‘Back in Business Again’ is the lastet release by fiery rock and rollers, The Hooten Hallers. Featuring ten brand new original songs, the band blend Jazz and blues influences with rock to make a wholly original and inspiring sound.
The Hooten Hallers have been touring and playing together for fifteen years and they have managed to recreate that tight live sound on ‘Back in Business Again’. The fiery upbeat titular opening song assaults the listener with a blues inspired aural treat as it delivers its message of positivity, and encouragement to face the trials and tribulations that life throws up. Not letting up for even a second, driving slide guitar and a thunderous beat follows on the dynamic ‘The Cobbler’s Children’.
The power trio of musicians that make up the band are Andy Rehm (drums/vocals), John Randall (guitar/slide guitar/vocals), and Kellie Everett (baritone and bass saxophones/vocals). And, while all three contribute equally to the music and sound the band create, Everett’s baritone saxophone is the star of the show here. More than just the anchor that holds Rehm and Randall in place, her swirling playing and complex arrangements helps take the music to new level.
Ragtime jazz flows through the foot tapping ‘Heal It’, while the 1950’s rock and roll influence on ‘Now That I Know’ and ‘Broke That Spell’, displays the versatility contained within the band. Frantic fun unfolds in the camp ‘Vankiller’, a song dedicated to the many tour vans the band has gone through in their time together. While the grungy ‘Cat Scrap’ finds inspiration in the night time adventures of Randall’s cat.
Featuring punk heavy drumming, burning sax lines and growling guitars, ‘Back in Business Again’ is a magnificent beast of an album that should be played often and loud.