In the summer of 2001, while on a month long motorcycle trip to Alaska and Canada's Northwest Territories, Colin Lake quietly began to craft a style and sound that would not come to fruition for many years.At the time, Colin was a novice guitar player and songwriter who had yet to even really sing, and the 'band' that he was forming in his head was little more than a fantasy. Over the next several years, however, Colin put more and more weight into his craft, becoming a proficient songwriter as well as a remarkably soulful vocalist and lap-slide guitar player.In early 2007, Colin released his debut album, Wax Wane, a
blues-infused romp through love, death, and politico that included a slew of well-crafted original tunes alongside covers of Bukka White and Chris Whitley, one of Colin's strongest modern influences.Later that year, Lake won the 2007 Telluride Acoustic Blues
Competition and would prove himself as a stellar solo blues performer to his largest audience yet.Meanwhile, back in Portland, the sound that Lake had been dreaming of years earlier had taken shape and was now hitting its stride in the form of "Welbottom", the band that Colin formed in 2006 when he enlisted bass player Kevin Marcotte and drummer Jason Stewart – a monster rythym section steeped in blues, funk, and jazz.In October of 2007, Colin Lake & Wellbottom retreated to the Cascade Mountains of Washington to record the forthcoming album, Bullet. Tracked over two days and recorded live in one room, the album features over an hour of epic tunes and uncanny interplay, along with Lake's best songwriting and vocal performances to date.Due out in Spring of 2008, Bullet is sure to propel Lake and his band into a realm that he could only dream of as he rode north six years ago.Bullet:For a few days in the Fall of 2007, Colin Lake and Wellbottom retreated to a studio in the Cascade Mountains and hit their stride. The result is the groundbreaking twelve song blues-rock masterpiece Bullet.Produced, engineered, and mixed by Bryan Appel of Stovetopstuff!, Bullet captures Lake and his band firing on all cylinders as they soar through eight burning originals, three timeless blues gems, and one surefire hit. That hit, written by Lake's friend and musical contemporary Ian Mouser, is "Red Cross", a smart, infectious blues-pop scorcher in the vein of early Rolling Stones material that has already garnered the attention of national music publications - months before the album goes to print and without the help of a record label.While many blues albums are forced to hide behind a single strength of the band or performer, this album has nothing and no one to fear. Bullet is an unapologetic, sun-up to sun-down romp through strikingly authentic territory. Lake's soulful vocal style, dripping slide-guitar tone, and gripping, introspective lyrics could easily have you confusing this 26 year old for a road-weary gunslinger twice his age. But as Lake clearly draws from a musical well that is older than us all, his style and approach to the music are decidedly modern. Enter the rhythm section; Bassist Kevin Marcotte and Drummer Jason Stewart had played together for years before ever meeting Lake. Steeped in jazz, funk and old school R&B, the two are improvisational wizards with feel that knows no bounds. Don't call Wellbottom a backing band - there's room in the drivers' seat for everyone and that notion rings true from the top to the bottom of Bullet's deepest grooves. Add to this the unexpected; many blues fans have never heard the sound of a record being scratched and many young hip hop fans have never heard a blues album. Somewhere in that vast divide is where the band's fourth member, Deejay Redi Jedi, feels most at home. On the hard-driving lead-off tune, "Hammer", as well as the band's funk-infused interpretation of the Robert Johnson classic "Stop Breakin' Down", Redi uses a variety of rubs, scratches, samples and rhythmic breaks that help make this album as intriguing as it is unique.
At over 63 minutes long this album is packed with go-for-broke emotion, thoughtful hooks, and honest, purposeful improvisation. With a tiny budget and huge ideas, Lake and his band have created an album that has all the feeling and none of the trappings that have come to define America's original music; Blues. Bullet is, to paraphrase, built for comfort and for speed... and the people will agree.
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