Derin Dow Band: Reviews

Derin Dow is a singer, songwriter and producer who also plays guitar and bass. Derin's musical influences include Boston, The Eagles and Styx. Dow's sound is classic yet contemporary. His thirteen-track CD spans the gamut from ballads to high octane rockers. Derin pens intelligent lyrics woven into musical tapestries that unfold in colorful guitar solos. Dow aims for a live sound on his record using few overdubs. Derin is a pro who surrounds himself with other veteran players, thus "Retroactive" is solid straight through. The CD opens strong with the energetic "Friday." It has red-hot guitar leads and thoughts that any overworked person can relate to. Yet the hook and more sizzling guitar licks set Derin and the listener free. Derin describes "Highways" as an opus that came from two different songs (a ballad and an instrumental). The track is expansive as the story of loss flows into innovative instrumentation and the chorus filled with rich, spiritual imagery. Derin Dow is a multi-talented artist and "Retroactive" is timeless!

Derin Dow's *Retroactive* is totally classic-sounding, kick-ass, melodic hard rock, AOR pop-prog (thanks to synth/Hammond/clavinet/rhodes parts). Think the Nuge side of early Foreigner, maybe? Knocking heads and riding stars. Dude sings like a slightly higher-pitched Lou Gramm, though whatever more accurate description comes to George's mind when he hears it will make me slap my head. Derringer? I dunno. Extremely catchy stuff, though, and I'm only through the first eight tracks. (Well, the third song "Door to Your Heart" starts a little slower than some others, but then it soars, and a swinging ripping guitar instrumental called "Lower the Boom" comes next.) My favorite chorus so far is in "Right Side of the Road" : "And now all that is left to me is that old 12-string and an '84 Caravan. And it's all I can do to keep it on the right side of the road." In the picture on the inner sleeve Derin's got a demonic goatee and long lovely locks and his guitar is frying to death with smoke coming out from all the wicked chords he's been banging, and his band knows how to keep the rhythm swinging while he bangs. Came out in 2005, I kid you not.

Oops, turns out a guy called Chris Pinnick plays lead guitar in "Lower the Boom" and "Right Side of the Road," but Derin more than holds his own when Chris ain't there. Also, "Slave Train" is a protest about how all he sees when he looks around America is luxury next to misery in the tradition of say "Golden Country" by REO, at least when it speeds up, and its slow parts are um probably in the tradition of some Hendrix song or something.

The obvious alternate-universe car radio rock hit on Derin Dow's album is the opener, "Friday," a 5 pm end-of-week whistle blower blowout firmly in the "Working for the Weekend"/"Weekend Warrior" tradition. I still can't quite put my finger on who Derin sounds like -- Foreigner and Loverboy and Nugent aren't quite right. If anybody listens to the songs on his cdbaby.com page and figures it out, please let me know.

And the closing instrumental "Feelin' Free" (also with Pinnick on lead) is total smooth jazz (of the funky variety)!

Thanks to xhuxk (Chuck Eddy), Derin Dow of Culver City sent me his "Retroactive" and it certainly is more of the Eighties-influenced big hook classic heavy AOR that lit up this thread upstream. "Slave Train," "Highways," "Passage," and "I Do Love You" are my favorites so far and they come one after another near the end. The man's axe is all over the tunes and it has a very heavy, very modern (split diff between Marshall JCM800, revved up Marshall and Mesa-Boogie Recto) tone which sets it apart from direct Eighties, which is mostly just the former in the parentheses. There is some hard Journey with Steve Perry in it -- mostly in the voice and the lyrical, skyscraping hookage. "Highways" is special in this regard because it wanders across many trails for seven plus minutes and never gets less than uplifting. Hard to do in songs that are essentially mid-tempo, but Dow's good at bringing the drama.

It also has some in common with old LA AOR glam pomp act, Fortune, a record I dropped in here last week for a one-shot when it made it to CD digital land for the first time. Above all, the guitar mix and tone sets this out from the style as it's, it's....it's CRUNCH.

