Album Notes

Jeff Gay & Special Blends, a band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, has released its first recording, Kindly Requests. The effort features 12 original songs that were written by the band’s lead singer, Jeff Gay.

Jeff Gay has been accumulating music for an album release since his former group’s (Jeff Gay and the Distractions) album, As of Now, was independently released in the summer of 1997. The album received a strong review in The Coast newspaper, and the band was popular locally. The next ten years saw Jeff studying music at St. F.X. University, performing at Grafton Street Dinner Theatre and, most importantly, developing his sound.

In the spring of 2006, Jeff met Evan Cardwell while working at Musicstop in Dartmouth and the pair immediately found common musical ground. By the fall, they had made plans to record an album with producer, Charles Austin and ex-Distractions drummer Kris Moulton.

The twelve songs recorded at The Echo Chamber with Charles Austin make up the CD release, Kindly Requests, and draws on an eclectic variety of musical influences. The group’s debut mixes explosive modish rockers like Reaction, You Like It!? Let's Do It?! and Sinking Ships, with the laid-back country honk of The Wild Children of Sandra, Anhedonia and Pictou County; there’s also a wonderful duet with the enchanting Carmen Townsend on Forget All About It Awhile. The lengthier tracks, Johannesburg and Lobsters & Penguins, offer plenty of room for stretching out, with excellent guitar interaction between Gay and Cardwell.

Jeff Gay & Special Blends has released this album on its own independent label, Tossing Records. The band is making plans for a follow-up album (tentatively titled Rickety Row), again with Charles Austin at the helm. The group currently has a four piece lineup, featuring Jeff Gay, Evan Cardwell, Glen Leck (on bass) and Chris Pennell (on drums).