The Undiscovered: Pangolin Band

So you don't like guitar solos? Well, it's not that there are no guitar solos on Australian band Pangolin Band's progressive CD TRB. it's just that they are not about guitar solos, using the six-string to deliver Allan Holdsworth-style chords, Shoegazer thunder, space country fills and ambient metal rhythms. So what does that all mean? It means the band can move from the delicate to the thunderous, and from spaciousness to jazzy clatter, and from rawness to lushness, sometimes stopping at points in between. Still confused? Good, then perhaps what we have here is a band clever enough to carve out an aural space not inhabited by a hundred other bands. Guitarist Paul Hughan is one of the principals of this outfit, and if your curiosity has been aroused, check out what's happening Down Under.

Pangolin Band came together in 2002 in Melbourne, Australia. The band consists of Paul Hughan (guitar), Barry Mason (drums), and Gerrit Thomson (bass). Paul Hughan has followed a long and winding musical path, having been classically trained (a Bachelor of Music from Melbourne University) and who's made a living as a guitar teacher, but his main focus has always been electric music. He has worked with a country-rock band, with acoustic Soul-Blues band Mink, (which performed as support for people such as Chris Wilson, Joe Camilleri and Geoff Achison), and with power-pop band Zentaxis. At one time he focused on playing solo guitar, with a repertoire from players such as Leo Kottke, Pierre Bensusan and Bert Jansch, and recently arranged music and performed for a Flamenco version of Carmen. This band, however, represents for him a chance to bring all his interests together in one powerful alloy. He approaches the electric guitar as a pool of complex possibilities, from classical style counterpoint to Flamenco drive to bluesy wail to pure sound.

Pangolin Band continues to pursue airplay, sales outlets and other promotional outlets for their debut CD.

Paul Hughan
Australia

Web site: www.pangolinband.com