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"Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go"
Rare Tracks From Pat Horgan & Thunder Road expected June 2008 Hear Selected Songs: |
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"Thirteen Bones" March 2008
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"Find Your Way Back" 2002
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Finally, the first full length CD from a band that's been gigging in the Tri-State area for over 25 years.
(see bio)
Pete Dama is the band's art director. He is responsible for the striking designs of their CD's & promo material. He also designed the group's new CD package, "Find Your Way Back". 10 songs, all different. The song "Wading River" has been adopted by the Wading River (of Long Island, New York) Chamber of Commerce & can be downloaded from their website. Mark West of WOV (Otisville, New York) has been playing several tracks f rom the album and produced a 90-minute radio special on the band. The band's songs are also featured on "The Ed Tyll Show" on KOTK 1080 am, out of Portland Oregon. Ed has also produced a 60-minute special on the band. The band has also produced the theme song for "The Ed Tyll Show " on KOTK and it also plays all over the world, every day, on Ed's program on the Sirius Satellite Network. The theme plus tracks from the album can be downloaded at Ed's web site. Many tracks including "I'm On The Radio", "Lonely Town", "Wading River", and especially "Bronx Blues" have mustered regular airtime. Let the music do the talking … "Find YOUR Way Back"…. Available on Squeezebox Records. Produced by Mike Roam of Sundown Productions and Pat Horgan. | ||
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Pax Romana's: "Tapir Quasar & The Bloody" 2006 Hear Selected Songs: |
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Quarter Notes Pat Horgan & Thunder Road / Find Your Way Back By Gus Amador, More Sugar magazine March 2003 Subjected for your approval! You are entering a world where the sights and the sounds are reminiscent of days gone by, where guitar rock and roll ruled, men were men and women well they were women. Welcome to the world of Pat Horgan & Thunder Road. Had to do that cause I instantly got a flash back of me ole days in the Bronx, going to bars, listening to music and picking up babes. For those who don't know this band, whose members are predominantly from the Bronx, they have been around for years playing their brand of Rock and Roll. Nothing fancy, just Rock. Their influences vary from Aerosmith to Alice Cooper to The Ramones and to standard blues. Now that's what music is all about, embracing your roots and expanding it to fit your talent. Kudos to the boyz from Da Bronx.
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Rhythm and News Band Of the MonthPat Horgan & Thunder Road, "Livin' Life After 40" By George A. Fletcher, Rhythm and News Magazine November 2002 "All band members guaranteed Bronx Born" warns the liner notes for Pat Horgan and Thunder Road's CD, "Find Your Way Back" (Squeeze Box Records). That's a good indicator of this old-school band's attitude. But it's a hard-won attitude. Maybe it's because they have known all along that Thunder Road is a damn fine band and it's not terribly important who else knows it. These are Bronx boys. That's all anyone needs to know. They've been at it for a long time, too. Formed in 1980 by the same three guys who comprise the current Thunder Road core (Pat Horgan/guitars vocals, Michael "Mac" McNenney/bass, and Silvio Ennella, drums), the group is nicely rounded out by the additions of Peter Dama (vocals, bass, guitar), Tom Tully (vocals), and Tommy Bia (guitar). Mike Roam (vocals, bass) as well as an assortment of family members and friends also make appearances on the recording. Much of the CD is leather tough, uncompromising and loud, such as in the swaggering "Bronx Blues." "You can take the boy out of the Bronx but you can't take the Bronx out of the man," Horgan sings before growling, "Excuse me while I work this out" as he lays into the tune's solo, likely much the way he would have back in the day, except, perhaps for the gritty maturity in his tone. "You really do get better with time," Horgan said. "And we're better than ever because we're all sober now." Thunder Road punches it out with the best of them on tracks such as the prophetic "I'm On The Radio," the power ballad "Here She Comes," and the retro "Skool Daze," a rollicking rocker in the Ramones mold - featuring band family members on the chorus. "I just wanna play rock and roll music, I just wanna be in a rock and roll band." The band sums itself up best with "Barroom Musician." With its plaintive, reverb-drenched harmonica passages and powerful Skynrd-esque progression, the track speaks to every musician who ever loaded out to deserted, pre-dawn streets. "I'm a barroom musician, it's a family tradition/My grandpa played piano in a honky tonk show/Poppa played the bass guitar and momma used to sing like a movie star/It's natural I play, don't you know." Horgan said playing music was never about the money. "We don't give a shit about that," he said. "Wading River" is a great example of Horgan's ability to switch speeds and weave a beautiful melody into a great chord pattern. Nicely layered acoustic and electric guitars conjure up images of a peaceful place. Tully adds a nice touch with his vocal harmony on this tune. The song has been adopted by the Wading River, Long Island Chamber of Commerce. Mark West of (now defunct) Internet radio station WOV put several tracks from the album into his rotation and produced a 90-minute special on the band. Thunder Road's songs are also featured on the syndicated "Ed Tyll Show" on the Sirius Satellite Network. Tyll produced a 60-minute special on the band. The band has reciprocated by producing a new version of the show's theme. Thunder Road represents the best in terms of classic rock. Shades of J. Geils, Steve Miller, Springsteen, Tull, Skynyrd and ELO color this solid recording, yet the material is wholly original and inspired. Most important, this great effort proves that there is life after 40 and the Thunder Road band is out there living it and likely will for a long time to come. "There's no secret - we're best friends," Horgan said. This excellent CD was produced by Mike Roam of Sundown Productions in Poughkeepsie. The group's next gigs include Friday, Dec. 20 for the Tuff Darts reunion show at CBGB, and January 25 at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, warming up for Blue Oyster Cult.
