tampa's roppongi's ace, in a most beautiful way create a bluesy, soulful rock sound usually reserved to old leather skinned bluesmen.  however, the band is made up of four guys barely broken into their twenties.  how is that possible you may ask?  let's discuss...

although they hated each other until the end of middle school, best friends and roppongi's ace founders alex spoto (vocals, guitar, fiddle) and max norton (drums, hootin') have known each other since preschool.  which again, they're still not legal to drink, so, not that long ago...  in fact, i still have some t-shirts that are older.

like their musical inspiration the black keys, the band crafts a focused, minimal sound reminiscent of days gone long ago.  after only one l.p., they seem to have an instinctual ability and talent to infuse soulfully lyrical music with clean riffs that remind the listener of past roots-rock greats.

now in college (alex at brown and max at university of south florida), roppongi's ace is supported by additional members jesse norton (bass, harmonic, hollerin') and rob pastore (pedal steel), they occasionally schedule gigs during school breaks and vacation.

even though i keep bringing up their age, i do so in jest; such young musicians just aren't supposed to be this good.

roppongi's ace released their first l.p. into the night january 16, 2009.  buy it right here, right now!

click here and here, for youtube video of a bunch of gigs.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check back here for future gigs.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.