M.I.C.-Out 2 rock

Self-produced
2010


Vocalist/guitarist Yvon Sierre has been in the music business for almost 40 years. He spent almost the three decades in various outfits in his native Canada. He has played numerous shows in China for almost the last ten years and his current band is M.I.C. (made in China). The current line-up is rounded out Huang HongLiang on bass, Xhao Qian on drums and Angela Renzetti on guitars and backing vocals. The first thing that struck me about these songs is that they are raw. I mean that in reference to playing, writing and production. It's obvious that Yvon and his band like hard rock, but there are some elements garage rock stirred in. The problem is that it's all rather pedestrian. I hear this album and a I picture this band playing these songs in front of a hand full of people in a tiny club on a Tuesday night. Now that's not knock on bar bands ad much as it is about the fact that these songs sound underdone. The choruses are generally quite strong and easily the best thing about almost every track. In fact they are so good that they kept me from hitting the skip button on more than one occasion. Unfortunately the rest of the music isn't nearly as tight or as memorable. At best they sound like a mixture of Ace Frehley and Foreigner. At worst they sound like they failed to finish writing the song before recording it. The guitar solos are decent on occasion, but several times they have lost my attention by that point so it doesn't matter. I liked the story about Seree's history and was hoping to like this, but really there just isn't enough here to get into. It's bland and lacks any real direction.