Head Honchos "Bring It On Home" Brings It Home and Back

What are the Head Honchos? Well besides a great name for a band they are a father-son guitar wrecking crew playing blues based rock and roll that might be described as a blitzkrieg of sound. If you were raised on the blues, southern rock or mid-western bar band boogie, this is all of the above. In fact it's darn near impossible to categorize.

Their latest effort, "Bring It On Home", blows the doors off of conventional descriptions or hip adjectives. This stuff will melt the wax out of your ears. The dual guitar assault of Rocco Calipari Sr. and his son Rocco Jr. harkens back to a time when the philosophy of more guitars the better was fashionable. Nowadays we're fortunate in a band if there is one person who can play moderately well.

"Not For Me" opens the set with ruthless intensity, with drummer Will Wyatt leading the charge. There's almost a native American thing going on, and of course the blues and southern rock. The guitar solo pierces and comes at you from both speakers, like a two pronged attack. "Old and Tired" calms things slightly combining rock and soul. Vocals are handled by Rocco Sr. and drummer Wyatt. "Soul Thing" is next and it truly is a soul thing, the band reeling off some great instrumentation between players while progressing into kind of a jam band rocker toward the middle part of the song. This is next level guitar playing so don't try this at home.

"Work" is a blue collar anthem probably written for the band's fan base; working class folks who are likely shakin' their heads around. Bassist Mike Boyle does a nice little solo and then the boys Rocco create more decibel madness toward the end of the song. "Come Strong" might be the most commercially viable song on the record, but it's one of many stand-out tracks. "Next To You" is another smooth blues rocker with some great slide guitar parts. There is so much great sound for your ears to devour on this 13 song journey.

"Mean Old World" is an impassioned blues-rocker that sounds a tad like Lenny Kravitz minus the production gimmickry and with far better guitar work. "Fire On The Bayou" is an apt song title for something that actually seems to have been birthed somewhere in a Louisiana forest. Another bold combination of blues, soul and swampy southern rock. "Lucky's Train" mixes a funky guitar riff with some blues harmonica, played by drummer Wyatt. This is a big, bold expression of the all of the above presentation. The guitars end up fighting their way into the meaty part of the song even though there is so much other ear candy going on.

"Whiskey Devil" is yet another style. A fast funky shuffle with horns and a cool vocal arrangement. The guitar solos are intense and fluent. If I were a radio programmer I'd pick this song as a single since it's like an all you can eat blues rock buffet. "That Drivin' Beat" retains the horn section and delivers a rockin' dance floor anthem. This far into the album you are probably rather astonished at how diverse things have been thus far. To say there are a few twists and turns would be an understatement. Team Rocco is killing it on every song, and the band is making about as much noise as humanly possible.

"99 1/2 Won't Do" is a plea for 100 percent devotion from a woman who doesn't understand the nature of what the Honchos need. A great horn chart and funky grooves on guitar, followed by another monumental solo. This album just won't quit! The band covers "Going Down" (the old blues standard) except they light it on fire and throw guitar gasoline on it. "Soul Free" is the cool down after all the partying and guitar fireworks. There are acoustic guitars! This is much like the cherry on the sundae of an incredible collection of blues based soul rockers. All driven by an amazing group of musicians obviously dedicated to making music the old fashioned way in an era where people lack the understanding to truly appreciate it.

The Head Honchos are some mighty fine musician Honchos indeed. Go out and find a copy of this and Bring It On Home!