Blue Plasma Orb

After following California-based band Blue Plasma Orb online for a while now, it’s a joy to finally get to listen to their self-titled debut album. The band delivers the musical goods with a clean, shiny classic rock sound that hearkens back to the golden rock of the 1970s, and makes me think of bands like BTO, The Eagles, and Steve Miller. With hooky melodies, top-notch vocals, and a lineup of musicians that have the experience and the skill to please your ears, this is a real honest-to-goodness summer-soundtrack – the perfect thing for a July release.

Blue Plasma Orb’s sound feels refreshingly clean and uncluttered (you know, like real music), and the tunes are given some satisfying weight and warmth by the tasty blues-vibes that are added to the mix, as well as some real funky grooves to heat things up.

The album opens with the rocking and rolling “Fight” – a high energy track with a riff that grabs you from the get-go. Other standout tracks for me include “Strange Things” with some gorgeous deep-and-lustrous guitar gloss; the dreamy and high-flying “Rocket”; and the absolutely terrific swing and groove of “Lightning N’ver Strikes Twice”. Other keepers are “Lazy Days” with its laid-back, breezy Steve Miller-feel (perfect for a cold drink in the hot sun), and “Whatcha Gonna Do” which grabs your attention with a heavy, hooky guitar and bass and some smooth, bluesy flavor.

One of my favorite tracks here is “Fire and Ice” – there’s some beautiful guitar work here to go with the tender, expressive vocals, and the whole tune just kind of glistens with soulfulness.

If you’ve got a taste for well-crafted classic rock powered by good melodies, musical craftsmanship and great vocals, then you’re in luck: just put your mitts on this rock-solid debut by Blue Plasma Orb. -

We here at the Rock Tale Hour are always on the lookout for good up-and-coming rock bands, so here’s our quick review of Blue Plasma Orb. These four veteran Southern California rockers recently released their self-titled debut album, and any of you who love straight up, blues-tinged indie rock will not regret taking a deep dive. With its driving guitar riffs, guttural vocals, and hooky melodies, this twelve-track CD is worthy of a spot in the regular rotation of your music library.

The album opens strong with a distortion-laden, fist-pumping anthem against the Man in “Fight.” With so much of modern music sounding overproduced and digitized, Blue Plasma Orb achieves a grassroots ‘70s rock sound with foot-stomping bass and guitar riffs on the next tracks: “Strange Things,” which is reminiscent of Traffic, “Rocket” and “Lover.”

Our favorite cuts include the hard-driving rocker, “Lighting N’ver Strikes Twice,” about the rarity of finding true love, and “Whatcha Gonna Do [at the End of the World]” about the forthcoming zombie apocalypse (Walking Dead fans rejoice!).

Blue Plasma Orb rounds out the album with mellow tracks such as “Summer Girl” and the reggae-infused “Lazy Days” and “Fire and Ice,” which feel like the soundtrack to a day at the beach.

Treat yourself to a generous helping of Blue Plasma Orb. -

Blue Plasma Orb are: Billy Bishop, Greg Peters, Bone (aka Steve Bonino) & Matt Magiera. BPO have an assured swagger and this CD produced by Bishop is remarkably free from effects.

The influences can be traced to Cream, Taste, The Beatles and Hendrix – track #1 ‘Fight’ is a fist-pumping anthem, with Bonino’s high register vocals offset nicely by the grinding back line.

The Cream-infused ‘Strange things’ allows the band to stretch and the unfussy analogue production adds rather than detracts from the material

The band are able to add touches of Stevie Ray Vaughn in ‘Lightening never strikes twice’, a real roadhouse number and display a nuanced feel on upbeat tracks ‘Elo’, ‘Summer girl’ and ‘ Its been such a long time’ which are real drive time songs.

For me the Strongest tracks are ‘Elo’, ‘Whatcha gonna do’ and the excellent reggae flavoured ‘Fire and ice’

This is a band comfortable in its skin and each of them assured in their roles. A wonderful album from a no-nonsense band. -

Blue Plasma Orb are a blues flavoured Classic Rock band that formed in 2012 with the intention of creating music that would appeal to the fans of Guns ‘N’ Roses, The Police and The Beatles.

To begin with there were no plans to form a band but in late 2012 Billy asked his friend Greg to help retrain him on the Guitar.

This led to original riffs which led to four new songs and then Bone was brought aboard to provide Bass and Vox which resulted in a complete line up.

The next logical step was to begin work on a debut album and this saw the light of day in July 2014 in the form of 12 tracks.

The band have already started work on lyrics for the follow up album and their first professional music video is in post-production so keep an eye out for that.

Fight is chockfull of energetic riffs, powerful vocals and captivating lyrics.

Strange Things features an eclectic mix of instrumental beats and lyrics with depth.

Rocket is a mix of catchy beats and first class lyrics.

Lover contains electrifying riffs and lyrics that will rock you with their emotional intensity.

Lazy Days is a slow paced melody, with laid back vocals and calming beats.

Lightning N’ver Strikes Twice is a catchy melody on all fronts – instrumentally, lyrically and vocally – it entertains us on all levels.

Elo is a captivating melody with smooth riffs and heart felt lyrics.

Night Flight dazzles with addictive riffs and upbeat vocals, hats off to some of the lyrical hooks.

Whatcha Gonna Do is fast and upbeat with its addictive instrumentals and energetic vocals.

Summer Girl is an assortment of super charged instrumental beats and summery lyrics, well with a title like that it’s too be expected.

It’s Been Such A Long Time is another corker of a tune, with mesmerizing vocals and killer beats

Fire And Ice wraps up the band’s debut album with the same calibre of music we’ve grown accustomed to – smooth beats, breathtaking vocals and amazing lyrics aplenty. -