Anyway, fukc me, "Friday" by Derin Dow is playing -- the first cut on the CD -- and the reason it sounds so Eighties and CRUNCHING is because the rhythm guitar is Eddie Van Halen-tone! And Lou Gramm is singing, so xhuxk's right on about him sounding like Foreigner dude for one tune. Third tune again gets a lot from Foreigner.

Lotta Y&T, another Eighties Cali-band, in Derin Dow's first instro, "Lower the Boom." He's showin' off his David Meniketti licks. Don't know if xhuxk has heard a lot of Y&T prior to their Geffen records, the latter for which they started shooting videos while walking on the Santa Monica beach in ripped fishnets and spandex. The Y&T records I mean were the ones now big in Japan with songs like "Open Fire" and going home with an ugly girl after being overserved.

February 24th, 2006.

Derin Dow is a name that fans of classic melodic rock and AOR should be writing down now. Derin is from Los Angeles and plays regularly on the circuit. He has performed with the likes of Asia and Shaw/Blades, and is inspired by 70's and 80's rock music. Derin is originally from Indiana and had a band back in the day called Aura, which some die-hard's may remember. After Aura broke up in the late 80's Derin struggled to make a name for himself and wrapped himself up in the studio, writing and recording, and also teaching.

There's a saying that is all too familiar with today's Indie melodic rock releases, which is simple: 'Had this been released back in the day, the band/arist would have been hugely popular'. I think this applies to 'Retroactive'.. it is that strong and throws in many influences.

The album kicks off with 'Friday', which is pure melodic rock, right from the Boston and REO Speedwagon school. Derin's vocals are very good and the instrumentation also is very catchy. This whole song works well and has that vintage 80's sound. A fun, feel-good start to the album.

'Signature' has a strong Tommy Shaw feel and is excellent, whilst 'Door To Your Heart' is a deep, melodic, piano-led ballad with stirring guitars and vocals. This song is just superb and could have easily been on Tommy Shaw's 'Ambition' album; a gorgeous song.

'Lower The Boom' is an instrumental guitar number in the Kansas vein whilst 'Right Side Of The Road' is a very strong catchy track. This track has an almost R'NB edge to it. I just love the feeling you get, and this is where the 70's rock connections come into play. An excellent song.

'Runnin' To Win' was one of my early favourite tracks, and I still adore it. It's a fantastic song, Boston-inspired rock.. makes me think of many of their songs. This should be all over the radio; absolutely first class all the way.

'River Of Time' is a lovely, laid-back ballad. The songwriting is excellent and the style reminds me of 'Good Times' by David Lee Roth from 'Skyscraper.' The music has the same summery feel in parts, (not the vocals I might add), but then it takes on another direction and comes over like a mix of vintage Kansas and Foreigner.. so a cool mix of styles here.

'Inside' is another vintage 70's influenced song. There is a cool vibe here. The Wurlitzer keyboards give it that diverse feel, and the lyrics are also very strong.. excellent song.

'Slave Train' showcases Derin's Tommy Shaw vocal influences once again. The song is melodic and has a looser feel that the rest of the material. Again, a lovely song.

'Highways' again has that vintage feel and is a gorgeous dreamy song; this has a Blue Oyster Cult/Kansas feel.

'Passage' will get the feel tapping once again. This is another song that by rights should be all over radio. This is the type of song you can cruise to with the top roof down. Superb.

The ballad 'I Do Love You' comes right out of the Styx book; cool guitar vibe and strong Tommy Shaw-style vocals.

'Feelin' Free' ends the album as a glorious west coast style instrumental.

'Retroactive' is quite a glorious album. Quite why the melodic rock labels have not picked this album up is beyond me. This is how AOR and melodic rock should be done. 'Retroactive' is excellent from start to finish. It has a stripped-down, vintage, summery feel and everything sounds just right; not like the over produced AOR fodder we get today. Everything with this album works well and is just what the doctor ordered. Nice work Derin. Take a bow sir.