| Stephen Poppell and the Wolfpack |
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Stephen Poppell: Stephen's rich, raw vocals, which fans have said are reminiscent of Chris Rea and Nick
Cave, bring his music to life. The Georgia native has honed his powerful baritone voice over the years and
draws from the heart and soul.
A self-taught guitarist, Stephen played more than 200 shows and festivals in the Netherlands, Germany, the
U.K. and Belgium before moving to France in 2008 and putting together a new Wolfpack in Geneva as well as
completing his fourth CD, Transformation. With each successive album, he reveals more of his nuanced
songwriting presence and considerable musical skills.
Stephen's music represents a mixture of influences, from Muddy Waters to Hank Williams Sr. and from gospel
to the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Cave, bring his music to life. The Georgia native has honed his powerful baritone voice over the years and
draws from the heart and soul.
A self-taught guitarist, Stephen played more than 200 shows and festivals in the Netherlands, Germany, the
U.K. and Belgium before moving to France in 2008 and putting together a new Wolfpack in Geneva as well as
completing his fourth CD, Transformation. With each successive album, he reveals more of his nuanced
songwriting presence and considerable musical skills.
Stephen's music represents a mixture of influences, from Muddy Waters to Hank Williams Sr. and from gospel
to the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Wolfpack comprises:
--Jasper Bos, whose creative bass contributions are the underpinning in most
of the band's music. From Alligator Joe to Can't You See, his creativity comes
through in playful, intense hooks.
--Daniel Hunter, who has an equally unique mastery of a country-jazz style of
guitar playing. He fills spaces with assorted chord forms or adds a flurry of accent
notes, producing a joyous and infectious pulse that adds energy to every song.
--The unmistakable sound of Francois Tschumy's pedal-steel guitar, with its
crystalline arpeggios and moving-voice harmonies, its swooping slides and glides,
adds a distinctive country twang to Wolfpack music.
--Andrea Sturiale has a highly progressive style that brings a combination of
rocky and funky drum sounds to Wolfpack songs. His skills on the drum set
include mastery of intricate polyrhythmic patterns.
--Jean-Luc Le Blanc adds a distinct ethnic flavor to Wolfpack music through
percussion instruments such as the Udu, Kalimba, tablas, djembé, bongos,
bells, clave, shaker and calabass.
--Jasper Bos, whose creative bass contributions are the underpinning in most
of the band's music. From Alligator Joe to Can't You See, his creativity comes
through in playful, intense hooks.
--Daniel Hunter, who has an equally unique mastery of a country-jazz style of
guitar playing. He fills spaces with assorted chord forms or adds a flurry of accent
notes, producing a joyous and infectious pulse that adds energy to every song.
--The unmistakable sound of Francois Tschumy's pedal-steel guitar, with its
crystalline arpeggios and moving-voice harmonies, its swooping slides and glides,
adds a distinctive country twang to Wolfpack music.
--Andrea Sturiale has a highly progressive style that brings a combination of
rocky and funky drum sounds to Wolfpack songs. His skills on the drum set
include mastery of intricate polyrhythmic patterns.
--Jean-Luc Le Blanc adds a distinct ethnic flavor to Wolfpack music through
percussion instruments such as the Udu, Kalimba, tablas, djembé, bongos,
bells, clave, shaker and calabass.
| ********************************************************************************************************************************** Instrumentation Stephen Poppell - Acoustic Guitar Jasper Bos - Dobro, Bass Guitar Daniel Hunter - Guitar. Francois Tschumy - Pedal Steel Guitar Andrea Sturiale - Drums Jean-Luc LeBlanc - Percussion Discography Transformation (2009) Mississippi Crying (2007) Call of the Wild (2005) Out of the Shadow (2005) Find a Way (2003) ********************************************************************************************************************************** In His Own Words... I've come a long way, traveling down a long road with a few curves. From my birth in Georgia in the '50s to New York City, where I toured with RCA and discovered at age 21 that I had a lot to learn. Then down to Texas, howling with the cowboys, and later back to the Deep South with the 'gators and the gumbo. Then suddenly I was off to the other side of the pond, where I began with Yorkshire pudding in the U.K., moved to stamppot in the Netherlands and ended up with escargot in France. It's been a long and wonderful road — like my music, a blend of many places, people and times. My music represents a mixture of influences, from Muddy Waters to Hank Williams Sr., from gospel to the Allman Brothers Band. Please enjoy my music – it's for you. —Stephen ********************************************************************************************************************************** Review International appeal with a Southern Rock charm describes the music of Stephen Poppell & The Wolfpack Band. The lead singer of the group, Poppell, has many of his roots planted deep down in the south near our neck of the woods. Having now lived in Europe for many moons now the seasoned performer still rocks with a powerful vocal that adds to the overall flavor of the group and what makes them so wonderful to listen to. If you are a fan of Southern Rock/Country, then Stephen Poppell & The Wolfpack Band delivers on entertaining the masses of that genre. One of the best abilities of the band is their electrifying energy and good ole’ time feel that one gets when listening to their