What do Dee Snider, Billy Squier, Fred Coury of Cinderella, and Bruce Kulick of KISS have in common?
They’ve all given positive reviews of the debut record by All Sinners.
When this South Coast metal quartet takes to the stage of The Vault in downtown New Bedford this Friday, February 24’th, they will be playing in support of their self-titled, four-song release, opening for the Metallica tribute band, The Four Horsemen.
Boasting a conglomeration of metal influences, this four-piece is in a position where they can make music sheerly for the love of it. And it shows.
If your tastes include 90’s Dio and Iron Maiden, as well as the contemporary sounds of Greta Van Fleet, the music coming from All Sinners should appeal to you. Built on the straight-forward foundation of drummer Roger Chouinard and bassist Bruce Morrison, the troupe is fronted by the estimable vocals of Mike Golarz and the gripping riffage of guitarists Golarz andNick Testone. The EP is available at Purchase Street Records on Pope’s Island in New Bedford and on all major streaming services.
But the accolades go beyond the praise of rock icons – the song “Rise Up” from the album is garnering airplay on WHJY’s “The Metal Zone,” the Saturday night radio show that has them in the company of giants such as Black Sabbath, Testament, Overkill, and Motorhead.
“Great music is great music, it doesn’t matter if it’s from a national band or a local band,” says Steve Scarpetti, host of “The Metal Zone.” It’s a great album, and I love supporting the local music scene. It’s tough to make it in the music industry, so if I can help them out by giving a song a few spins on my show, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”
After listening to the album, Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider expressed admiration for Golarz’s vocal performance.
“Getting recognition from anyone you were a fan of growing up is a kind of crazy feeling, it’s hard to fathom,” Golarz says. “You work all of these years to have people hear your stuff and the one time it does you think, ‘Maybe I’ve done something okay.’ I get some pride from it, but I don’t take it for granted.”
“It’s great to get praise from one of your idols,” Chouinardsays of Coury. “I remember skipping school to buy tickets to a Cinderella concert, so this is something I value very much.”
All Sinners have other local shows in the works for the coming months, one of which is an in-store performance on April 8th for a Record Release Party at Purchase Street Records, located on Route 6 in New Bedford. The band will be offering 50 signed and numbered vinyl records to those who register for the event. The band will perform the EP in its entirety in addition to new material and some covers.
There is some irony for the band that they are currently finding success while they work their proverbial “day jobs.”
“We’ve never been about getting signed by a record label,though we’re very happy with the response,” Golarz says. “It’s basically a time in our careers where we’re doing this for ourselves. We’re putting it out by ourselves and it seems to be working out better than it ever has. When you’re not doing it for the business and when you’re not so concerned with what other people think that’s when you’re going to be the most successful, and that seems to be what’s happening for us now.”
The four songs on the new record were recorded in the home studio of Shane Frisbee in Wareham, a process that took six weeks for completion. It brings together influences that range from the thrash of Megadeth and Metallica to the more melodic sounds of 80’s hair metal.
“I wrote these songs to have fun,” Golarz says. “And it’s getting more publicity and push than anything I’ve ever done. It seems to be the adage that if you don’t really care what the response is that’s when people get into it.”
Sonic SouthCoast 