Let The Demons Out Ghalia & Mama’s Boys

• 1 4am Fried Chicken 03:34
• 2 Let The Demons Out 03:56
• 3 Press That Trigger 04:35
• 4 Have You Seen My Woman 04:19
• 5 Hoodoo Evil Man 03:27
• 6 Addiction 05:44
• 7 All The Good Things 04:25
• 8 I'm Shakin' 02:24
• 9 Waiting 03:37
• 10 See That Man Alone 03:26
• 11 Hey Little Baby 03:41
• 12 Hiccup Boogie 04:33
• Total Runtime 47:41

Info for Let The Demons Out

Some albums stop you in your tracks. Like the smoky thump from a New Orleans juke-joint as you pass by on the sidewalk, Let The Demons Out is a rock ‘n’ roll siren call that pricks up your ears and puts you under its spell. And with Europe’s fastest-rising young vocalist and Louisiana’s hottest R&B crack-squad running the show, resistance is useless.

If you’ve not yet met Ghalia Vauthier, prepare to fall hard for an artist on the cusp of big things. Rewind to 2013 and Ghalia’s rise began with an apprenticeship busking on the streets of her native Brussels and double-duty in her two early bands, The Naphtalines and Voodoo Casino. “I always thought busking is the best schooling one could have,” she says. “You have only one second to catch people. It’s like a challenge – and I love challenges!”

Ghalia soon set herself the biggest one of all: America. With her passion for rocket-fuelled R&B drawing her to the motherland, the singer trekked the US cultural nerve-centres – from Chicago and Memphis to Nashville and Mississippi – winning fans and raising roofs at every stop. “The first time I went to the USA was like a musical pilgrimage to discover the places all my favourite songs talked about. The second time, things became real. I started singing where my heroes sang. I was strolling where they used to walk, buying booze maybe at their favourite liquor store, driving the same highways, watching sunsets in the same cotton fields. Then, from sitting in with local artists, I began to get my own shows.”

Every state heralded a new adventure, but perhaps most pivotal was Louisiana, where the seeds of Let The Demons Out were sown as Ghalia fell in with local legends Johnny Mastro & Mama’s Boys. The chemistry between these fast friends was undeniable, and it spilled over into New Orleans’ Music Shed Studio, as Ghalia drafted the lineup as her studio band. “The goal was to mix their attitude and experience with my songs and vocals,” she explains, “creating a symbiosis and letting the musical chemistry blossom.”

Working on impulse and trusting in their talent, this makeshift collective tore a page from the playbook of the blues originators, cutting live in the same room. “We think that this organic recording style brings more spontaneity and integrity to the music,” considers Ghalia. “Plus, it’s more fun and way more challenging.”

In an era of manufactured music, Let The Demons Out is as real as it gets. Mama’s Boys provide the engine-room on these twelve tracks, with sparks flying between Mastro’s gale-force harp, Smokehouse Brown’s stinger guitars, the grooving bass of Dean Zucchero and the visceral beats of Rob Lee. Leading the line, meanwhile, is Ghalia’s astonishing vocal, which somersaults from a honeyed purr to a hollered battlecry. “My lyrics come from stories I’ve experienced and the emotional reactions to them,” she says. “In the old days, they said blues is not only about lamentation but encouragement. That’s the way I see it, too. Another subject I find myself writing about is freedom – mine, yours, ours. Of course, there’s the subject of men. Can be about love, can be about sex, can be none of the above.”

These are songs that mark Ghalia out as a writer of dizzying potential. There’s the gunshot opener 4am Fried Chicken and the bone-shaking All The Good Things, with its fat beat and hedonist vocal (“All the good things, babe, they’re bad for you”). There’s the fuzz-faced swagger of Have You Seen My Woman and the unstoppable momentum of Hoodoo Evil Man. Press That Trigger fizzes with a frantic guitar solo, while the hoarse mouth-harp and thunderous beat of the title track recalls the Stones in their dazzling prime.

This multi-faceted band can also shift gears, as evidenced by the snake-charmer slow-burn of Addiction, or Hey Little Baby, which takes its sweet time, as Ghalia breathes a hypnotic vocal melody in your ear. Yet this party goes out with a bang on the closing Hiccup Boogie, with its shades of Canned Heat and a travelogue vocal that holds the listener rapt.