music. I also am a big fan of the band’s melodic tunes and enriching lyrics that easily tell passionate stories of everyday life’s ups and downs. Want to hear music that speaks to one’s heart & soul? Then, take a chance with one of the best bands currently out in the Indie Music Industry. -Junior's Cave Online ********************************************************************************************************************************** Festivals The Wolfpack is in the running for a slew of festivals that are taking place between now and mid-2011, including the Wynchwood Music Festival in the U.K., the Bergen Music Fest in Norway, the Alianait Arts Festival 2011 and the Peterborough Folk Festival in Canada, the Celebrate Fairfax! Festival in the U.S. and Eurosonic Noorderslag in the Netherlands. We were also recently selected to play at Backstage at the Green Hotel in Kinross, Scotland, and have fixed April 8 for our show. We'll keep you posted on everything. We also made it onto jango.com 's list of finalists to play at the Moondance Jammin' Country Fest in Walker, Minnesota, and the Wakarusa Festival Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas, and truly appreciate the support of fans who helped get us there. ********************************************************************************************************************************** World Radio Switzerland The Wolfpack had a live session on World Radio Switzerland on May 7. We did a three-piece accoustic set featuring Tell Me Darlin', Alligator Joe and Thing Called Love and introduced the pack to Switzerland. We're now playing and arranging gigs in France and Geneva -- ********************************************************************************************************************************** Review from Gary Allen Jimi Hendrix inspired me with his fantastic talent as well as his unconventional style, his backward and upside-down guitar playing. Muddy Waters showed me the beauty of the raw, simple but powerful music of the Deep South. Lynyrd Skynyrd was a big influence not only because of the great southern rock style and dual leads, but a special inspiration because they were local boys like me in Jacksonville, Florida." Steve Poppell's own words about his musical influences. I don't know if Georgia native Stephen Poppell has ever been near a deep, dark Louisiana swamp like my friend Tony Joe White, but if not, he certainly could have fooled me. Tony Joe could have written "Alligator Joe" but the Wolfpack beat him to it. John Fogerty had never seen a swamp when he wrote tunes like "Born On The Bayou" and these guys are an ocean away from a swamp themselves. I toured with the original Lynyrd Skynyrd with the original Charlie Daniels Band and these guys would have fit right in on any of those tours. Billy Cox, from the Jimi Hendrix Experience was the original bass man in the CDB, so no doubt, Stephen takes that as a compliment. A hip but traditional sound is their trademark. Stephen has a velvet voice, rich and rough and the tracks tell stories that center around love and life's realities. The songs are virtual novels reduced to several minutes. I especially like the JJ Cale style blues feel of "Tell Me Darlin" and the line,"Tell me darlin' what can I say? You ain't listening anyway." That is just plain Tulsa style, and that's cool I don't care who you are! Along with the Wolfpack, Stephen concocts a vivid blend of Americana, blues, Southern rock and even country, complete with richly evocative lyrics and an easygoing sense of plainspoken songs. Clever arrangements, laid back rhythms that are interesting, hypnotic and throw down funky. An overall imaginative collection of thought provoking lyrics with an easy comfortable feel that explore a diverse array of musical roots. Stephen never oversells these songs, he lays back and sings them with heart and wonderfully textured reading. His singing is complemented by his band, who are equally as warm, relaxed, and engaging. This is music that goes down so easy, and on subsequent plays you realize how fully realized and dare I say it, different from the rest of the pack it really is :) Stephen stays safely away from the trap I call the hi-tech curse: all the sounds that he produces are always firmly controlled by the man, never imposed on him by producer hacks. That's because he doesn't have a producer. Which makes it all the more interesting and even better. If the formula works don't mess with it. Check out the wah-wah guitar on "Thing Called Love", one of my personal favorites. When these guys rock the grooves are big enough to park a tour bus in. The end result is an irresistible group of blues infected, spirited, well crafted performances by a great up and coming Indie artist. The effect sets in on succeeding listens, with his stunning minimalism and, above all, that deeply-felt sincere and utterly humane nature of all the songs. In blues-rock, it is usually not the actual melody that is important - the melodies are all already written - but the approach and attitude. A great band, Stephen Poppell and the Wolfpack are one of my top runners up in my Sonicbids International Song Competition. I should give them all a trip to the Mississippi Delta so they can see where their music comes from! I would recommend crossing a body of water like Hendrix did when he quit backing strippers at Printers Alley and headed for Britain. Or the British Invasion in reverse. It can be brutal to get respect in your hometown. Come on over to America and be heroes. These guys can quit their day jobs, or get a day job and then quit.In the immortal words of Bill Murray, I want to party with you dudes :) -Gary Allen (The Charlie Daniels Band/JJ Cale) |
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