Chicago’s R&B rockers the Velcro Lewis Group are the band that the Eagles of Death Metal should aspire to be. While EoDM makes its rootsy, boogie rock about oozing sex and booty shaking, The Velcro Lewis Group is way more subtle and soulful. Before you know it the songs on White Magick Summer have the listener on his/her feet as singer Andy Slater (aka Velcro Lewis) delivers his sermon.

Perhaps it is unfair to compare the two groups, but from the first few chords of album opener “Steam Powered Man,” the Eagles of Death Metal was the first contemporary band to come to my mind. Slater’s vocals captivate with a certain strain and grit that suggests the man attached has seen it all and there’s a hard-won wisdom riled up and ready to screech out of his body.

The album’s second track, “Fall to Pieces,” sounds as though it time traveled from a 1960s blues rock record with its distorted, psychedelic guitar solos, driving organ and synths playing throughout.

The essential standout track on White Magick Summer is “Echoes of my Tears.” Mournful, smokey guitar solos envelop Slater as he finds his inner Joe Cocker and testifies. The pain and heartbreak pour out of Slater as he and his backing vocalists ask the eternal question, “I Know it’s late, but I want to know are you still mine?”

The Velcro Lewis Group is extremely adept at making the songs off White Magick Summer sound older than they are. The use of home-made instruments such as band member Lawrence Peters’ electric washboard, Paully Rocco’s lap steel, and Slater’s diddley Bow (which can be heard on the blues gospel-like closing track “Dust Where I Lay”) give the whole album a more authentic blues rock sound.

White Magick Summer is the perfect blend of groovy soul, down in the dumps blues and gritty psychedelic rock. The record makes you forget completely that this is an album that came out in 2010, and that’s a good thing.

The Velcro Lewis Group are vocalist Velcro Lewis (Andy Slater), lead vocalist and percussionist Hawk Colman, keyboardist and lead guitarist Phil Hunger, bassist Halden Spoonwood, Paully Rocco on guitar and lap steel, and Lawrence Peters on electric washboard and drums.

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Catch The Velcro Lewis Group on Sunday, August 29, at Saki Record Store playing a FREE in-store or on Wednesday, 9/22 at Lincoln Hall! Tickets are available right now at Lincolnhallchicago.com for $12.
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