"Up All Night." It's an apt title for Albert Castiglia's seventh
album: nobody sleeps when this man is in town. After 27 years of
house-rocking studio albums and smack-in-the-mouth live shows, the
Florida bandleader is the acknowledged master of red-raw,
sweat-and-hair blues that gives it to you straight. Now, the visceral
riffs and bruised soul of Up All Night make everything else sound like
a lullaby. "I'd describe the musical vibe of this new album," says
Castiglia simply, "as heavy." Being released October 6, 2017 on Ruf
Records, Up All Night finds Castiglia in a creative swagger after last
year's acclaimed Big Dog. What wasn't broke then hasn't been fixed
now, with the bluesman once again recording at Dockside Studios,
Louisiana, and capturing a warts-and-all mix alongside producer Mike
Zito. "I figured since the Big Dog session went so well there, why
change studios?" he reasons. "I'll probably record there for the rest
of my life." Dockside might be home-turf, but any notion of a comfort
zone was dispelled by an edgy new lineup who pushed their bandleader
to the wire. "Putting my new band together was a pivotal moment and
this recent incarnation has really upped my game," says Castiglia. "My
drummer, Brian Menendez, is very dynamic and gives me that extra
spark. He's along the lines of a Ginger Baker or Mitch Mitchell. Jimmy
Pritchard is my bass player and he's solid as a rock. His tone is fat
and he's right on time. When I hear him, I think of Bill Wyman or
Calvin 'Fuzz' Jones. It's a power trio with no boundaries or
restrictions. It's a pretty amazing sound to me and it's reflective in
Up All Night." Up All Night is what happens when fist-tight chemistry
meets a songwriter firing on all cylinders. Flying out of the blocks
and bottling ten songs on the first day, Castiglia shook the Dockside
walls with the most powerful songs of his career. There's the stinging
"Hoodoo On Me." The strutting garage-band vibe and scream-it-back
chorus of "Three Legged Dog." The punchy call-and-response bar-room
brawler that is "Knocked Down Loaded." "That song was written with my
frequent collaborator, Graham Wood Drout," says Castiglia, "and it
brings me back to when I was a young musician and felt like I was ten
feet tall and bulletproof." Other high-velocity cuts include "95
South"'s travelogue, decorated by the inimitable slide-guitar
fairydust of Sonny Landreth ("That's about having to drive from
Washington D.C. to my home in South Florida in the middle of a
tropical storm"), while "Chase Her Around The House" splices an early
rock 'n' roll vibe with an age-old male need ("It's about coming home
and wanting to devour your significant other after being on the road
for a long time"). He'll pummel you with the rough stuff, but
Castiglia can also shift gears to more contemplative moments, whether
that's the rolling and contented acoustic blues of "You Got Me To That
Place," or its thematic opposite-man, "Unhappy House Of Blues." "That
song was co-written with Cyril Neville," he explains. "Cyril wrote the
lyrics but I completely relate to them, because they bring me back to
unhappier times when I was a struggling musician and I had no support
from who I was with. I think anyone can relate to these tunes." This
isn't Castiglia's first time around. Born on August 12th, 1969, in New
York – before moving to Florida aged five – he made his
professional debut in 1990 with Miami Blues Authority, but truly hit
the international radar when Junior Wells invited him into his solo
band for several world tours. "It was an incredible adventure,"
recalls Castiglia. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a Chicago
bluesman. Junior opened the door for me to do that. He recorded his
last studio album, Come On In This House, at Dockside. What a sign!"
The gig was a shop-window, and though Wells died in 1998, there was no
stopping Castiglia, whether he was joining the great Atlanta vocalist
Sandra Hall for national tours in the late-'90s, or holding his own in
onstage jams with everyone from Pinetop Perkins to John Primer.
Nobody's sideman, his own burgeoning solo career began with 2002's
Burn, followed up by 2006's A Stone's Throw, 2010's Keepin On and
2012's Living The Dream. In 2014, Ruf debut Solid Ground was declared
"smouldering and intense" by The Blues Magazine, while last year's Big
Dog was the thrilling culmination of a lifetime's craft, championed by
Blues Blast's Kim Derr as "the best album I've listened to this year".
That back catalogue is a high bar, but Up All Night raises it, defying
you to sleep until you've worn out its 11 magnetic tracks. "You'll
rock out and dance like nobody's watching," concludes Albert. "If
you're sad, this record will lift you up. If you're already happy,
this album will make you happier. You can listen to this album
anywhere, anytime…"
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09/05/2018 Last update