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Find Your Way Back Pat Horgan and The Thunder Road Band By Ed Tyll March 2002 Find Your Way Back is 100% rock and roll from the heart of its creator, Pat Horgan. The opening track, "On the Radio", features screaming, inspired lead guitar licks as it ramps up on a foundation of granite hard bass lines led by a beat throbbingly similar to a human pulse and those goose bump-generating lyrics found only in an authenti c rock anthem. It's a celebration of the vortex of every great band. You can hear its reasons for being in the first verse: a "windows down" proclamation that you're gonna rock with these guys, straightaway. A blueprint for the passion that it drenches yo u in, it feels like some musical placenta being torn away from a newborn. And this kid's a natural. The temptation to play along with your favorite air instruments is irresistible; with vocal phrasing so gritty and vivid that you'll think you're in the ca r with the band blasting around town. Next it's, "Lonely Town": a collaboration from two old friends, Horgan and Dama, with a haunting honesty. It's the next scene in this rock and roll movie masquerading as a CD. The background has changed from early afternoon high speed driving above to lat e in the day where slower speeds reflect trepidation. It's a siren-like warning against your innate desire to be "taken and broken" by what you know could be dangerous but is no less tempting to that dark side in all of us. Even the guy at the gas station comes to life in a poignant backing vocal, resembling a modulated shout "don't go". The song is a precisely crafted tale within an understated framework of softer beats and subtle chord changes that heighten suspense and comfort you all at once. It might be the power of the 12 string guitar wielded by bandleader Horgan coupled with a dash accordion riffs from Peter Dama. You also feel like the lead guitar breaks from Tommy Bia underscore the narrative of a fearful entry into this dangerous place, while articulating a spirit of adventure rather than retreat. Tom Tully's lead vocal is a perfectly eerie narrator for this rock and roll episode of Twilight Zone. Track 3, "Hold On", comes on like an animated still-life painting. Warbly slide guitar accenting each carefully picked acoustic chord that seems to breathe in familiar cadence is brilliantly seasoned with Dama's elegant stand-up bass work. Introspective, abstract lyrics that were born in a moment on a living room couch with the TV on mute reflecting on a stroll around the front yard for singer/songwriter Horgan. After only a listen or two you'll start singing along with its bright crimson images of "firec rackers" and "holidays" laid over chorus of self-annunciation. And this tune never overstates itself. It gives you a glimpse of its author's vibe without wallowing in its own identity. At a little over 2 minutes, it makes itself known for a sparkling mome nt then walks away; so you get to "hold on" to it without being held against your will. A quality shared by Pat with great tunesmiths of every era and overlooked by the Matchbox 20's and Ben Folds Five's that morosely dwell on every verse/chorus/verse tha t they stumble upon. Horgan never slips into this audience abuse. "Bronx Blues", song 4, is a dual roots tribute. If you know the blues, but you've never set foot in New York City, it's a classy rendition of everything that Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon hoped to leave behind as legacy. But if you've ever spent anytime i n the boroughs of NYC, or if you're lucky enough to have walked the streets of the "only borough with a 'The'", then you'll smile along with it's sexy, classic rhythms and concrete snapshots of life in the hardcore of the Big Apple, The Bronx. It's "conco urse lovin'" with your "homegrown and your baby" will make you whip this tune out in front of your first date, back at the apartment. I'm not saying it will get you sexed up on your first night together, but it will get you damn close. The real accomplish ment for the band here is to make this legendary chord progression fit the signature lyrical style of Horgan and Co., and in this sultry collage of soul and urban geography, it's a perfect match. The skilled trio of Horgan, guitars & vocal, Michael "Mac" McNenney, bass, and Silvio Ennella, drums, put up a comfortable wall of sound here, suitable for Blues lovers to lean whenever the mood hits them.
