Rhythm and blues exponents Brilleaux have already had a busy year – they've spent a week at the Nelson Jazz & Blues Festival and played Tauranga's Blues Brews & BBQs. Now they have a new album out, Decade, both celebrating the band's first 10 years and in breaking new ground.
This is their fifth album in that time and is very much a culmination of the hard work and musical evolution that has taken place since the turn of the century.

Brilleaux's self-titled first album set the template for what was to come, solid English rhythm and blues, very (naturally) influenced by Dr Feelgood, with fresh original songs from Graham Clark. That album saw the debuts of 'The Brilleaux Show” and 'Beer Goggles”, still staples of the band's live set.
But that was before the arrival of guitarist Bruce Rolands, whose straight ahead no-nonsense rock-blues approach – combining the best of Keith Richards' Rolling Stones riffing with a host of grungier modern influences – added another pillar of tough style to the band's foundation sound.
There followed an album of classic rhythm ‘n' blues covers, fittingly called Maximum Rhythm & Blues, a tough and solid set recorded quickly and efficiently at the Boatshed Studio which caught the new line-up flexing its nascent muscles.
Then Eight-Track Style saw the band head off on a slight tangent. They recorded over in Hamilton, presenting a new collection of original songs that moved slightly more in a rock direction. Some of the immediate melodic catchiness and universal themes that make Graham Clark's songwriting so appealing seemed missing, though Bruce really came into his own as a guitarist, showing the same skill at layering complex parts in the studio as he had years earlier with Tauranga band the Stone Babies.
A couple of years back came Live at the Colosseum – an event that confirmed what a live force Brilleaux has become. By this time they had travelled around the country, headlined the odd festival, and guested on TV's Sports Café and elsewhere. The live album underlined how well the band had been able to integrate the sometimes disparate threads of their music, with classic R&B tunes sitting comfortably alongside originals both old and new.
Decade reinforces that and is both the strongest set of songs the band has yet produced and the most cohesive vision of their sound – a reinvented version of classic R&B for the 21st century. Just as 'Welcome to the Brilleaux Show” kicked off their first album, so Decade's opener 'This Ain't Rock N Roll” is a band mission statement, affirming their commitment ('Pretty soon everybody gonna know / All about that Brilleaux show”) while unleashing a sound that is huge and powerful, especially with the addition of Shaken Not Stirred hornmen Damian Forlong and Chris Pearce along with local Sonia Bullot's trumpet.
From there things rarely let up. Decade contains half-a dozen real winners from Graham Clark – simple songs with simple themes and great guitar riffs that stick in your mind and demand you sing along. 'PhD in Stupidity” is a classic in the Feelgood vein, 'I'm a Howling Wolf” unselfconsciously references years of blues history, 'It Wasn't Me” is clever and abominably catchy and 'I Love Girls” is the same, sounding like some lost one-hit-wonder the guys unearthed in their record collection.
Then there are more ambitious approaches such as 'I Wonder Why I Can't Get No Sleep”, where a killer guitar line is augmented singers Porina McLeod, Carlee Williams and Kathy Phillips, who shine in a gospel-influenced coda, or Brilleaux's latest deconstruction of a Willie Dixon song, the nigh-on unrecognisable rearrangement of 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You”, which adds a whole different range of flavours to the mix.
And, talking about the mix, hats off to Tim Julian, head dude at Colourfield Studio and special guest on keyboards, who has delivered a fantastic sound for the band, at once big and aggressive while retaining warmth and presence – this really is a terrific-sounding album.
And no review would be complete without mentioning the Brilleaux rhythm engine room of drummer Ian 'Beano” Gilpin and bassist Brian Franks. They do great work here, proving a rhythm section can be powerful, understated and melodic all at the same time.
An official release party is coming soon – watch here for details. In the meantime you can get Decade from www.brilleaux.co.nz.