The Vasco Era - Miles

Mon 13th Jun, 2005 in Music Reviews

The Vasco Era are comprised of brothers Sid and Ted O’Neill, with Ted Fitzgerald backing them up on the drums, and if you’ve listened to radio in the past few months, chances are you’ve heard some of their material. Their song Kingswood is part of the wave of garage rock smash hits sweeping the nation and the world. It starts off low and subdued, but then kicks into some blasting, toe-tapping rhythms, with an awesome singalong chorus, and some short but memorable guitar solos. It’s easily one of the cream of the garage crop.

But a big hit single is not all that the Vasco Era bring to the table with their new Miles EP. Don’t Go To Sleep makes excellent use of singer’s rough vocals, opening with a coarse verse and hand clapping, before the wailing guitars and drums crash in, and at high speed too. He Came Along Again is more of the same, once again keeping the song moving quick and fast. Finally, closer Turn To Blue turns all that has come before it on it’s ear. It’s an awesome soft acoustic road number, which once again manages to keep toes tapping. O’Neill proves he’s got a delicate singing voice as well as the coarse shouting present in the earlier songs and there’s some awesome slide guitar work as well.

All in all, the Miles EP could be one of the releases of the year. A perfect combination of a big hit single, a couple of songs in the same vein, and then a change of pace to prove the bands dexterity, it easily sets itself apart from the field, and any future work from these guys should be eagerly anticipated.