Ray, Olive, Jax, and Aris make up SHØWGUN. On Playing With Fire, they sound much larger than a regular quartet. For one, they make sure to play it loud, so loud. This is the ear-ringing, intoxicating loudness that rock should embrace rather than reject. It is what it used to be. Interestingly, it took college students to come back to their roots.

This is not to say that they play what has been played before. While familiar at certain moments, this is entirely their personality poured into the piece. Ray’s riffs rocket through, his journey to get here, and the hardship and strain of choosing this creative endeavor are part of the song’s inherent DNA.

Olive’s desire to understand her father’s musical career also emerges while her bass anchors things. Blasting through with his insistence on marching to the beat of a different drummer, Jax is that drummer. He stands up for the outcasts and iconoclasts who have been essential to life. Aris came to this with his lost love of music, a passion the rest of the band reignited.

Together Playing With Fire defines SHØWGUN as people. Their first mission statement they make sure to hold nothing back. They barrel through, refusing to take no for an answer, working through everything necessary to be that band that makes it, that proves it is still possible to succeed. And they are just getting started.

 Post Views: 6,923