Ears Wide Open: Sonny Boy Thorn

Kevin Bronson on June 30th, 2015

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Sonny Boy Thorn makes festival-ready classic rock with big grooves and modern influences — and just enough of the latter that the band doesn’t sound like it’s aping anybody from the ’90s or before. SBT is a newly uncloseted collaboration between guitarist-songwriter-producer Christopher Thorn (of Blind Melon) and singer-songwriter David “Davie” Dennis of the dearly departed L.A. indie-rock band Voxhaul Broadcast. When Thorn and Dennis first met, they found they shared a lot of common ground musically, and the former went on to produce an EP for Voxhaul. Thorn then worked with AWOLNATION, producing the hit “Sail” and touring with them as a guitarist before, he said, “I felt like I wanted to do my own thing again.” Sonny Boy Thorn started as a side project before moving to the front burner, and the duo have completed a full album, featuring a formidable cast of players: Frank DiVanna (Trashcan Sinatras), Hayden Scott (AWOLNATION), Matt Flynn (Maroon 5) Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters, the Wallflowers), Glen Graham (Blind Melon) and Jim Keltner. “Dance to the Beat” finds salvation in a time-honored concept — rock ’n’ roll that’s danceable — and “Bang” is an aptly titled, pugilistic anthem in which Dennis declares “I still got fight in me.” Happy to have a ringside seat.

||| Stream: “Dance to the Beat” and “Bang”