Tyla's Dogs D'amour ‘Jack O’ Byte Bluesy’

‘Jack O’ Byte Bluesy’ sees the third album of the year released by Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour, following the acoustic version of last year’s outstanding ‘In Vino Veritas’ and an electric re-working of ‘Graveyard of Empty Bottles’ to mark it’s 30th anniversary.

Speaking to Rockfiend last year, Tyla admitted that he had stopped counting the number of albums which he had released … now thought to be around a mere 75. Few, if any artist, living or dead, comes anywhere close to matching this prolific level of output. While it can be difficult to keep up with this breathless level of musical activity, each new release brings a smile to my face, as you can be guaranteed there will be more than a gem or two contained within each great listening experience. And Jack O’Byte Bluesy does not disappoint.

Album opener, and first single, ‘(Everybody Needs) A Friend’ picks up where ‘In Vino Veritas’ left off. In a similar vein to ‘I Don’t Love Anyone’ it provides a melodic rocker with Tyla’s trademark drunken sing-a-long late night sentimentality written all over it and will have arms swaying aloft in sweaty venues around the country. But here the similarity with ‘In Vino Veritas’ ends, the album changes and takes us in another listening direction as ‘Dangerous Game’ provides an altogether more brooding, bluesy and menacing experience. Bass driven, with haunting slide guitar cutting in an out, Tyla has vocally never sounded more like a latter day ‪Johnny Cash‬, with dark lyrics to match the Man in Black persona - “Won’t you ever learn, Won’t you ever change, You can’t have it all, Love is a dangerous game … Love will steal your heart, Put your soul in jail, It will f**k your mind”.

Next up, ‘Love Will Save The Day’ starts off sounding a bit like the theme tune to a 60’s American TV show, with driving bass and deep blues sound, and is followed by the atmospheric ‘The Killing’ kept in line by military-sounding drumming throughout. The keyboard-led ‘Serpents Kiss’ continues the brooding and atmospheric feel before ‘White Lightning’ picks the pace up again with slide guitar and driving bass with a chorus you’ll be whispering in the shadows as you boogie along with the bogeyman. Don’t be surprised if this finds it’s way into the live set very soon.

‘You Love It’, with a twangy electric guitar intro which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on either a Rolling Stones or ‪Shania Twain‬ record, hints at some honky tonk to follow, before the guitars crash in and developing into a heavier 60’s feel with some Doors-esque leanings.

Bringing the album to a close, ‘The Killer Inside’ finds Tyla sounding as though he’s kicking back in a rocking chair, playing slide blues in the deepest South waiting for the Devil to welcome him and make a deal, but knowing that the Devil may decide … “nah, too much for me here”.

Given the success of ‘In Vino Veritas’, it would have been all to easy for Tyla’s Dogs to have repeated the formula which went down so very well last year. But this is not ‘In Vino Veritas Mark II’. Instead, they have provided an album which is deeper, darker, bluesier and more atmospheric, but every bit as rewarding. And the more you listen to the album, you more you will be rewarded, hearing something new and richer at each listen. The bluesy theme for the album should also come as no surprise given the 6 (album) volumes of the Chard Urton Blues Treasury which Tyla released in 2014 and 2015, and a theme which is never too far from his prolific output. For long-time fans, while ‘Jack O' Byte Bluesy’ is the second studio outing of new material under the Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour name, it has more in common with Tyla’s solo and the Tyla J. Pallas Band era material than peak-era Dogs D’Amour.

Tyla’s Dogs sound like no other band around at the moment, are not afraid to take risks, mix influences and to provide music for grown ups. And as an artist, Tyla can’t sit still and musically seems possessed to keep creating and treating us to music until the day he dies. Long may he continue. And in the form of Gary, Matty and Simon he has a band of willing accomplices and collaborators challenging our musical expectations. As fans will expect, the song-writing and playing are of a very high quality throughout. Matty’s driving bass and Simon’s on point drumming provide a solid rhythm foundation for everything that the band play, with some classy, restrained guitar playing from Gary; coupled with some serious slide guitar work from Tyla himself and whose vocals are strong throughout.

Linked to the release of Jack O’Byte Bluesy, is the upcoming release of the first single from the album ‘(Everybody Needs) A Friend’, backed on this EP by live recordings made during the acoustic and electric mini-tour last summer celebrating the 30thanniversary of the release of ‘Graveyard of Empty Bottles’. Following the single itself is an incendiary live electric version of ‘111’, then acoustic live versions of ‘Bulletproof Poet’ and ‘Angel’, providing teasers for the upcoming live CD/DVD recorded during the tour.

Tyla’s Dogs will be playing an album launch gig at Bannerman’s in Edinburgh for ‘Jack O’Byte Bluesy’ ‪on 21 December‬. If last year’s launch party for ‘In Vino Veritas’ in the same venue was anything to go by, this will be a night not to be missed. Even more so, as this will also include a tasting session for Tyla’s newly launched King Outlaw wines - “ a bottle of red” (or white) anyone? More reason to go along, if this was needed.

As the man himself would say, “Chin, Chin”.

Glass raised once again.

(Everybody Needs) a Friend will be released on King Outlaw Records ‪on 22 November 2019‬
Jack O’Byte Bluesy will be released on King Outlaw Records ‪on 13 December 2019‬

GMcA

Pre-orders can be made on www.tylasarttavern.com

Live dates:
‪21 December 2019 - Jack O’Byte Bluesy Album Launch: Bannerman’s, Edinburgh