Her Next Friend

Her Next Friend | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2005)
• Original Release Date: January 1, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Antipoison Records
• ASIN: B0007LXV7Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #622,890 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Cats in the Garage

2. Isolde

3. Days Worth Living For

4. Handwritten Message

5. Rain Days

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

John Whitfield Burton, the creative force behind Her Next Friend, has been an active performer and recording artist for over ten years. A former officer in the U.S. Army, Burton has been active in many different music scenes, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia. In his early days as a performer, Burton backed Mike Burris, a noted Charlottesville-based singer-songwriter ('96-'97). After that, he played with the highly acclaimed Northern California alt.country band Forever Goldrush. He is featured on their debut LP, 'Unknown Territory' on the banjo and mandolin. He also played with alternative rock bands godsize ('97-'99) and the Aggro Drivers ('99-'01), along with an ongoing membership in the Charlottesville-based collective, Draw the Kitten. An versatile sort, Burton, a native Virginian, is also a highly accomplished Piedmont-style blues guitarist and recently collaborated on a Piedmont blues project with Pete Jarkunas, a former member of the fabled Swimming Pool Q’s.

Product Description

What do you get when you take influences as diverse as Rev. Gary Davis, Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart, Richard Thompson and The Clash and mix them all together? You wind up with the debut EP from Her Next Friend, an exciting new modern rock band from Northern Virginia.

The songs on the band’s eponymous EP are rooted in bandleader John Whitfield Burton’s unique and innovative guitar sounds. Dynamic fingerpicking mixes with seismic power chords and melodic solos, often all in the same song. Combine that with an original vocal style that perfectly suits the material and you have the sound of Her Next Friend.

Burton’s songs feature off-beat lyrics which combine a keen eye for detail, a firmly cynical delivery and a dry sense of humor. He writes from points of view that other songwriters don't use, but the songs still feature narrative storytelling and classic song structure. The songs are accessible, but never obvious, and there is plenty of room for the listener to fill in the blanks on their own. The sound has elements of punk and new wave, yet there’s often a moody and brooding quality to the songs as well. All in all, Her Next Friend makes an aggressive, powerful sound that is loaded with edge.