![Happiness Is on the Way by Greg Allen's Fringe Religion - Straight to the Top [GAFRHAP001]](https://media.kudosdistribution.co.uk/gafrhap001/800/cover.ki)
Happiness Is on the Way
A 5 track classic rock ep (20m 26s) — released November 30th 2018 on Straight to the Top
Greg Allen's Fringe Religion is a Boston-based band that formed in 2013 - but they are hardly beginners when it comes to rock and roll. Singer, guitar player and songwriter Greg Allen was in a band with the late great Jerry Nolan (drummer for the New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers). But Greg Allen is no Johnny Thunders clone. Yes, he's got that guttersnipe, raw guitar tone but he has a unique song writing style that evokes a dystopic world through a cast of twisted characters.
Allen has released a number of recordings (including those famous last songs with Jerry Nolan) and has done some time with the underground in London and New York. He is joined by bass player Greg Steinbaugh (Two Saints, Port Charles Quintet, World's Greatest Sinners, Prime Movers) and drummer Daley Jones (Two Saints in Boston, Middleman Bob, The Press, Trigger Happy in his hometown Seattle).
The music is rock and roll with a nod to all the greats. The band sounds simultaneously familiar and fresh. Hints of classic arena rock, power pop, sleazy glam, proto punk, gut bucket blues and even some country honk serve as backdrop to Allen's unique story telling. Its pure rock and roll, the kind they don't make anymore.
"Greg Allen is a true believer who's played with a few of his heroes and probably a few of yours. While his roots are planted in the swagger of the Stooges/Dolls era, he's absorbed the songwriting savvy as well: Of the five tracks on his new EP, there isn't one that doesn't open with a wake-you-up guitar riff or build to a memorable chorus hook…From the power-pop jangle of "Revolution Club: to the soul strut of "Carny Love" to the flat-out rocking on "Joe the Tow Truck Driver," these songs have smarts to match their attitude."
Brett Milano
Author, Vinyl Junkies, Sound of our Town, Don't All Thank Me at Once
Writer, Boston Globe, OffBeat Magazine
"This latest Fringe Religion offering traces the lineage of black-leather six-string hoodlumism, touching on The Stones, Flamin' Groovies, The Heartbreakers, and, not least, Lou Reed, whose hollow-eyed shade is vividly evoked on opening number 'She's Stoned'. 'The Revolution Club' meanwhile employs an evocative Byrds-type guitar jangle, a summery contrast to the stormier closing track 'Miles Away' − a white-knuckle, gallows-humour journey to the end of the night."
Hugh Gulland
Vive Le Rock Magazine (UK)
"Greg Allen's been playing at the fringes of the side of rock 'n' roll that celebrates pawnshop Gibsons, thrift store leather jackets, cheap beer and cigarettes, Stones b-sides, and Johnny Thunders bootlegs long enough to have been on New York Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan's final recordings. Happiness Is On The Way is a solid artifact of this ethic - hard-bitten as a Raymond Chandler novel, soft like the inside of a pretzel, sweet as a Hershey bar with almonds, funkier than James Brown's armpits. This is rock 'n' roll."
Tim Stegall
Austin Chronicle
"Greg Allen's Fringe Religion hits the mark dead-on with a series of strong, hook-laden pop songs that cut straight to the chase and left this listener with a visceral desire to keep heading back for more."
Chris Barry
Vice Magazine, Maxim
"Happiness is on the Way delivers in spades. Just give a listen to Carny Love with its amusement park theme, R&B swagger and high-stepping sax as a flavor enhancer. Or She's Stoned and Revolution Club both of which are radio-ready rockers. Shiny but unpolished, his new compositions rock. And roll."
"Is it even possible to turn out fresh-sounding rock 'n' roll in this day and age? Something brand new but instantly familiar? It is. These days, Greg Allen sounds like nobody but himself. And that's plenty good enough for me."
Bob Angell
Providence Journal Bulletin
Greg Allen is a true believer who’s played with a few of his heroes and probably a few of yours. While his roots are planted in the swagger of the Stooges/Dolls era, he’s absorbed the songwriting savvy as well: Of the five tracks on his new EP, there isn’t one that doesn’t open with a wake-you-up guitar riff or build to a memorable chorus hook…From the power-pop jangle of “Revolution Club: to the soul strut of “Carny Love” to the flat-out rocking on “Joe the Tow Truck Driver,” these songs have smarts to match their attitude. - Brett Milano Author, Vinyl Junkies, Sound of our Town, Don’t All Thank Me at Once Writer, Bos
This latest Fringe Religion offering traces the lineage of black-leather six-string hoodlumism, touching on The Stones, Flamin’ Groovies, The Heartbreakers, and, not least, Lou Reed, whose hollow-eyed shade is vividly evoked on opening number ‘She’s Stoned’. ‘The Revolution Club’ meanwhile employs an evocative Byrds-type guitar jangle, a summery contrast to the stormier closing track ‘Miles Away’ − a white-knuckle, gallows-humour journey to the end of the night. - Hugh Gulland Vive Le Rock Magazine (UK)
Greg Allen's been playing at the fringes of the side of rock 'n' roll that celebrates pawnshop Gibsons, thrift store leather jackets, cheap beer and cigarettes, Stones b-sides, and Johnny Thunders bootlegs long enough to have been on New York Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan's final recordings. Happiness Is on the Way is a solid artifact of this ethic - hard-bitten as a Raymond Chandler novel, soft like the inside of a pretzel, sweet as a Hershey bar with almonds, funkier than James Brown's armpits. This is rock 'n' roll. - Tim Stegall Austin Chronicle
Greg Allen's Fringe Religion hits the mark dead-on with a series of strong, hook-laden pop songs that cut straight to the chase and left this listener with a visceral desire to keep heading back for more. - Chris Barry Vice Magazine, Maxim
Happiness is on the Way delivers in spades. Just give a listen to Carny Love with its amusement park theme, R&B swagger and high-stepping sax as a flavor enhancer. Or She’s Stoned and Revolution Club both of which are radio-ready rockers. Shiny but unpolished, his new compositions rock. And roll. Is it even possible to turn out fresh-sounding rock ‘n’ roll in this day and age? Something brand new but instantly familiar? It is. These days, Greg Allen sounds like nobody but himself. And that’s plenty good enough for me. - Bob Angell Providence Journal Bulletin
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