Album Notes

Dave Lombardi is passionate about passion. For years his former Chicago bar band the Juice Dogs, played a raucous, extremely loud and energized punk blues aimed to either excite or annihilate the audience. There was no middle ground. Audience members caught having a conversation were targets.

The band turned up their amps and shot their jagged, raw, bluesy edges directly at bringing them on board or literally driving them out of the place. Lombardi seemed equally satisfied with either result.

Dave Lombardi's musical interests though are much more complex than his blow the roof off the dump Juice Dog days might suggest. He is a serious student of a variety of types of blues and jazz, and feels a religious connection with Van Morrison.

On this his first solo compliation he turns all the formerly extroverted energy inward. He explores with lyrics, melodies and textures areas completely foreign to the whiskey and beer bound Juice Dogs. But the essence is the same. No middle ground. As forcefully as the JD's used to try to blow roofs off and ears out, Lombardi now tries just as hard to pull his audience inward with him into his inner landscapes.

To those familiar with both stages of his musical path, Dave Lombardi's new music may seem much more tame and quiet. Careful listeners, however, will see that the force behind Dave's new music is significantly more raw and edgy than it has ever been.