Ben Dumm And The Deviants

BEN DUMM AND THE DEVIANTS – BEN DUMM AND THE DEVIANTS (no label) Former Marauders frontman/guitarist Ben Dumm starts a new roots rock direction on his latest band endeavor, Ben Dumm and the Deviants. On their self-titled debut album, Dumm and his Deviants – bassist John Tanish, saxophonist Alyse Croll and drummer Tony Maiocco – stir up fire-and-brimstone roots rock and rockabilly-geared sounds, slammed forth with punk rock abandon. The songs are short, sweet and hard-hitting, with Dumm’s swarming guitars and Croll’s driving sax lines riding along Maiocco’s and Tanish’s charging rhythms. Dumm sounds feistier and grittier on the vocal end as he howls odes to life, love, sin and redemption; he sings like a man possessed on the raging “Devil’s Debt,” muses about hard living on “Desolation Street,” and shares wisdom on the gambles of life and love on “Shoot from the Hip.” He laments girl and money woes on “Poor Boy,” warns of the mean and uncontrollable “Johnny Whiskey,” and confronts woman addiction on the disc-finisher “Snake Oil.” The group also offers up a rambunctious treatment of Chuck Berry’s/Ronnie Hawkins’ “40 Days,” with guest backing vocals from Christie and Cristin of The Duettes. Engineered by Rik Golden and recorded at Golden Records Studios in Summerhill, the album sounds lean and turbulent, with the band’s performances doing the talking and baring teeth with minimal gloss, bells or whistles. Ben Dumm and the Deviants’ debut amounts to a fun, rowdy rock and roll album, as Dumm and his bandmates attack old-school-styled rock and roll with heart, enthusiasm and reckless abandon. Fans of Dumm’s work with The Marauders should find this project enjoyable as well. (The CD can be obtained through Ben Dumm’s website, www.bendumm.com.)
- Jim Price, Pa Musician Magazine