EPOCH6

Looking for modern rock bands building upon old school foundations. Bands that naturally lock into what made early 70s rock and roll so lively and intoxicating without casually imitating it on auto-pilot, bands with standout performers that clearly know what they're doing. Retro rock bands are a dime a dozen right now and it's very difficult to find any that are pumping out genuinely memorable music that exceeds the usual expectation of a quick and forgettable nostalgia dose. There seems to be about 100 bands dressed up in thrift store 70s vests, floral shirts, and bandannas playing the same song 8 different ways for an entire album for every 1 band that is genuinely killing it with the tools that Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and the Stones gave them.

The most obvious and prolific example of what I'm talking about is The Black Crowes. Especially their albums The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion, Amorica, By Your Side, and Warpaint. The Black Crowes very clearly grew out of the style of Faces, Humble Pie, Skynyrd, Foghat, the Allman Brothers, and other early 70s rock groups but still remained continually fresh for most of the 90s largely due to the standout writing/performance talents of vocalist Chris Robinson and his brother, guitarist Rich Robinson.



Chris Robinson's side project Chris Robinson Brotherhood is also excellent:



Another great example, more recent, is the Rival Sons, who still seem to be ironing out a stylistic identity for themselves, but very clearly wear their old school influences on their sleeves without coming across as generic imitators. Plenty of their material is very impressive, both in writing and performance. Jay Buchanan may very well turn out to be one of the greatest rock vocalists of this generation.



Another band very much building on the style of Faces and early Bob Seger without coming across as a karaoke act:

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