Although Egypt Central experienced significant success with their 2007 self-titled debut, fans of the Memphis hard rock quartet were forced to wait patiently while band members John Falls, Joey Chicago, Blake Allison and Jeff James embarked on a long and arduous journey towards the completion of their sophomore follow-up. Vocalist Falls insisted that surviving this difficult time has helped define Egypt Central as a band and provided a wealth of material for future albums. In a recent Creative Loafing interview, Falls offered "It was a very trying time for us, but we were able to stick together and pull ourselves out the other side."
White Rabbit, the sophomore release from Egypt Central is a 12-track collection of songs that touch upon drugs, troubled relationships and emotional disappointments. Using the White Rabbit character from Alice in Wonderland as a metaphor, Egypt Central intertwines personal experiences with various themes from Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel throughout the CD.
Songs like “Dying to Leave,” “Blame” and “The Drug (Part 1)” show Egypt Central is more than willing to reveal their personal experiences and vunerabilities with their fans and shy away from few subjects, demonstrating this willingness with direct, in-your-face lyrics like "In the back of the house, with a gun in my mouth and a mirror in front of my face, I have looked for a reason, just one simple reason for why I am worth being saved.” Egypt Central doesn’t seem to be a band that likes to beat around the bush. Falls' personal favorite is “Ghost Town” … "When we were making this, we talked about leaving it all on the field, making sure that anything that was left in the basement that you needed to get out; anything that you were still holding onto came out. ‘Cause you never know when you’ll get another chance to say something important, so make every single one of them count. When I step back and listen to this record, I feel like it’s from someone who was one, honest; two, poured everything out and didn’t hold anything back and three, got everything that they wanted to get out caught and captured on tape.”
While the formation and creation of White Rabbit took a number of years, once the band had the material they wanted, getting it on tape was a relatively quick project. In early October, 2010 Egypt Central joined producer Skidd Mills (Saving Abel, 12 Stones, Sister Hazel) in his Nashville studio and pounded out the songs with little delay. The result is an intelligent, thought-provoking, well-written album that is already started to make an impact with both fans and critics alike. White Rabbit should bring a more-than-deserved jump-start to Egypt Central's career and position the band for continued success.
4 STARS
The album drops this Tuesday, May 31 via Fat Lady Music/ILG/Warner Music Group.
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.