JETBOY – BORN TO FLY

Founded way back in 1983 by guitarists Billy Rowe and Fernie Rod, California’s JETBOY continue to crank out their brand of sleazy AC/DC type of Rock n Roll to the masses, with the release of their new album BORN TO FLY through Frontiers Music. This new album has been put together by the bands core of original members, vocalist Mickey Finn, and guitarist’s Rowe & Rod, together with ex FASTER PUSSYCAT bassist Eric Stacey and drummer Al Serrato, and is the bands first release since 1990’s DAMNED NATION.

The debut JETBOY album FEEL THE SHAKE, still features regularly on my playlist, and was a personal favourite of mine back in the late eighties, and with the band back playing live in UK I was looking forward to giving this new release a spin and as guitarist Billy Rowe says of the writing process for “Born To Fly”

“The band wasn’t working on any new material when Frontiers approached us. Mickey and I had written one or two songs a few years back, but that’s about it. For myself, I’ve been very into writing music and got very into recording, so I had a good amount of complete musical songs that I always felt could end up as new JETBOY material, and some of it did. But, the majority of the songs on this album were written within a couple of months after we got the offer from Frontiers,”

Lead off track ‘Beating The Odds’ get the proceedings off to a great start with its high-octane, in your face Rock n Roll, with the title track ‘Born To Fly’ following on swiftly with its Thin Lizzy type dual guitar solo, it’s a cracking tune and wouldn’t have been out-of-place on FEEL THE SHAKE. Next up is my personal favourite on the album ‘Old Dog, New Tricks’ with its massive chorus and catchy harmonica, this is pure eighties sleaze rock at its best. ‘The Way That You Move Me’ with its 70s vibe and great backing vocals drive this album through to the country-rock inspired ‘Brokenhearted Daydream’ which would have been out-of-place on the debut TANGIER album.

We are offered track after track of quality Rock n Roll, from the politically inspired ‘Inspiration From Desperation’ to the catchy ‘All Over Again’. ‘She’ is another standout track, together with ‘A Little Bit Easy’ and ‘Every Time I Go’ bring this great record to the final tracks, the blues inspired ‘Smoky Ebony’ and the upbeat ‘Party Time’

For me BORN TO FLY is a great fun-filled sleazy Rock N Roll album, and JETBOY should be proud of this offering as it ranks up their with the bands previous efforts DAMNED NATION and the sublime FEEL THE SHAKE, making this an essential purchase.

Best described as a blend of edgy rock and roll with a traditional blues based influence, their new album “Born To Fly” is the perfect vehicle to exploit the commanding style of the bands classic rock ‘n roll sound. “The musical inspiration for the “Born To Fly” album came from a life long list of influences from bands we all grew up on from the 1970’s. JETBOY has always approached it’s writing with a simple stripped down, no nonsense rock n roll structure, starting with a great riff and a catchy hook. This album flowed so organically, everything felt like it was meant to be. We’ve also all really grown as musicians, which really helped capture what we feel is some of our best work to date,” states Rowe.

Vocalist Mickey Finn says the “lyrics flowed amazingly fast, with most songs being written in one sitting. My feelings were to stay true to JETBOY’S roots and style, but to also incorporate where we are at today, pleasing old and new fans alike. My wife was the inspiration for “Every Time I Go” and my firstborn son inspired “The Way You Move Me”. Our life struggles as a band and lifelong friends inspired tracks like “Beating The Odds” and “Born to Fly”. “Inspiration from Desperation” covers our political climate in America these days, “Brokenhearted Daydream” reminds us that love is sometimes fickle and hearts get broken, but don’t let it destroy your heart, we have to learn to move on and allow love to come into our lives again. So, all in all, lots of inspiring messages on the record, as well as some good old rock ‘n roll fun and “Party Time” lyrics make it a well rounded listen!

Tracklisting:
1. Beating The Odds
2. Born To Fly
3. Old Dog, New Tricks
4. The Way That You Move Me
5. Brokenhearted Daydream
6. Inspiration From Desperation
7. All Over Again
8. She
9. A Little Bit Easy
10. Every Time I Go
11. Smoky Ebony
12. Party Time!

JETBOY Lineup:
Mickey Finn – Lead Vocals + Harmonica
Fernie Rod – Rhythm + Lead Guitar + Vocals
Billy Rowe – Rhythm + Slide Guitar + Vocals
Eric Stacy – Bass
Al Serrato – Drums