"Wading River", track 5, explores another dimension of the group. Originally a single, the song stood on its own for the band's original fans and following. But here it shows up in context of this complex work. Seemingly the story of a place of refuge fro
m the harsh reality of the start of every week with our personal baggage strapped firmly in place, it offers not just the hope of peace and rest at some point, but a reassurance that eventually we all arrive at some destination. Horgan paints it as a race
from the loneliness of the city with a "6-pack and guitar" in tow to that beautiful stretch of beach out on New York's Long Island.
"Lord of the Sun Overture", song 6, starts off the second half of the album with a hypnotic instrumental co-written by Pat Horgan and Peter Dama. It's one of their earliest joint ventures from decades ago. Horgan reflected in a recent interview that the s ong was supposed to jumpstart his own rock opera in the wake of The Who's famous Tommy. But what remains of that early dream and design is a soothing self-search that rolls over you with wordless lyricality. It sounds like a rich collection of un-annuncia ted thoughts and meanings, but what's left for you is a tool to for your own imagination. "Warrior Game", track 7, hits a compelling storytelling stride, building with every song progressively, that is evident from its first words. Like every great tale it's inspired by graphic human behavior. It sets a mood of despair lifted from the pages of the newspaper and filtered through a prism of reaction and emotion. The endless repetition of the sounds of commuting to work via the railroad can be heard in its gnawing beat and chilling guitar strums. The violence that gave rise to the domestic crime story related here pales as the explanation for what underlies it is conducted in the lyrics. It's essential art and pure Pat Horgan, as he relates this all too familiar plot line with muted rage and drapes it in a sweet sound curtain that betrays the hor ror that it describes and reforms it with insight and passion. Song 8, "Here She Comes", is yet another audio incarnation for Pat Horgan and Thunder Road. Pushing his guitar and voice to technical heights not heard until this late stage of a varied and complex collection, you can feel wind and distance in this cut. A gain as earlier, it's hard to imagine only three dudes creating this enormous sound. Horgan's doing double guitar duty, Mac's bass is a powerful stanchion, and Silvio majestically stands alone behind this infantry of beats and rolls. But, as so often on t his CD, it's Horgan's vocals that put the knife through your comfort zone and demand rapt attention. In his own lyrics, it's like a "race car driver" or "Jack the Ripper" in its intensity. Then it's into overdrive with a lead guitar break that's textured to drive you to crank your volume to the max. Number 9, "Skool Daze", will have you jumpin' from its Ramones tribute countdown start to its closing declaration. It's a Thunder Road Band-plus production with mosh pit pounding background vocals and harmonies from band mates, family and friends (Mike Ho rgan, Ian and Paris Dama, Pat and Peter's kids, and Ed Tooley). So with a studio literally full of generations, Horgan's story of this adolescent schoolyard craving hits home with every rock and roller that's ever screamed out the chant, "I just wanna pla y…" Mac's bellowing bass-tone voice on the coach's admonition reminds you of "Summertime Blues", Who-style and leaves you with a mischievous grin. But the real highlight here is Pat's inspired lead guitar solo, one of many throughout the CD from this tota lly driven band boss that serves up the excitement without limit. Closing cut # 10, "Barroom Musician", features Michael "Mac" McNenney as lead vocal on this retrospective of the band over the years. It strikes a host of universal themes for everyone who's ever played a gig. Ed Tooley's blazing harmonica solo, the "10:4 5 break" and "packing up the van"; if you've ever been there in "Omaha" or some other place far from home, you'll drift back instantly. It's a fitting text for Horgan to write and then step back and enjoy himself. Incidentally, he is the voice of the bar tender, reminding patrons that, "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." This is a masterwork that fermented in the making for years, but was worth every minute of the wait, and you'll hear why if you follow some instructions. As you're directed on the back cover, it's designed to be played loud. So don't cheat yourself, do as you're told. With the interpretive skills of Mike Roam in production and engineering, it's an album that raises the bar for itself on expectations. Horgan once said that he didn't like albums that sound the same throughout, and here he's truly succeeded in meeting his own standard. Find Your Way Back is genuine gamut runner, just as Pat Horgan's always been. Inside Peter and Elizabeth Dama's spectacular cover artwork, you'll see Horgan and his original band mates, Mac and Silvio on stage in 1979. At once you'll know, just as you've heard, that this CD is 100% from the gut, authentic rock and roll.
Ed Tyll is the host of two daily radio shows, both strangely enough, named "The Ed Tyll Show." One airs on the Sirius Satellite Network (7am-9am PST) , one on KOTK 1080 am (10 am-12 noon PST) Ed is also an on-air correspondent for CNN (Cable News Network).Ed also digs that crazy rock-and-roll & has forgotten more about it than most of us will ever know. Also, only when pressed, he will admit to playing drums & keyboards in rock bands in The Bronx, back in the day. Not to mention a helluva lead vocal on Zeppelin's "D'yer Maker." The ED TYLL SHOW is now broadcast on WLIE 5410 am Island talk radio Mon-Fri noon-3pm. |
