It is always nice to unearth a hidden gem from an under the radar artist. Aaron Skiles is a Bay area musician and former front man of Bourbon Therapy. His new solo album, “Wreckage from the Fire”, was co-produced and co-written by Matt Patton, bass player for the Drive-By Truckers. For the project, Patton assembled an all-star cast to play on the record. Patton plays bass and provides backing vocals. Also on the record are, Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers)-piano-keys, Taylor Hollingsworth (Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band)-lead guitar and A.J. Haynes (Seratones)-backing vocals. The result of this collaboration is a raw, genre bending album with fuzzy guitar and edgy vocals, that revels in its minimalistic approach. In fact, one of the songs is titled “A Triumph of Three Chords”, which pretty much sums up the album.
The album kicks in with immediacy on the opener, “Quarandream”, a short instrumental jam. This son is the prefect opener for the Punk influenced “Come With Me”. Collectively these songs get the album off to a rocking start. However, the album is not without emotion. “Before You Go” has a powerful story told with a military drum cadence in the background. As a senior at West Point, Skiles had a friend who killed himself by jumping off of their dorm building just before graduation. He had been trying to write about this for years and was finally able to do it for this album. You can hear the raw emotion in the song. “Sliver” is a Power-Pop tour de force. “On My Own” moves with an Indie-Rock vibe which shows Skiles diversity.
To record the album Skiles headed from Oakland to Patton’s studio in Mississippi. Based on this release, I hope there are more collaborations of these two in the future.
About the author: Chip and his family live in Birmingham, AL. Roll Tide!