Austin Sound

Eve and the Exiles are back with their sophomore release Blow Your Mind, a fantastic party record full of 1960s inspired garage rock and a shot of blues. Cut on 2-inch analog tape at the Sweatbox Studios in Austin, Blow Your Mind features a 14 track program packed with precisely the kind of music that has made this outfit an Austin institution in their six years together.

Houston native Eve Monsees, who grew up jamming alongside her next door neighbor Gary Clark, Jr., picked up the guitar when she was twelve years old. Back in July 2007, I had the opportunity to sit down with Clark, who had plenty to say about Monsees and their early years growing up together. Monsees had started playing a year before he did, Clark recalls. “We would sit around. She was listening to like the Ramones, things like that. So we’d just kind of feed off each other. She taught me a lot. I remember her teaching me bar chords and things like that.” Monsees and Clark formed their first garage jam band together, with Clark’s cousin on bass and younger sister on drums. Things moved quickly for the aspiring musicians, and when Clifford Antone took notice of their interest in the blues, he arranged to get them on stage at his downtown Austin club. “He was open arms,” Clark reminisces. “‘Come on kids, let me show you this.’ And he got us up our first time at Antone’s playing with James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, George Raines, Tommy Shannon, [and] Mojo Buford.” The two frequented blues jams at Joe’s Generic Bar and Babe’s, and later joined a band with the late Uncle John Turner.

Monsees’ tastes and repertoire grew after she started working at Antone’s Record Shop, where she met Mike Buck, the original drummer for the Fabulous Thunderbirds. The two formed Eve and the Exiles in 2002. Along with Grady Pinkerton (guitar) and Speedy Sparks (bass) the group recorded their self-titled debut two years later. Monsees was recently recruited by Eddie Stout of the local independent blues label Dialtone Records to appear on the excellent Texas Northside Kings album (DT0017), released in 2007.

The Exiles’ current lineup continues to feature Buck on the sticks, along with Pat Collins on bass, Homer Henderson on guitar, and Donna Pearl sharing vocal duties with lead guitarist Monsees. Monsees’ playing never fails to impress, as her trademark green guitar cuts and slashes with strong support from the Exiles rhythm section on tough garage rockers like the title track “(I Could) Blow Your Mind,” “Key To My Door,” and “Whatever You Do.” “Got My Head Spinnin’” and “Don’t Take My Baby” are vintage rock & roll, and Buck demonstrates why he remains one of the Lone Star State’s finest drummers on the groovy “Honey I Need.” Blues fans are treated to a lazy Jimmy Reed-style stroll with Monsees-penned “Go For A Drive,” and the album closes with a classic Exiles up-tempo rocker “All I Want.”

Nothing beats catching Eve and the Exiles live, but Blow Your Mind is the next best thing. Fans of garage rock and blues will want to check this one out.

Roger Gatchet writes for Living Blues magazine and hosts “Blues At Sunrise” as DJ Smokehouse Brown every Wednesday from 7-9 AM on KVRX 91.7 FM.

Websites:
www.eveandtheexiles.com
Myspace