Jared James Nichols has shared a lyric video for Bad Roots, the second single taken from the newly appointed Gibson brand ambassador's forthcoming EP, Shadow Dancer.
Nichols has a been a busy man of late, jamming Crossroads at Gibson Live with Joe Bonamassa, taking on the ultimate restoration project in putting an original 1952 Les Paul Goldtop back together again after it was destroyed in a tornado, and next month he heads out on tour across the States with John 5, finishing the tour in style by joining the KISS Kruise alongside Night Ranger over the Halloween weekend.
This song is an audio affirmation, an anthem to rise above, and continue to reach for good instead of evil
Jared John Nichols
Bad Roots finds Nichols in his pomp, nailing an eighth-note rhythm to the floor before releasing a pleasingly monstrous riff for the chorus, with what sounds like sub-octave effect making his guitar sound as though it has been packing in the protein and lifting the weights.
Indeed, there's a little Captain Caveman in Nichols' blues-rock style and the way he manipulates the strings on his Epiphone Old Glory Les Paul Custom, and there's something to be said for that primal approach. There is, after all, little point in tickling the thing.
Nichols hopes Bad Roots is a song that'll spread a positive vibe and calls for a better future. “This song is an audio affirmation, an anthem to rise above, and continue to reach for good instead of evil,“ he says. “We cannot hide or change the past, and we must learn from and own our mistakes, to ensure ourselves a better future. So, turn it up LOUD and hang on tight!”
Shadow Dancer will be released on 17 September through Black Hill Records. You can preorder it here.
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