(TEANECK, NJ) -- Tommy Castro & The Painkillers will celebrate the release of their new Alligator Records album, Killin' It Live, with performances at The Loft at City Winery in New York on Tuesday, April 9 and the Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Killin' It Live is a nonstop, spirited mix of blues, rock and soul, with rollicking, hypnotic grooves fueled by Castro's fervent vocals and the band's muscular musicianship.
Castro, along with his band, The Painkillers -- bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Michael Emerson and drummer Bowen Brown -- plays music that is guaranteed to fill the floor and raise the roof. With seemingly telepathic musicianship, the Painkillers bring an unmatched passion to Castro's blue-eyed California soul and hard-rocking, good-time songs.
With the group firing on all cylinders, Castro knew the time was right to answer his fans' demands for a live album. Killin' It Live captures the band at the peak of their creative and improvisational powers, and features one unforgettable, unpredictable performance after another. "This is the best band we've ever had," says Castro. We really got something going on beyond just being good musicians. Every song we play live now has that right feel-all the dynamics. It allows us to jam out more on stage. Killin' It Live is what you hear when you see us live."
Featuring songs from throughout Castro's career, Killin' It Live was produced by Castro and engineer/songwriter Ron Alan Cohen and recorded at venues in Texas, New York, Michigan and California during 2018. The album includes eight Castro originals spanning his entire career and two Castro-ized covers, each showing a slightly different side of his multifaceted musical personality.
Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He fell under the spell of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Mike Bloomfield and other blues-rockers. Almost every major rock and soul act, from Ike and Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to Elvin Bishop to Taj Mahal, toured through the area, and Castro was at every show. He saw John Lee Hooker, Albert King and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the same local blues bar, JJ's, where he often jammed, dreaming of one day busting out. Mixing the blues-rock he loved and the soul music he heard blasting out from his Mexican friends' lowriders, Tommy started to create his own personal sound and style. He honed his guitar skills and intense vocals, learning how to capture an audience as he performed on San Jose's highly competitive bar scene.
As his reputation spread, Tommy played in a variety of Bay Area blues and soul bands, soon making a name for himself as a hotter-than-hot live artist bursting at the seams with talent. He joined Warner Brothers' artists The Dynatones in the late 1980s, gigging all over the country. After forming the first Tommy Castro Band in 1991, Castro released a series of critically acclaimed CDs for Blind Pig, Telarc and 33rd Street Records, as well as one on his own Heart And Soul label. He signed with Alligator Records in 2009, releasing Hard Believer to massive acclaim.
Castro formed the first incarnation of The Painkillers in 2012 and released The Devil You Know. By 2014 (with Brown and Emerson taking over drums and keys respectively) they had become a lean, mean four-piece lineup. The current band released Method To My Madness in 2015 and Stompin' Ground in 2017, with critics shouting praise and admirers cheering the group's every move. Blues Revue said simply, "Tommy Castro can do no wrong."
The Loft at City Winery is located at 155 Varick Street in New York, NY. Debonair Music Hall is located at 1409 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, NJ.
Photo by Peggy DeRose
