press kit

Johnny Evans - sax/harp
Johnny Bee - drums
MO Hollis - bass
Erik Gustafson - guitar
Tino Gross - vocals
The Howling Diablos rockin, funky, blues jam style is well known in
Detroit, and everywhere they have toured, as a great live music experience.
Since their formation in the 90’s they have toured with and opened for acts
including George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, Alice Cooper, Albert Collins,
Ben Harper, Hank Williams Jr, NRBQ, Incubus and The James Gang as well as
headlining their own shows.
Recordings include “Beatnik Mambo”(Teenage), “Live”(Top Dog) and
Green Bottle”(Overture). The Bass Brothers, now teamed with Eminem,
produced the title track, “Green Bottle”, a local hit.
“Good Rockin Tonight”(Sire), an Ahmet Ertegun produced tribute to Sun
Records, features the Diablos cut “Wine Spo Dee O Dee” with a guest
appearance from Kid Rock. This record also spawned a film for the PBS series,
“American Masters”, featuring a performance by the band.
The Diablos appeared on Fat Possum releases by Nathaniel Mayer and
RL Burnside that were produced by Tino Gross. Their latest release is the
critically acclaimed Car Wash(Alive).
For more information on the Howling Diablos visit
www.howlingdiablos.com
www.myspace.com/howlingdiablo
www.alive-totalenergy.com
"Car Wash ROOOOLZ." - Al Kooper
Alive's best release since the Black
Keys Launched their career on the
California label. - Upbeetmusic
Formed about 10 years ago, with service to Albert Collins and Earl King under their
belt, the five-member Diablos in Detroit give blues an exciting full-court press of
urban grit and grunge understandable to Iggy Pop and the MC5. Tino Gross,
producer of two R.L. Burnside albums, does the singing and writes songs that are the
testimonials of someone who feels the sordid truth behind "Mean Little Town" and
"Broke Down." The band absolutely nails Burnside's "Gone So Long." - Frank-John
Hadley / DownBeat Magazine April 2006
Detroit's Howling Diablos are better known for who they know (Uncle Kracker, George
Clinton, Ahmet Ertegun, who put them in the Sun Records tribute film) than what they
do. But the quintet honed its raw, funky blues rock backing the likes of Albert Collins
and Johnny Adams in Detroit clubs, so it knows its business. Nobody's going to
mistake 'Car Wash' for a Muddy Waters record, but bandleader Tino Gross's raspy
growl, Mike Smith's gnarly bottleneck guitar and the rhythm section's deliberately
primitive thump keep it far away from the universe of Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne
Sheperd. Plus the Diablos cover RL Burnside's "Gone So Long," which automatically
gives 'em a third leg up in a juke joint world. - Michael Toland / High Bias
"Badass boogie album" - Eddytor's Dozen / The Village Voice
'Car Wash' album of the year? Post your comments on the PUSA Forum
Howling Diablos = The Dirtbombs + Muddy Waters
I was cruising around Detroit the other day in an El Camino wearing a fedora and
mirrored sunglasses as my Schlitz spilled into my lap and mixed with cigar ash. Oh
wait, that was just a fantasy built from listening to the Howling Diablos. Point is, Car
Wash makes you feel like a badass no matter where you are. Yes, even at your
five-year-old cousin's birthday party, you goddamn sissy. It's blues, rock, a little
cocaine, a little electric chair and a smidgen of screwin' in the back of a Cadillac
pressed into one soundtrack to sin. What the hell are you reading for?
Go get me a Schlitz bitch! -Shane Farver / Slug Magazine
Ce qui ce fait de mieux dans le Blue Rock contemporain. - Walked in Line (France)
Dirty, greeezy, funky blues-rock from long-time Detroit scene dudes the Howling
Diablos. This baby reeks of barroom, booze, smokes and an unhealthy familiarity with
any number of rare blues and rock records, and too many late nights on the
expressways of the Motor City. - Colin Bryce / Mohair Sweets
Howling Diablos voted "Best Blues Band" in Real Detroit's Best of Detroit 2006
•4•
The Howling Diablos album 'Car Wash' won an award for 'Best National Indie
Release' at the Detroit music Awards 2006 in the Outstanding National
Small/Independent Label Recording category and singer Tino Gross copped the
Outstanding Record Producer award.
