Ben Rogers’ Instrumental Asylum is Ben (guitar), Nikki Scarlett (bass) and Denis Close (drums). Based in Melbourne, Australia, this high-energy, trio plays a mix of rocking reverb drenched surf/gypsy/Tarantino original compositions and instrumental standards that pay homage to their influences (Link Wray, Django Reinhardt, Ventures, Atlantics, Shadows, Duane Eddy), but with their own distinctive distorted twang and tough edge.
• “…this is a band that takes no prisoners.” – Matthew Frederick, The Melbourne Age (Australia)
• “…a majestic reading of the Shadows’ Geronimo…“glimpses of Django Reinhardt, Peter Green and J.J. Cale poke through Rogers' Strat...” – Dan Forte, Vintage Guitar Magazine (USA)
• “Huge guitar, intense energy, and very emotional” – Phil Dirt, Reverb Central (Santa Cruz USA)
• “A muscular, lovingly distorted guitar sound” – Greg Haymes, Times Union (Albany USA)
• "Against the hard-driving rhythm section of Nikki Scarlett on bass and Denis Close on drums, Ben fires salvo after salvo of tastily aggressive licks…” – Alan Taylor, Pipeline (UK)
• “There are no vocals on this album. They would be superfluous on material interpreted by Ben Rogers, a guitar player whose genre bending technique, taste and eclecticism place him among the world’s great guitarists.” – Billy Pinnell, Music Australia Guide (Australia)
• “The overall one-two punch of dazzling instrumentals played by expert hands makes Reverb Rehab one of the most favorable guitar instrumental CDs of the millenium” – Robert Silverstein, 20th Century Guitar (USA)
• “Their cover of Dick Dale’s Shake’n’Stomp is feverishly hot and the opening track KangaRoux could run at the beginning of the next Tarantino movie.” – Karl Mayerhofer, Australian Guitar.
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