Careless – Coalition – CD Review
Instead of doing a straight review I have to say, I first heard “Careless” on an internet radio show called “Keep It Metal” that streams on www.rockaddictradio.com. No this is not a shameless plug for our show that is streamed on the same site. What it is, is honesty? Before Rock Addict Radio gave us our show, “The Rock Nightmare Radio Show”, I was just hanging out listening to tunes and “Careless” was playing. At first I thought wow this is old but I dug it enough to ask about it. I started to check their stuff out online. Than a few weeks later I get an email from a press agent asking if I would like to review the CD and or maybe do an interview. It was a coincidence indeed. So I gave the CD a few spins and wrote a review. Than I did the interview and it changed the way I looked at the CD.
I am not going to point out the obvious, you can hear it for yourself. The vocals are perfect. The guitar parts are perfect, and the bass and drum tracks are perfect. But what you don’t hear on the CD is that it was recorded decades apart. They did one half in the 80’s and the other half starting in 2008 and the musicianship is stellar. The production value might not be up to par with the likes of Queensryche or Rush but it’s not bad either. This is an old school metal CD made today. Not by a band that decided to make a nostalgic sounding CD. But by a few friends that just love the music, and decided it was time to get their asses in gear and release the music they made and while at it throw in some new stuff. Give it a listen for yourself. They are streaming it for free on their website. If you like BUY IT.
I interviewed Walt Kosar (guitar) you can check out the interview below
RN: For people that do not know who you are. Tell us about Careless and how you’re CD “Coalition” came about?
Walt Kosar: Jim and I met in college during the 80’s. We both studied music and I was in the practice room one day and Jim popped his head in to ask what I was playing. I said I was playing Rush and we hit it off, and from there we started to write music together. We wrote about half the recording back then. We lost touch through out the years and with the power of the internet we reconnected in 2008, and we decided all these years later that some of the material might be worth revisiting. We wrote some more and now we have “Coalition“.
RN: You live nowhere near each other, technology must have played a big part in the recording process, is that right?
Walt Kosar: Actually it was done in two parts. Again, half of it was done back in the 80’s and recently we flew out to California to lay down the new tracks. We did a lot of file sending back in forth to get things done too.
RN: Considering the long history you guys have together and you live so far apart, why after all these years did you decide to put this CD out?
Walt Kosar: Half the songs that are on “Coalition” were recorded when technology was not that great. All these years later I was writing new music and the old songs started to dwell on me. And when we reconnected we decided to put it out.
RN: Is there any chance that you guys will perform live, now and then or do a tour of some kind?
Walt Kosar: We talk about it all the time. If we had an opportunity to do it, we would. But I think it would have to be something like Europe or South America where they have a large fan base for this kind of music. That would be a dream come true.
RN: Is there a theme running through this CD?
Walt Kosar: It was written as somewhat of a concept album. If this was a record or a cassette tape, the first side and the first 6 tracks would have been one concept. If you flip the record over the next 5 tracks would be another.
RN: What are the concepts about?
Walt Kosar: Wow, James would be a better person to ask. (Laughs) The first concept is about oppression. Someone being held down and in the end he or she finds their way to make it through. So it ends on a positive note. The second concept, tracks 7 through 11 are based on a few “Isaac Asimov” novels.
RN: I just find it wild that the first six songs were written back in the 80’s and you guys just recently got back together and did the next 5 songs and you didn’t miss a beat. The CD as a whole sounds like it was recorded in one session. Most people are not on the same page after a few months. You had years apart and came back together with the same sound you had in the early years of the band.
Walt Kosar: It really is a story of friendship. It was a labor of love. We all get along great and we enjoy making music together. We are not trying to hide who we are or our age. We are not trying to be nostalgic or fake. We all grew up loving the same kind of music. and it shows.
RN: Was this just a one shot deal or is there more “Careless” music on the way?
Walt Kosar: No this is not a one shot deal. We know we are not going to get rich on this., but if we sell enough copies to make another CD great. If not we will put up the cash ourselves. Be rest assured there is more “Careless” on the way.
For more info about Careless and to hear their tunes for FREE check out: The Careless Website
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Great CD from California based band Her Bed Of Thorns. I was pleasantly surprised when I put this in. Although I don’t think the production is great, I think the songs are. Taking nothing away from any other member of the band I think Bil Griffith (Bass) stands out on a lot of the songs. While most are hard hitting like “Bad Girl”, “Broken” and the title track “Alive” I like the slower tunes “Fall Down” and “Help Me” as well. I think “Alive” is well rounded and sounds best when played loud.
