August 18 2013 – Ever since our Emerging Artist Spotlight article back in May, TMAK World has been following the rise of this hard working, hard charging Toronto rock band, The Bleeding Lights. The culmination of their hard work has come in the form of their debut CD – From Here To The Truth which had it’s CD release party at The Horseshoe Tavern on August 10 2013. The seriousness with which frontman Owen Kelly took the mic on the opening track, It’s All On You, echoes the conviction and direction with which this band treats their craft. The soaring guitar riffs from Brian Paul are punctuated by the solid classic rock vocals of Kelly in a style reminiscent of The Tea Party’s Jeff Martin. The radio friendly Skin and Bones is bound to hit the airwaves as purist alike will gravitate to this classic rock throwback. Rounding out this quartet is drummer, Glenn Neath and bass guitar Nic Vurro.
The third and sixth tracks, Tremor and Candles slow things down with a comfortable ease as they transitions into power ballad territory with Kelly in full command of his instrument. The dreamy mystical openings belies the hard rock to come. The 80’s Brit rock inspired stylings on What If shows just how versatility The Bleeding Lights truly are. And versatility is the new paradigm in today’s music industry if you want to succeed. The throngs of fans attending this CD release just didn’t happen by chance. Social media has become an increasingly larger piece of any bands business model. From iTunes to Sound Cloud, Facebook to Youtube, each online presence provides one more opportunity for The Lights to connect to their core audience. And the buzz at the Horseshoe had them connecting in spades.
To close out the set The Bleeding Lights offered up classic 70’s easy listening sounds on Like That taking fans in a wondrous new direction as Kelly’s powerful vocals were tempered by ethereal and haunting keyboard sounds of Mark Kelson and Brian Paul.
Verdict: From the moment they took the stage, The Bleeding Lights were all business and it showed. This indie rock quartet connected and captured the sounds and energy of a band with a message. From classic rock to power ballads, Brit sounds to 70’s musings, The Bleeding Lights no holds barred stage presence did it all.
All killer and no filler
SET LIST
- IT’S ALL ON YOU
- SKIN AND BONES
- TREMOR
- COLLIDE
- FOR ALL THAT I KNOW
- CANDLES
- KNOWING YOU
- WHAT IF
- SEE YOURSELF
