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Long before he joined the Derek Trucks Band in 2002, Mike Mattison launched his career as the lead singer for Scrapomatic, a two-man, roots music-inspired group rounded out by award-wining guitarist, songwriter and singer Paul Olsen. Although Mattison stays busy with a full touring schedule with the dTb, he still makes time to record and tour with Olsen.
On Sidewalk Caesars, Scrapomatic’s much-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Alligator Love Cry, this talented duo perfects a lean, mean sound born of the blues, nurtured by American roots music and given shape by Mattison’s soulful growl and Olsen’s propulsive guitar. Both raw and polished, the band’s third album has a giddy, bipolar feel, swinging wildly between high-energy stompers to laconic meditations.
Thanks to Mattison and Olsen’s creative songwriting, Sidewalk Caesars is populated by a host of colorful characters in a rich songwriting tradition that includes a diverse array of artists from the Grateful Dead to Tom Waits. With 13 tracks, Sidewalk Caesars underscores the band’s commitment to writing and performing songs with a deep awareness of musical history and to focusing on timeless themes of truth, love, dreams and salvation.
Whether their delivery is rough or smooth, Scrapomatic’s unbridled passion for music is positively contagious and guaranteed to have you tapping your toe and singing along in no time. As Sidewalk Caesars demonstrates clearly, for Scrapomatic, the third time really is the charm.
- Allison Hersch
1. He Called My Name
2. Drink House
3. Killing Yourself on Purpose
4. I Want the Truth
5. Remember This Day
6. Long Gone
7. Hook, Line and Sinker
8. The Fire Next Time
9. The Old Whiskey Show
10. Drunken Spree
11. Long-Haired State
12. I Just Wanna Hang Around with You
13. Good Luck With Your Impossible Dream
