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Boss Tweeter is a rock band with a catch. They only have an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar in the band. They
occasionally have one guitar player switch to a bass, and since this recording they've added a drummer. Even so, this leaves
the sound slightly unfilled, mostly because they want to rock out, and you need a full band to do that well. Some bands with
no bass can hide it well, but they don't try to rock out. Boss Tweeter does.
Boss Tweeter is steeped in music history. They have elements of classic rock, surf rock, modern rock, and even funk thrown
into their sound. The references make it seem eclectic, but it's a highly accessible sound. The surf rock feel permeates the
instrumental intro, and although it was a good riff, clocking it in at over two minutes kills it. They have a tendency to
run long on some songs, but cut some songs short. They make up for this less-than-amazing songwriting with amazing lyrical
quality. The lyrics throughout are poetic and cryptic, yet they can be related to easily (at least by me). Example: "Silence
falls on deaf ears, and screaming comes to those who've heard it much." They are the best thing about this demo, because all
6 tracks that feature vocals (2 songs are instrumental) have these powerful lyrics. That's consistency. The vocals to back
these up are of medium volume and range, but have a slightly nasal intonation which leads to them being slightly weak at times.
It's apparent that the singer knows his flaws, and does his best to hide them. That's all well and good, but some parts just
needed to forge through the problems and give us the raw, unbridled form we see in other places. Just when you thought you
had the BT formula down, "Intermission" introduces a bass and challenges the idea that funk died in the seventies. They pull
it off pretty well, as they don't sing to it. That leads to track 6, and by this track, it's apparent that this two-guitar
format works best when one guitar is featured and the other accompanies, instead of both sharing joint duties. The two standout
tracks ("Pedigree" and "Catch The Ghosts") both use this method of feature and accompany.
Boss Tweeter has some problems. They have moments of weak sound, weak vocals, and weak songwriting. Thankfully, the first
two are recording problems and the third can be fixed. If we get past that, Boss Tweeter is putting some spunk back into classic
rock, and some of the fun. But the real thing is....If lyrics were knives, Boss Tweeter would have the meat cleaver in a world
of butter knives. They're that good.
-Stephen Carradini
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