Earth Bombs Mars
EARTH BOMBS MARS
(Blue Heart ) (Myspace.com/earthbombsmars)
An expressive vocalist and underrated songwriter, guitarist Rich Whiteley has become a luminary on the local jam-band scene thanks to his role as co-frontman for popular Grateful Dead cover act Uncle John's Band, solo work and gigs with Earth Bombs Mars. The latter's engaging space-folk originals are mostly penned by Whiteley, but the band's self-titled debut disc also includes a number each written by bandmates John Zias (lead guitar), Dan Gregory (drums, vocals) and TJ Glowacki (bass). EBM is a dynamic album steeped in meditative '60s sounds. 3.5 stars
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2008.