Look elsewhere for your background music. Let The Demons Out is an album that demands your undivided attention, and drags the blues genre into fresh relevance. “We’re not aiming to replicate traditional blues,” says Ghalia, “but rather to push the songwriting and playing to a point at which we discover something new and hopefully fresh, while still maintaining a blues vibe. Basically, we hope to strike a balance between the traditional and progressive. That’s what good art is about anyway…”

Ghalia Berge
You can’t miss Ghalia Volt. She’s the natural-born rock star with the leather jacket and wicked grin, leaning from her album sleeve to offer you a hit on her hip flask. But the real Southern blend ain’t in the bottle, it’s on the songs. Following the New Orleans flavours of her 2017 breakthrough, Let The Demons Out, this year sees the acclaimed Brussels-born singer-songwriter dive deeper into the American South, recording in the hill country of Mississippi, where she shared her songs with a cast of esteemed local musicians and caught the flying sparks. This is Mississippi Blend: an album as fiery and throat-burning as Delta moonshine.

But like any musician with the blues under their fingernails, Ghalia always burned to make a record in Mississippi. Right from the start, her vision for Mississippi Blend was clear. This was to be an album so raw it bled, recorded deep in the hill country, letting all the region’s favourite sons add their thumbprint and catching the vibe that blew on the breeze. “Raw and natural,” nods the singer. “With bleedings, minimal microphones used, a traditional approach with modern influences.”

Six years ago, Ghalia was a best-kept secret, her days spent busking on the streets of the Belgium capital, her nights shaking the city’s blues clubs. But as a die-hard R&B and blues fan, the singer-songwriter found the siren call of America too strong to resist. Visiting Chicago, Memphis and Nashville, Ghalia’s livewire talent saw her embraced by the musical motherland and elevated to headliner status.

Before long, on Let The Demons Out, she fused the groove of New Orleans with her own punk-rock attitude, hooking up with bassist Dean Zucchero, guitarist Smokehouse Brown and harmonica player Johnny Mastro from the Crescent City’s legendary band, Mama’s Boys. Commercially and creatively, this debut release made a seismic impact, hitting #1 on Louisiana’s Roots Music Report, #15 on the national Contemporary Blues Chart and #23 on the Living Blues Charts – while scoring Blues Album Of The Month in Classic Rock (“They’re an irresistible force”).

There was one studio that fit the bill. There was one studio that fit the bill. Owned and operated by, award-winning producer Jim Dickinson sons, Cody and Luther Dickinson, the Zebra Ranch in Coldwater, Mississippi, is a beacon of old-school production, where titans from T-Model Ford to R.L. Burnside have torn it up. But rather than being overawed by the studio’s history, Ghalia stepped up with her own songs and attitude, immersed in the Mississippi spirit. “I wanted this record to be organic, with hill country influences and the punk, garage and rock ‘n’ roll that I started with. I’m not trying to imitate any style, but letting my songs drive this music.”

Lyrically, these songs are Ghalia’s most powerful yet. “Meet You Down The Road is an emotive poem about the tragic loss of a loved one,” she says. “Drag Me Down is about never stopping doing what we aim to do. Squeeze is an erotic love song disguised in a cute, playful story. Why Don’t You Sell Your Children? speaks of a society in which common morals have become so increasingly depleted in the interest of greed that one’s next step might as well be to sell off your offspring for some extra cash.”

Ghalia sings up a storm, while playing soulful dobro and slide guitar. But this is anything but a one-woman show. Once again, Zucchero and Brown were the engine room, while every morning saw the singer welcome a new guest. On drums, you’ll find Cody Dickinson of the feted North Mississippi Allstars, alternating with Cedric Burnside, whose feel on the hill country-flavoured tunes would have made both his late father and grandfather proud. The veteran harp-blower Watermelon Slim duets with Ghalia on the dusty-road groove of Wade In The Water, while Lightnin’ Malcolm – a guitarist credited with keeping the hill country scene so healthy – plays searing leads. “The process of this record,” says Ghalia, “was an absolutely beautiful experience.”

By all means, take a slug on her hip flask. But don’t forget to play Mississippi Blend – and fall for the most powerful cocktail of star players and roots styles you’ll hear this year. “I just can’t wait,” says the singer, “to share this new album live…”

Booklet for Let The Demons Out