The Arrival of the Pistoleros (Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Multi-Tap Delay!!)
I must warn you that all of my information about this band is from internet searches, and due to circumstances surrounding their name/s, and the fact that they're from a country that does not speak english, the information I have been able to find is sketchy at best.
So the first thing to know about the Pistoleros, they are not the band of the same name from Arizona. That band seems to have endless information easily available on the internet, while these Pistoleros have scant any! These Pistoleros are from Norway according to the Music Distributor that put out their CD in 2001, SAM SAM Music:
The Pistoléros are a fantastic instrumental guitar group from Norway founded in May 1997. They where largely inspired by The Shadows and Norwegian and Swedish bands. The music they play are a variety of own written songs, big hits and special cover songs from Scandinavian artists. For rock & roll / instrumental guitar fans a must have!
I don't recall exactly how I came across this album, but I do know that it was on Spotify that I first heard them after getting very inspired about Rautalanka in general (Rautalanka is an instrumental music from Finland that was created in response to the Shadows and Ventures influence in Europe, the word itself in Finnish means "Iron Wire). After hearing the opening track on "Arrival.." I was hooked, and over the years I find myself being drawn back to this recording. It's just very good, very solid Music, there's not a bad song in the bunch. And it wasn't until recently that I realized that the Multi-Tap delay on this album is just INSPIRED! It's like the Shadows and the Atlantics made sweet love and had a love child named the Pistoleros! Ok that's a little weird, but check this out!
So Multi-Tap delay is best known from bands like the Atlantics and the Shadows who all used units like the Binson Echo Rec or the Klemt Echolette to get their delay sound. A normal delay unit like the Maestro Echoplex produces a delayed repeat of the original sound at a specified interval. However the Binson and the Klemt units had what is known as Multi-Tap delay, and on this setting these units would produce 3 or 4 different repeats at varying intervals to produce a shimmering repeating delayed quality to the sound. The Pistoleros really dig in with this tone and take it all the way!
They do Several covers on the album, most notably Rocket Man from the Spotnicks, which was also covered by Ivan Pongracic and the Space Cossacks on Tsar Wars! as Cossack Rocket Patrol. However their original material is also quite stellar with the title track being one of my favorites.
Check out samples of the entire album here at Amazon, and pick up a CD copy while you're there. This one's a keeper!
So apparently they have been on a few various Rautalanka comps and they then released a follow up album called "The Return of the Pistoleros" in what appears to be 2012(I think these guys muse travel a lot because they're either arriving or returning). However just as frustrating as being named similarly to another band, there's another album release called the "Return of the Pistoleros" which is all you can find on Google, Spotify or anywhere by the Dub Pistols. Not the same! So can't find where to buy this one at all! If you have any info drop me a line and let me know where I can pick this one up. Here's a sample off of this album and it's fantastic too!
On Guitar:
So at any rate, I love this band and I'm really hoping they come out with a new album and really a much easier to find website/facebook for us non nordic speaking types :) Bravo Pistoleros! Excellent albums!
A third CD album was released in 2018,
ReplyDeleteOn The Right Track, on Nordic Tone Records.
Also recommended and worth seeking out!