While I can't pretend to have had as much familiarity with the music of Detroit's
Howling Diablos as I have with the name, it seems as though my life must have been
seriously lacking. This disc has been lodged in the CD player for the best part of a
month, and I can't get over just how absolutely filthy it sounds. In 2004, singer Tino
Gross produced an RL Burnside album for Fat Possum, and was so moved by the
experience that he decided to apply a more rootsy blues brush to his band's already
well-established style of turntable-assisted urban/blues rock. (Apparently Kid Rock
was once a member of their line-up.) If this is back to their roots, then they've been
planted in dark soil fertilized by rotting human remains. By the sound of "Carwash",
the Howling Diablos haven't so much done a deal with the devil as bought a shelf
company with the old bastard and seed-funded a national franchise chain of dope
houses and knock shops. "Oh, it's a damn shame the way you treat me, baby," warns
Tino Gross on the self-titled opener, and you know by the tone in his voice that he is
NOT fucking around. A treacherous backbeat (this album features the best sounding
drums I've heard in years) anchors a menacing, black-hearted sax refrain from
Johnny Evans, and slide-work so hot that guitarist Mike Smith must have to play with
asbestos gloves. And that's just ONE track (there are nine others). - The Barman/I-94
Bar(Australia)
Serious, shredding blues-rock from a band that sounds like it has spent years in
smokey, sweaty bars playing to meth-addled tweaksters. Tino Gross sings with razor
tonsils, Johnny Evans jowls on sax and harp, Mike Smith stakes out a guitar territory
somewhere between Stevie Ray Vaughn and Howling Wolf. The sound drips with
swamp water, but, with lyrics obsessing about drug deals and dead girlfriends, never
leaves the noir-black heart of the city. Grab a long-neck Bud and charge the stage,
kid, but watch out for broken glass and barbed wire. - T.J. Wolfsbane / The
Sentimentalist
Track two points us in the right direction, R.L. Burnside's "Gone So Long" in an early
Beefy style by a band out of the mean streets of Detroit. It's rough and tough, written
mainly by singer Tino Gross and powered by slide guitarist Mike Smith. Even the
covers as bleak as the music. Not pure blues but lots of the right elements; "they
found a body floating in the river, musta been some wino slipped in an' drowned. And
all the boys are laughin' over at the barbers shop on main street, that's the way they
do things here in this little town". "Mean Little Town" say no more. "Dope Man"
borrows heavily from Beefy's "Sure "Nuff n Yes I Do" with a lyrical content that's been
part of the blues through every generation. "Elvis Lives" concludes this action packed
half hour plus and ok. I believe it. "Dean & Frank called him a clown" but Elvis had the
last laugh. Elvis Lives, interesting. Howling Diablos very, very interesting. - Al Tait /
Blues Matters (UK)
This is one of the most energetic and fun blues bands I've ever had the pleasure of
hearing. If you don't believe me just give a listen to "A Woman (Like Mine)" and "Elvis
Lives" then name a band that's got more energy and is more fun to listen to. The
Yardbirds had the energy but they didn't have the tongue in cheek humor of the
Howling Diablos. Other highlights are "Dope Man", "Mean Little Town" and the title
track. - Ear Candy
•5•
Veteran blues-rockers the Howling Diablos have been mashing-up roots blues and
modern-day urban music for more than a decade. The band started life as a pickup
band backing blues legends like Hubert Sumlin and Bo Diddley at a Detroit nightclub.
With the addition of an unknown turntablist named Robert Ritchie - better known to
you as Kid Rock - the band helped create a hybrid style that has sold butt loads of
records (for other people). Now, with "Car Wash," the Diablo’s eschew the
loops-and-beats approach and instead kick out some blues jams so funky you'll
wonder who left the lid off the garbage pail. This approach was largely inspired by
front man Tino Gross' ongoing production work for Mississippi-based Fat Possum
records. He has brought a modern touch to records by R.L. Burnside and Little
Freddie King. In return, he was inspired to return to his own roots as a blues player.
He let the band loose in the studio, and it doesn't disappoint. With droning slide
guitars and propulsive bass and drums, the Diablos take country blues and put an
innovative big-city spin on them. Making a guest appearance on three songs is the
great Johnny "Bee" Badanjek of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels. While "Car Wash" is a
straight-ahead blues record, the blues have never sounded so contemporary. - Brian
J. Bowe / 168Mag and Creem magazine
Track two points us in the right direction, R.L. Burnside's "Gone So Long" in an early
Beefy style by a band out of the mean streets of Detroit. It's rough and tough, written
mainly by singer Tino Gross and powered by slide guitarist Mike Smith. Even the
covers as bleak as the music. Don't know if it's Nu-Blues but it'll do for me. Not pure
blues but lots of the right elements; "they found a body floating in the river, musta
been some wino slipped in an' drowned. And all the boys are laughin' over at the
barbers shop on main street, that's the way they do things here in this little town".
"Mean Little Town" say no more. "Dope Man" borrows heavily from Beefy's "Sure
"Nuff n Yes I Do" with a lyrical content that's been part of the blues through every
generation. "Elvis Lives" concludes this action packed half hour plus and ok. I believe
it. "Dean & Frank called him a clown" but Elvis had the last laugh. Elvis Lives,
interesting. Howling Diablos very, very interesting. - Al Tait / Blues Matters (UK)
Totally drained of all fat and extraneous shite it's as refreshing as a nice cold
Guinness on a, well, any day, to hear something so resiliently blues in this day and
age (how old am I?) without it being horrendous teeth grinding AOR/MOR
Clapton/Cray safe as houses businessman blues. Their simple trick is playing us
some songs, not using them as foundations to spray fountains of noodling guitar
squawl at us. In this they come on a lot more like Lynyrd Skynyrd's insatiable
Southern street party, tho a Detroit one, where they stand around burning oil cans,
drinking rotgot whiskey to keep warm. This is reflected musically, a sound as hard,
dry and lean as a dried up riverbed, echoing the tough, cold urban blues climate.
