Review: OLD SOULS: Jared Chinnock & Evan Buckley Harris Find Their Voice at The Bitter End

It's always a pleasure to drop in on artists you really enjoyed and see what they're up to. About six weeks ago I was introduced to Jared Chinnock & Evan Buckley Harris when they did their tribute to the music of their youth OLD SOULS at Don't Tell Mama. I enjoyed them a lot. In the meantime, they have been hard at work tinkering with the show and got booked at The Bitter End, the iconic room that has launched the careers of so many rockers over the decades. They've added a bass player and introduced some of their own original material into their covers of '80s and '90s muscle bands. So I thought it warranted a second look.

I'm glad I went. I would say about 80% of the show was the same as it was at Don't Tell Mama. But with new songs, the new configuration of the band, and being in a room that is designed for rock and roll, OLD SOULS was a very different experience. Everything about the show was tighter, more in the groove, more amped up, and a more authentic representation of Chinnock & Harris. The two men have different approaches to classic rock. Jared Chinnock is a more bombastic performer whereas Evan Buckley Harris is more laid back. In their Don't Tell Mama show, the difference in their styles was obvious in some discrepancies in phrasing. In this new incarnation of the show, they seem to have met each other in the middle. Chinnock has found a more lyrical quality in his stratospheric tenor and Harris has found places to let loose and wail. They have found their voice as a group.

They kicked off with a bopping version of Iggy Pop's "Real Wild Child" which they combined with the Jerry Lee Lewis staple, "Great Balls of Fire." They moved into 80's pop territory with "Doing It All For My Baby," really laying into the neo-doo-wop groove of the Huey Lewis hit. Sticking with Huey Lewis, Jared Chinnock gave us a Latin-influenced arrangement of "Power of Love" from his favorite film Back to the Future. I was particularly fond of their reading of Hall & Oates's "She's Gone."

The two have a well deserved fan crush on The Eagles. They gave us the first of several numbers by the seminal band with "Already Gone." They next sang a song that I can never get enough of, Extreme's "More Than Words." Jared Chinnock is especially good at this sort of introspective rock monologue. Being a Welsh ex-pat in New York, he paid tribute to "his side of the pond" with a little Elton John in "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." He even did about 4 bars of a spot on Elton impersonation that left me wanting more.

Evan Buckley Harris moved from playing the piano to showing off his guitar skills in "New Kid in Town," another great homage to The Eagles. Harris spent about a year touring the country playing Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet. The duo unleashed their inner Cash with "Big River" and "Folsom Prison Blues." They moved into more modern territory with a great rendition of Niall Horan's "Put a Little Love on Me."

The highlight of this new version of the show was a section in which the guys showed off a couple of their original tunes. Chinnock sang a song he wrote a few years ago with Amy Wadge before she went on to write for Ed SHeeran among others. The two met because they happened to live in the same small village in Wales. The song "I'm Gone" was fantastic. Harris also unveiled one of his original songs, "Into the Fire" which he wrote about moving the NYC from Vegas and the culture shock that ensued. I hope we hear more original material from these two wonderful artists soon.

Chinnock delivered the 11 o'clock number to end all 11 o'clock numbers, "Dream On." It was pretty thrilling. Harris was equally impressive, wrapping up this fine tribute to the '80s and '90s with one more gem from The Eagles, the perennial "Desperado."Special mention should be made of Pete Lazorcik on drums and Myles Sloniker on bass and vocals. They did amazing work backing up Jared Chinnock and Evan Buckley Harris. This band is one to keep your eye on.

For more information about Jared Chinnock and Evan Buckley Harris, follow them at @ChinnockJared and @ebharris6 on Twitter or @jaredchinnock and @evanbharrisnyc on Instagram. To see more great acts at The Bitter End, go to bitterend.com.

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