Bonafide Fill Your Head With Rock (Old, New, Tried & True)

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by Joe Mis
Staff Writer

If imitation is the sincerest for of flattery then the boys in Bonafide certainly try to flatter AC/DC and Whitesnake. The Swedish quartet pays shameless homage to some of the great hard rock bands of the 1980s and is poised to release a 6 track EP to prove the point. Fill Your Head With Rock (Old, New, Tried & True) is indeed true to its title, containing three original songs lifted and edited from the band’s previous albums and three classic covers.

Bonafide was born in Malmö (southern Sweden) back in 2006. Founded by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Pontus Snibb (Jason & The Scorchers) and bassist Michael Nilsson, Bonafide took up the mantle of hard rock and filled out its lineups by adding guitarist Mikael Fässberg (Paul DiAnno) and drummer Sticky Bomb, later replaced by current drummer Niklas Matsson (Raging Slab, Backdraft). Approaching the music with a simple and direct manner, Bonafide released a self-titled debut album in 2007 and toured in support of many hard rock acts across Europe. They followed up with the 2009 release called Something’s Dripping. The band has decided to release a few covers and edits for their fans, thus we have their upcoming EP, Fill Your Head With Rock (Old, New, Tried & True).

Bonafide’s music is straight on blues-based rock, very much in the vein of AC/DC or Y&T. With minimal electronic trickery and maximum swagger and attitude, the music will bring the listener way back to early 80s and conjure up images of the great arena bands of the day. Their tunes are catchy and filled with big hooks, churning guitars and bubbling bass. Snibb’s vocals are solid, at times recalling Brian Johnson, David Coverdale or Dave Meniketti. His guitar work blends nicely with the hot licks laid down by fellow guitarist Mikael Fässberg. The bottom end provided by Nilsson and Matsson is competent, although Nilsson seems content to just twang along on the bass (but then this IS ’80’s style rock and most bassists were strictly background then). Matsson’s drums are solid, but he occasionally comes across as a bit too metronomic for the older style of music.

“Fill Your Head With Rock” is a great rock anthem – an arena rocker with a definite AC/DC groove and nicely packed with sing-along lyrics, slick guitars and great backing vocals. “No Doubt About It” comes across as more of a Y&T or Whitesnake track, again with lots of attitude, a bouncy rolling groove and great vocals. “Kick Me Out,” apparently a B-Side from the band’s second album, brings a little more GNR/Van Halen swagger to the table. Bonafide covers Humble Pie’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” and Rose Tattoo’s “Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock’N’Roll).” All are solid covers, with Snibb’s vocals at their best during the Humble Pie track, but their enthusiastic version of “Nice Boys” brings down the house. The original tracks are nicely recorded, but the engineering on the three cover tunes is a bit muddy, but perfectly acceptable.

If you like the hard rockin’ ’80s, than this release will be right up your alley. The cover tunes are well done and enjoyable, and the original songs have the classic sound with a few modern touches. If you are looking for something more original in the classic rock genre, you might do better picking up one of the band’s full-length albums rather than this EP, but for fans of Bonafide it is highly recommended.

Fill Your Head With Rock will be released on January 28, 2011.

Genre: Hard Rock

Band:
Pontus Snibb (vocals, guitars)
Niklas Matsson (drums)
Michael Nilsson (bass)
Mikael Fässberg (guitars)

Track Listing:
1. Fill Your Head With Rock (Radio Edit)
2. No Doubt About It
3. Kick Me Out
4. I Don’t Need No Doctor
5. I Can’t Explain
6. Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock’N’Roll)
Also included are videos for “Hard Livin’ Man” and “No Doubt About It”

Label: Black Lodge / Sound Pollution

Website: http://www.bonafiderocks.com/ , http://www.myspace.com/bonafiderocks

Hardrock Haven rating: 7/10