Robby Bloodshed is a musician from New Jersey and has been recording since 2010. With five EP's, seven albums and a number of singles to his name, Dripping Red is his eighth album to date. The digital and CD release has seven tracks which include covers of "The Crystal Ship" by The Doors and "Growing Up and I'm Fine" by Mick Ronson. The latter of these features Manny Martinez on drums, his first appearance drumming since his days of playing in The Prostitutes Of New York (aka; P.O.N.Y) Glenn Danzigs band pre Misfits. The 12" vinyl edition features three additional original tracks; the previously unreleased "Unchained", the single version of "Sirens" and "Long Lone Lane" which also features ex-Misfits drummer Mr. Jim.
Anyway, I feel like I'm getting slightly ahead of myself. Robby Bloodshed is a very talented individual and has a wonderful broad spectrum of influences he draws from. He sites artists such as Freddie Mercury, Jim Morrison, Frank Sinatra to horrorpunk royalty Glenn Danzig as his muses and it shows in his great mix of macabre lyrics and haunting vocals with a kind of 70s-80s keyboard/piano rock style that is different to other stuff coming out at the moment yet it fits right in to todays horrorpunk envelope. It's stuff that has a nostalgic familiarity to it that makes you think you've heard it before when you know that you haven't. I adore his voice over everything on Dripping Red, it's so easy to listen to and sing along with. I think as well as his solo work Robby Bloodshed is in at least one other band and has played with some of the top horrorpunk artists yet he still has time to concentrate on his solo material. Being as multi-talented as he is he writes, composes and performs the songs himself inviting friends along to add their input be it on drums, bass or guitar when needed. On Dripping Red the first five tracks (or A side on the vinyl) have no guitar, just a vintage Fender Rhodes through a fuzz box, bass, drums and vocals. The two covers on the digital/CD version and the three extras on the vinyl mentioned earlier feature guitar as well.
I really enjoyed Dripping Red in its entirety, not having the guitar did make it sound a bit more old fashioned but this is by no means a bad thing. It's certainly not a riot of fast paced punk rock as we understand it today nor is it a flamboyant outlandish piece of showmanship, (neither of which seem to be Robbys style) but it is a salt of the Earth, honest and real set of songs that have been made with love, respect and passion for a multitude of genres spanning many decades. I personally prefer the tracks with guitar but my total of stand out tracks from Dripping Red are a mixture and are as follows; "Dripping Red" is the album opener and is one of the more lively and powerful tracks with some great drumming, both versions of "Sirens" are fantastic! The album version without guitar is more stripped down giving the vocals room to breath but the single version with the guitar makes it powerful and incredibly exciting! I can't decide which version I like the best. I guess it depends what kind of mood I'm in. The previously unreleased track "Unchained" is another favourite, matching the pace and intensity of "Sirens" it's so catchy and infectious.
If you want to explore the full Dripping Red experience then I urge you to go for the 12" vinyl edition purely for the fact that you get all seven tracks and the three original additional tracks as well. Dripping Red was released this Halloween (Oct 31st) and is available through Robby Bloodsheds website robbybloodshed.com and his Bandcamp page.
Check out the video to "Sirens" from Dripping Red here https://youtu.be/r3saU7FOq1s
