TORNADO JUICE

Brother JT, aka the enigmatic John Terlesky, has returned with a mind-palace of an?album entitled Tornado Juice. The album was recorded at Magic Door, a new studio?in Montclair NJ, by Ray Ketchem, who produced the Original Sins' Bethlehem album?in 1996. This was a departure for the Brother, who hadn't darkened the door of a?real studio since 2007's Jelly Roll Gospel, preferring the freedom of recording at?his band's practice space and overdubbing at home. True to form, however, after?recording the main band parts JT took the files home and overdubbed vocals and?guitar leads to his heart's content onto his refurbished Dell laptop. I wouldn't want?to put anyone through that kind of obsessiveness, much less a friend. And I wanted?to put my little stamp of grime on it.?A prolific writer, often inspired by the titular Tornado Juice (that's LSD, kids), JT?records on average 40 songs a year before narrowing the selection for an album.?Often, it is the lyrics that come first, fast and furious - excerpts from one of JT's many?notebooks can be seen on the LP inner sleeve. It could just be my subconscious?going off, but these sessions really feel like a form of spirit channeling. I hear voices,?all kinds of voices, and basically take down what they say. It might seem odd, but I?feel like I'm giving these beings some kind of outlet. It's like having a collaborator,?say, Bernie Taupin, only from another dimension and much scarier.?From the raw material of those pages the artist then honed the more decipherable?passages into song lyrics, drawing musically from a bottomless well of influences:?gutbucket blues to power pop, classic rock to garage-psych, even modern sources.?A guitarist inspired by the 'rudimentary guys' or more specifically Lou Reed, Ron?Asheton and Bo Diddley, JT plays a pelham blue Epiphone SG with an alnico?whammy bar through a Blackstar Stage 40. Some favorite pedals for this intrepid?psychonaut are Halifax wah-wah and Boss distortion and sometimes Roland RE-20?echo. While critics have referred to his playing as miraculously distorted guitar...?that'll rip your mind to shreds *, JT demurs I don't really enjoy playing guitar. I'd?much rather be just a singer, like Mick Jagger or Tom Jones, but I just don't have the?hips for it. And plus, who'd play guitar'??TRACK LISTING:?1. T.M.I.?2. Ponin'?3. Back to the 90's?4. Zabriskie?5. Mississippi Somethin'?6. Manifest Boogie?7. Baked Alaska?8. Snakebit?9. Peaks and Valleys?10. Friendly Eyes?11. Shasta?12. Eureka?13. Oh Me Oh My