Album Notes

Badder than Shaft, Superfly, James Bond, and Kung Fu all rolled together, it the hottest, hippest blues band you ever gonna see. We're coming your way, and we're here to stay - just like that sleazy uncle who won't stop grabbing your butt!

The sound: Electric blues

The band: Dave Minda (naturally), guitar and vocals; Matt McClintock, bass; John Brainard, drums; Hot Dog John Minda, the guitarist's dad (a hot dog vendor), blues harp.

The story: Minda, an accomplished slide guitarist, played in Erin Burkett's band for more than six years, starting his own band for something to do on Burkett's off-nights. McClintock is still in Burkett's band. Minda's inspirations range from old-school masters to the British blues invasion led by Eric Clapton.

The album: "Toast You!" features 16 blues originals, kicking things off with a playful B.B. King-style tribute to a complicated woman. Sample lyric: "I met a fine girl and I made her my wife/Can't figure her out to save my life/Bought her a diamond/She said she wanted a pearl/I said, 'Let's have a little boy,' she said she'd rather have a girl."

"American Idol" Smackdown: Minda's album closes with an angry blast at young sensations by the 30-something Minda ("Well, you talk about your life filled with trouble/Ha! Is that what you think?/You talk about lost love and livin' life on the rocks/You ain't old enough to drink/Don't tell me 'bout your future 'cause you haven't got a past/You think you'll stay forever, but I know you'll never last.").

(From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette 3/30/06)