MUSINGS & RAMBLINGS

Then things went bad with a serious problem with alcohol for certain members. Their shows became fewer and the shows got sloppy and disjointed. The Aces were just not really "together" for several years. Their shows became a hit or miss situation, with the early part fine and the later part a mess. Skye could really play harp lying down on the floor. Now the band drinks water, has their attitude back, and they are in command again.

The Aces start with Mike "Junk Johnson" Gutsch on drums with a unique style of simple drumming. Mike often stands up to drum (though he was sitting down at this gig) and his drums are arranged differently than other drummers. The cymbals are way low. The result with the Aces is a relentless pounding style that very much works right on the basic riff being played--and right into your skull.

David Burke is the rhythm guitarist who really plays bass for the Aces --sort of like Brewer Phillips used to do for Hound Dog Taylor. He uses a low toned Telecaster for this like Brewer did. David does a powerful job playing the basic lick of the song. It’s one of the oddities of the Aces that David who’s well known locally for his hard cider voice and his powerful lead guitar work is the mostly non-singing rhythm guitarist. When you listen closely to the Aces you realize that it’s all based on David pounding the rhythm riff right into your head.

Derek Irving had and has that slick guitar-star-on-stage-with-a-sharp-suit persona and a passel of custom guitars. Girls smile at Derek. Derek smiles back. Derek has the stage front of the guitar hero down pat. He actually plays a lot of very old time traditional blues licks in a slick lead guitar manner. He pounds you while looking like it’s sparkle show time.

Fronting all this is six foot two Skye O’Bannion, with his out thrust jaw and slick blonde pompadour. Skye dares you not to like it. His tall massive stage presence is almost patented “chip on the shoulder” stuff. Skye writes or maybe improvises all the song lyrics. It’s hard to tell, as he more than most harp players prefers to sing a lot through his harp mic. Sometimes he’ll sing through both the harp mic and the house mic at the same time. When you do catch the words it’s a stream of consciousness about very bluesy topics like growing up poor and living out on farm roads and how bad women are and other fine stuff. Sometimes it seems to be Jack Kerouac poetry. A lot of the time he’s making lyrics you can’t understand in one fine hard ass tenor voice. You don’t even care that you can’t quite work out the words. It sounds great and it’s got a ton of blues attitude. Skye has that “I could be a loose cannon, you’ll just have to find out” look led by an Elvis-class sneer.

They started off right away with Derek showing off some guitar licks, Skye’s amp way overloaded and distorted. Doing a slow pounder they got several of us out on the floor immediately despite the Russian River Brewery’s reputation for having lots of young guys in t-shirts that can’t dance. The next number had a rhythm pattern sort of like Roy Head’s “Treat her Right” and got more people up dancing, it was something about “One Drink of Wine, Two Drinks Of Gin” which seemed to ring a bell with a lot of the guys there.

Other highlights of the first set included Skye’s droning through his mike and playing great harp on “Loose your Mind.” “You gonna loose, no matter what you do; I’ve got to know what’s on your worried mind.” This one was almost freaky in the drawn out feel of the song against the grinding pound of the rhythm. Skye’s harp sounded like it was coming from a long way away. Seemingly, Skye was the voice on the other end of the phone, “I’ve gotta know what’s on your worried mind.”

Turning the front man chores over to David, he switched to his Stratocaster, turned up the tremolo on his amp, and did a cutting rendition of “Jealous Man (You can look at my woman but you better not touch).” David just plain has that voice with the “aarrgghh” in it, there are few around like him.

Skye announced, “Here’s one of the few cover tunes we do.” It was a Robert Lockwood Jr. number, something about “My girl Left Town.” That was followed by a mordant version of “The Drinking Song” done as incoherently as possible. Right about here Skye had me go get him another glass of water.

Skye began to do old harmonica tricks like those old photos of Sonny Boy Williamson II, with the harp half way out of his mouth and blowing a simple tune on it. Then Skye got it all the way inside his mouth and did those suck and blow noises with it that made your mother take away your harmonica. All the while the full O’Bannion thrust out jaw attitude was on display. “I dare you to laugh.” All the while the band played a slow pounding beat of slamming regularity like old Muddy Waters tunes.

One of the features of Skye O’Bannion is total stream of consciousness ramblings within a constructed blues song. Skye let go on an autobiographical “Down the Country Road Of Pain” (or something like that). Skye grew up in the old Sonoma County of chicken ranches, apple growing, and agriculture before gentrification. Back before country roads were something sentimental or precious. Skye let go with a whole rap about being alone out there in the country and poor and wanting to have something and finding the harmonica. It was done with a microphone adjusted to sound like a World War Two ship loudspeaker and was hard to make out and hypnotic. The band slammed the slow drag beat behind him steadily. Drone, trance, and blues all in one.

Then the band got really mordant and had a sing-a-long number for all the young guys in T-shirts in the audience: “Let’s Get High!” with its catchy chorus of “Let’s get Hi-yagh!” Yes, a real crowd pleaser for sure, with a simple refrain for those who’ve had a few. Somehow the band members managed to drink water up on stage during the song. Irony is not lost on the Aces.

Derek took over with some wild lead guitar on a fast tune I think is called “Don’t Come Down” or something like that. Derek impressed me with a whole bunch of old time blues licks done in a very modern flashy style that fit perfectly with the pounding beat. Derek grabbed a chair, sat down, and switched to his slide guitar (three ‘lipstick tube’ pickups in a strat body; very nice) and did a part Hound Dog Taylor/part Son House tune.

The last set was a riff and vamp showcase, as by this time the confirmed sitters had decreased and lots more dancers were out on the floor. I remember “Can’t Get You Off My Mind” as being a lot of fun. Skye nuzzled the microphone and was in complete command of the whole song. You know all those obsessions you have? Well, Skye’s there to help you with your problem.

Then the band did something like fifteen minutes of the ancient drone two chord “Smokestack Lightning” vamp with it’s single minor third change and Skye mouthing distorted incomprehensible words like the voice in the back of your mind that you can’t really quite hear. Pounding continued on, making the dancers wild and the cement walls a primitive reverb chamber.

It’s really good to see The Aces back and in control of their own destiny. Nobody sounds like them, and nobody has their whole conception of the blues. It’s blues all the way; it just has an edge and focus that isn’t like bar bands. They aren’t trying to be just like others. They aren’t generic. Guys, it’s good to have you back.

Their old website last updated four years ago:
Their old website last updated four years ago: