MKO Band

Any guitarist looking for a quality blues rocker to emulate couldn’t do better than latch onto Rory Gallagher. But Davy Knowles went one better; he hired Gallagher’s band to support him. They share equal billing on MKO, released on Oct. 17. Bassist Gerry McAvoy (M) and drummer Brendan O’Neill (O) have toured extensively with Knowles (K) as Band of Friends (they once played all Gallagher material) but this is the first time they have collaborated on a studio album of original songs. The eight tunes are penned and sung by Knowles and while they share some of Gallagher’s driving approach and the power trio lineup he favored both in his own work and that of his previous band Taste, this is no copycat outfit. Opening track, “Fires” though could easily have slotted into a Gallagher album. It’s led by a snappy lick quickly echoed by the bass and we’re off on a rollicking blues rocker that gallops, pauses, and restarts as Knowles repeats “I’m getting tired of putting out the fires I’ve left behind.” He slams out a brief yet pointed solo which Rory would have approved and ends without breaking four-minutes. It’s tight, concise and a terrific kickoff to this “new” band’s debut. Knowles, like his biggest influence, knows that successful blues rockers need firm melodies with memorable lyrics, as well as succinct, gripping guitar solos. He displays the sum of those talents on material such as “High Horse,” a kiss-off to an old flame with “It’s the same ol’ record playin’,…You ain’t got n