Shooters Images Gives their take on the Riders

In fact, I’d played in bands since I was 10 years old and was a music major in college (the first time).My music career is behind me but I do know a thing or two about music and bands. I’d been contacted by the band a little over a year ago when they asked to use some of our images for an upcoming video (which I believe comes out next month?). As a biker myself I like the idea of a band made up of bikers. I know there are others out there, but I like the overall presence of the band. They don’t seem like a bunch of “I’m a bad ****, hard drinking, grungy, guitar squealing musician/biker/artist/overall cooler than the average person” kind of guys.
Although I’ve never met them, their info doesn’t come across that way. Sturgis and other rallies are full of those bands (whose only appeal appears to be that they can get drunk and impress people on stage at 2am when everyone else is drunk.) The term “artist” doesn’t come to mind when I see those bands.
Due to my experience and training in music, I tend to look at music differently than some other people. I’m not big on judging songs according to their lyrics; rather, I listen to arrangements, instrumentation, composition, production, engineering, and musical ability of a band. My impression is that these guys know what they are doing and are doing it well. Although the demo CD I received didn’t play well (skipped a lot), I like what I heard. They have a great sound and the guys appear to be well versed at their instruments. I really liked their mix of instruments and arrangements and they appeared to be comfortable in the studio (playing live is one thing, but in the studio things become a lot harder to pull off.) They’ve got an overall good sound that I think will appeal to lots of people, not just the biker community. I’d really like to see them live.

Back when I played music, this kind of sound was only available by spending lots of money on an engineer and a pro studio. Today for a small amount of money, bands can put out a slick, professional sounding CD in their garage. But just like photography, technology doesn’t make you an artist. You still have to have talent and know the fundamentals, otherwise you will take snapshots your entire life. These guys appear to have the talent that sets them apart from the garage band musicians with access to pro equipment. I wish them a lot of luck. The album is definitely worth a listen and I look forward to seeing them live and listening to follow up albums.

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