A cigar box guitar band
The Lo-Fi Project is a group of local musicians that have been playing in local bands for the last twenty years in various different lineups and musical styles. Three years ago they adopted the cigar box guitar to their collection of guitars and since then they have only been using hand made guitars for recording and playing in live shows. Their musical style is a perfect fit for the modern cigar box guitar, a mix of classic rock and delta blues with raspy vocals over a microphone made from a beer can.
Last years tour had some local stops at Wheeling's Heritage BluesFest and Toronto's Handmade Music Extravaganza so the group decided to celebrate their album release along whit kick starting their upcoming tour in the Ohio Valley where they began twenty years ago.
Cigar box Guitars have been around for over a century and can be even seen is photos of the Civil War. They were made famous by depression era musicians along the Mississippi Delta when times were tough and guitars were quite costly. The guitars from the depression area were quite basic, a box with a hole in it a stick for a neck and some wire from the screen door for strings. Although The Lo-Fi Project strictly plays cigar box guitars, their guitars have been modernized, adding handmade pickups and electronic components that you would find in a modern day guitar.
Band Members
Jesse Smith - Vocals & Three String Guitar
Jake Booth - Bass Guitar, Two String Bass & Vocals
Dean Dillener - Three String Guitar & Six String Guitar
Stephen Saner - Drums, Three String Guitar & Five String Guitar
Brian Saner - Slide on Three, Four & Five String Guitars, Suitcase Bass Drum, License Plate Snare Drum
Press and booking inquires - Brian Saner at [email protected]
press / reviews
The Lo-Fi Project is a part of a movement and reaction against the modern, over-produced world of rock and pop while at the same time being a cross between the hard electric blues of Muddy Waters and raw punk angst that reminds me of the Sex Pistols first album, "Never Mind the Bollocks." This cigar-box band has recorded an album that proves what really matters the most in American music is the almighty groove.
The brainchild of Toronto native Brian Saner, a maker of primitive guitars made out of everything from license plates to broom handles, the Lo-Fi Project seems to pride itself on rebelling against everything modern music is. And people, let me tell you - it's about damned time!
I got a chance to catch the band's set last week at Toronto's Main Street Gallery, which is quickly becoming THE place for outside-of-the-box music and arts, and I was impressed by how these guys mixed older blues tunes, such as Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'" with Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," Tom Waits' "2:19" and the classic "Stuck in the Middle With You" - who can forget the infamous "ear scene" in Quentin Tarantino's bloody masterpiece "Reservoir Dogs" - all done with style, a fair amount of boozy humor and a whole lotta down-low groove.
In fact, my favorite song on the CD is "Lo-Down," a rocker that captures the hypnotizing, time-is-standing-still vibe of the best of the ancient Mississippi Delta blues. I have no idea if it's an original or not, but it's a cool slice of dirty white boy blues.
The end result of this madness is an infectious wall-of-sound using slides and instruments no one in their right mind should be using, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun. The music goes especially well with alcohol, and the more low-shelf the booze, the better.
At one point I thought the band was going to break into Led Zeppelin's majestic "slidapalooza," "In My Time of Dying," which was, of course, stolen from a delta blues tune, like most of the mighty Zep's bluesy stuff. But no matter - the band had a packed house for its brand of raw, funky blues-rock that captivated the crowd. They should be captivated - there's nothing even remotely like this band in the entire Ohio Valley.
I'd love to give you the band members' names, but the print on the CD is too small for this 52-year-old to read, and the website wasn't much help, either. For information I suggest the band's website, at www.thelo-fiproject.com. Never has low seemed so high.
- See more at: http://www.heraldstaronline.com/page/content.detail/id/596474/OPINION--Alan-Parsons-Project--Lo-Fi-Project-reviewed.html?nav=5034#sthash.DED2BQLm.dpuf
Herald Star - 3/13/14 Mark J. Miller
The brainchild of Toronto native Brian Saner, a maker of primitive guitars made out of everything from license plates to broom handles, the Lo-Fi Project seems to pride itself on rebelling against everything modern music is. And people, let me tell you - it's about damned time!
I got a chance to catch the band's set last week at Toronto's Main Street Gallery, which is quickly becoming THE place for outside-of-the-box music and arts, and I was impressed by how these guys mixed older blues tunes, such as Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'" with Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," Tom Waits' "2:19" and the classic "Stuck in the Middle With You" - who can forget the infamous "ear scene" in Quentin Tarantino's bloody masterpiece "Reservoir Dogs" - all done with style, a fair amount of boozy humor and a whole lotta down-low groove.
In fact, my favorite song on the CD is "Lo-Down," a rocker that captures the hypnotizing, time-is-standing-still vibe of the best of the ancient Mississippi Delta blues. I have no idea if it's an original or not, but it's a cool slice of dirty white boy blues.
The end result of this madness is an infectious wall-of-sound using slides and instruments no one in their right mind should be using, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun. The music goes especially well with alcohol, and the more low-shelf the booze, the better.
At one point I thought the band was going to break into Led Zeppelin's majestic "slidapalooza," "In My Time of Dying," which was, of course, stolen from a delta blues tune, like most of the mighty Zep's bluesy stuff. But no matter - the band had a packed house for its brand of raw, funky blues-rock that captivated the crowd. They should be captivated - there's nothing even remotely like this band in the entire Ohio Valley.
I'd love to give you the band members' names, but the print on the CD is too small for this 52-year-old to read, and the website wasn't much help, either. For information I suggest the band's website, at www.thelo-fiproject.com. Never has low seemed so high.
- See more at: http://www.heraldstaronline.com/page/content.detail/id/596474/OPINION--Alan-Parsons-Project--Lo-Fi-Project-reviewed.html?nav=5034#sthash.DED2BQLm.dpuf
Herald Star - 3/13/14 Mark J. Miller
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