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Just like the old rock ‘n’ roll.

Pure, unadulterated rock.  The sounds of the 70s bands like The Who and Led Zeppelin mixed with the fast riffs and unique groove of Rogue Motel.

Matthew Kendall is the man behind the wheel of Rogue Motel.  He met producer Duane Lundy (Vandaveer, Scourge of the Sea, Ben Sollee) and blindly followed his gut to Lundy’s studio in Lexington, Kentucky. “We recorded in a warehouse in a run-down industrial part of town. It sat right against the train tracks and you could feel the trains in the floor as they passed” (http://www/myspace.com/roguemotel), recalls Kendall. Daylight Breaking is the result of that time in Kentucky and serves as the new album from Portland’s Rogue Motel. Along with Kendall are Michael Wehling, Reginald Bradley, Adam Hill, and Jeremy Kaplan, completing a five-some that had never played together until that first night in Kentucky. “We cut Fault that night”, Kendall remembers ON THE GROUP’S MYSPACE PAGE, “and I think you can hear it in the energy of that track… everyone was working really hard to find the right place…getting to know each other musically through recording was really special,” as he says on his Web site http://www.myspace.com/roguemotel.

“Fault” is the second track on the album, a fantastic song with a simple rock beat. Some of the songs on the album are high activity and just end abruptly.  I expected another verse or chorus and the song just ended on the high notes.  Matthew Kendall has an unmatched voice; I’ve never heard a voice like his before.  He’s definitely found a niche of his own. His voice is much like that of Roger Daltrey of The Who.  Kendall gets your attention with his voice.  The lyrics are clear and not overpowered by the organ, cymbals, guitars, trumpet or piano.  Some of the songs even sound like the rock and roll of the early 70s.

I enjoyed the album’s 10 tracks although I thought the last song on the album, “Marie,” was a little too long at over 9 minutes.  It had a long intro over two minutes, a very slow beat and more music that vocal.  All in all a good album to have if for no other reason that to relive the early days of rock and roll.

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