“The John E Vistic Experience have something special… the flavour of old school rock and roll delivered with an originality and freshness that makes it appealing, an energy that is hypnotising and a swagger that draws you in and spits you out when they’re done.”
With his whisky-drenched vocal, incendiary guitar style and hypnotic stage presence, John E. Vistic is a well-known figure on the Bristol and West Country live circuit. Inspired by great song writers such as Cave, Cohen and Dylan as well as guitar bands, like The Drones, The Stooges, and Dinosaur Jr, John E Vistic’s mission is to deliver powerful and iconic rock n roll songs with a raw and bleeding heart.
John E Vistic’s new album ‘Modern Love’ was recorded straight to tape at Bristol’s Toybox Studios by Ali Chant (PJ Harvey) and produced by Paul Corkett (Nick Cave, The Cure, The Horrors). ‘Modern Love’ is an epically amped-up album of dark love songs and familial meditations played with electrifying power by Vistic’s legendary rock n roll band – Adam Coombs (Keys, Backing Vox) Guy Fowler (Bass), and Dan Clibery (Drums) with additional vocals from Daisy Chapman (Crippled Black Phoenix).
A tremendous 12 months in 2009 started with JEV slaying their competitors at the Michael Eavis-judged Rockstar Bands competition, in which the band performed at the Pilton Party in front of 4,000 people alongside Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the Machine. Part of the band’s prize was to be the first band announced on the line-up for Glastonbury 2010 where they played three shows during the weekend including a set on the BBC Introducing stage which led long-term fan, 6 Music’s Tom Robinson to declare them “the uncrowned kings of the West Country”.
The band have honed their art through their blisteringly hot live shows – from high-profile supports to busy headline gigs – that regularly leave the critics searching for superlatives:
“Sideburns, shit-kickers and light-blue-touch paper rock’n’roll. The Vistics press pedal
to metal and motor through a blistering set of old school values such as breakneck
guitar solos, greasy Hammond and vinyl trousers.” – Venue Magazine
‘…with no qualms and no flinching, as he shed first his suit jacket and then his shirt, he walked, ran and finally jumped into the vortex of what he and his band had created – beautiful, ugly, pure, dirty rock and roll…’ – Crackerjack Live Review 2010
“The JEVE’s music fuses rockabilly, dirty blues and country with a rawness and energy that sends you and a bottle of Jack kicking and jiving back to the days when rebels didn’t even need a cause. The Libertines meet Jon Spenser in a Rock N Roll Car Crash.” – Moles Club Live Review Jan 2008
To date JOHN E VISTIC have also supported (amongst others) The Jim Jones Review, C.W. Stoneking, The Bookhouse Boys, Middle Class Rut, and Alabama 3 (whose front-man Larry Love was so impressed by his opening act that he introduced himself on stage as “John E. Vistic”). Other festivals for the band in 2010 have included the Bulldog Bash, Trowbridge Village Pump Festival and a headline set at the Bristol Festival.
John E Vistic’s new album “Modern Love” is OUT NOW available here.