATUS QUO or AC/DC but in this day and age variety is the spice of life and listeners demand more from a collection of songs. There are some great blues influenced tracks though so there is hope for the future for THE BREW to develop their sound further. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks regardless how long the bands career has been.

With the band unbelievably going into their second decade now, they are clearly comfortable in their own skin and although they may not reach the heady heights of other bands that have walked in their shoes before, they have clearly made a record that is quintessentially theirs in sound and style and for that,THE BREW should be applauded. They haven’t changed, they probably won’t change either but will crank out good ol’ meat and potatoes rock n’ roll for their fans and everyone else be damned.

Rating: 7/10

Art Of Persuasion is out now via Napalm Records. 

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