THE CANDY BUTCHERS - WHAT I WONT GIVE

"articulate slowly -- THE CANDY BUTCHERS"

When I first found Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers it was by accident. We found the EP in a dollar bin and it was recorded in a NYC diner. I figured it would be worth a listen. I was immediately impressed with this disc. This duo rocked out to a crowd of four including the kitchen help in this cramped diner space. But the energy that was delivered was amazing.

It was so memorable that it stuck in my head for the next 8 years. That release is finallly available on Itunes now and I highly suggest giving it a listen. The songs were well constructed and just made some good sense. I really enjoyed it and I found myself going back to it time and time again. Some songs were more memorable than others.

They were featured on David Letterman and by that time their sound was smoothed out quite a bit. The early track, "Bells on a Leper" was a mix of Squeeze meets a bare blazing soul of torment. Still even though some of the lyrics could be bleak the end result was very soulful and powerful. They were interesting.

But the other releases were good too. They never were able to capture that first initial rush I got from that EP. I really discovered gold that hot afternoon in Chicago.

Cantu 2007