Skynyrd shines thru' on 'Prison Train', which sees the chirpy little riff almost
crash-land into the tune from 'Sesame Street' (!), and the equally Stonesy and
possibly Little Feat too, country-honkin' 'Mean Old Town', like a glint of sunshine
through the trees on a winters day. The rhythms are pretty damn tough, possibly from
their years as house band, playing night after night over people arguing, fighting and
generally not listening. Guaranteed to put the shake in George Clinton's funkadelic
ass. Mike Smith's guitar playing is understated yet perfectly weighted, mirroring the
melody line a la 'Voodoo Chile' on the opening title track, Stevie Ray slinky Albert
Collins simmering on 'Gone So Long', and some sledgehammer slide work on 'Stop
Runnin' Your Mouth', 'Dope Man' and 'Broke Down'. Vocalist Tino Gross has a
superb blues voice, reminiscent of even Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters at times and
all stirred in to their street punk suss and wagger attitude it kinda makes me think of
The Gories grandparents. Fantastic roadhouse shaboogie blues. - Sleazegrinder
•6•
The fact that this blues really rocks is good for the blues, good for rock music, and
it's great for anyone wise enough to grab up a copy of 'Car Wash' and give it a listen.
Spellbinding enough to show that the blues is more than just a rigid genre, fans of
Morphine and Iggy Pop will experience a major adrenaline rush when they get their
hands on a copy of Car Wash. Sax player Johnny Evans frequently treads close to
Morphine's dark rock, built as it was on a deep blues noir foundation. "A Woman (Like
Mine)" followed by the album's final track, "Elvis Lives," share some stunning
"Stooges moments" in the lyrics and vocal delivery. The heart of any great recording
gets down to the songs and the producer. This one was executed by design as an
essentially sparse, lean, loud, live and red hot recording by veteran producer Tino
Gross. Tino also either wrote or collaborated on nine of the album's 10 songs, with
R.L. Burnside's "Gone So Long" the sole cover. Yet Burnside's finger prints are
everywhere. The title cut sets the pace for that distinct sound augmented further by
tight, rousing performances by all five Howling Diablos. "Broke Down" contains a
barely audible underpinning of spoken word street rants performed by Tino (in the
style of a wino who has broken with reality) to expand on the song's outward
desolation and deep blue lyrics. "Prison Train", a blues murder ballad, is among the
album's most striking achievements: "Well you know I shot my baby, shot her full of
dope, early tomorrow morn I'll be swinging from a rope..." Those lyrics set against the
song's cheerful and crisp guitar-driven instrumentation are what great art is all about.
Recorded on an antique microphone at the White Room studios in Detroit, "Mean
Little Town" has some of the most stark, austere vocals the blues has ever known.
This recording signals a whole new chapter in the life of one of Detroit's great bands.
A no nonsense scorcher of a CD. - George P. Seedorff / Big City Blues
The dirty groove of "Car Wash" leads off the record with Tino's low growl lamenting
washing Lincoln Continentals for a living. The next song is an R.L. Burnside cover,
"Gone So Long", which takes a body into a whole 'nuther place. It's gritty and funky
with North Mississippi red clay all over it. The Howling Diablos don't need to just
cover the blues great though - "Broke Down" would fit right in to any Mississippi juke
joint with Mike Smith's slide guitar supplying soul power shake appeal. Mississippi
isn't the only part of the South that the Howling Diablos translate Michigan style.
"Prison Train" gives off a good time New Orleans feel despite the songs darker lyrics.
A few more highlights: "Mean Little Town" exudes an Exile On Main Street vibe, "Stop
Running Your Mouth" has Tino laying it down right, and the legendary drummer from
Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, Johnny "Bee" Badanjek, makes a guest
appearance on three tracks. Johnny Evans's work on saxophone and harmonica are
also stellar throughout Car Wash. So if you're looking for some good, funky blues to
listen to while dancing with your lady or maybe just drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon,
heading to the Car Wash would be the right thing to do. The Howling Diablos play the
blues with sweat and feeling. It makes me think of what they would say if anybody
ever asked them this line from "I'm Waiting for My Man", "Hey white boy, what you
doing uptown?" The Howling Diablos would probably answer, "playing the blues,
listen to us, and watch your worries disappear." - Wally Bangs / Blogcritics.org
Alive! Records Latest Release Proves the Detroit Music Scene Is Still On Fire
Detroit legendary blues rockers, The Howling Diablos, produce a raw and
gritty new CD, "Carwash", that is sure to kick open the back door of the music
industry and put its dirty feet on the designer couch of the "cookie-cutter"
music trends. - PR News Wire
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