It’s always great when you see an artist that can just have fun with their art. When musicians are able to laugh at themselves and simply enjoy what they’re doing over worrying solely about how the public will perceive their music, it’s really refreshing. This is definitely Sports Coach.
Sports Coach is all for the love of the game and for the love of music. Not as ambient as his other project Holm., Coach is brimming with charisma.
Whilst the alias behind Sports Coach is still quite elusive you can see from the description that this is more about the music rather then the artist itself. The only real information about who is Sports Coach is the self-description on his Bandcamp page which contains gems such as “I’m Coach T-Bone, I coach the pee wee squad” and “Ex-men refer 2 me as ‘The Eagle’. What we do know for a fact is Coach originates from Boston, Massachusetts, he also performs under the alias of Holm. and if you couldn’t tell by now, he really loves his sport…and music.
Sounding very much like a mix of The Clash and The Saints, the album, Blood & Sweat & Tears & Victory is a mixture of tracks with titles that are a combination of weird, whacky and pleasantly humorous. The album takes the listener on a tempo roller-coaster from one track to the next. The slower tracks are intimately engaging and then foot-tapping and head thrashing for the faster and grittier tracks. It is very skillfully constructed as it takes the listener on a complete listening experience rather then simply pumping out one song to the next.
Coach T-Bone is the opening track for the album and sets the listener up for the rest of the album. There is a really strong influence of The Clash on this track vocally, getting great vibes of London Calling. Around two and half minutes in the song really takes off with a strong and demanding drum presence that support the vocals.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/189876495″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
With a great short yet welcomed instrumental intro is They used to call me ‘Thunder’ Back in ‘86. One of the slower tracks on the album, the shining quality of this song is the vocals. There is an echo and distant sense to them that make the listener almost feel like they are reminiscing. Now whether that’s back to being called Thunder in ’86 or not, the use of the echo is something quite skilfully executed. It provides this subtle layer to the track that takes the song from a ‘black-and-white piece’ to one full of welcomed ‘grey and creative’ elements.
Before we even start to talk about the musical segments of this particular track let us first marvel at simply the title – There was a lady in my life once…her name was Victory and she was an Ox. I don’t think I have ever come across a song title so out of the box and unique before so without even needing to hear the track – instant two thumbs up! The guitar in this track is, apart from the title, the standout element. The guitar is looped throughout the song and then juxtaposed to the repetitious lyrics to create a track that if I knew an Ox named Victory, would be quite a fitting track to dedicate to her.
Whilst there have been no tours announced for Sports Coach he will be performing at Sluggos’s Vegetarian Café in Pensacola, Florida on April 25th. It will be interesting to see what’s next for Sports Coach and where he will take his music next.
FIND OUT MORE ON
▲ FACEBOOK ▲ TWITTER ▲BANDCAMP
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176818529″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
