If garage rock, punk and rockabilly had a child that spoke with a "bluesy" accent, some claim it would be Big John Bates. They have brought forth an album that's chock ful of fresh and edgy sounds not easily defined. Whatever you call it, the thumping upright bass, dark lyrics and beat-driven musical style rocks without disappointment. But one might expect something like this from a man who claims inspiration not only from AC/DC, Jimmy Hendrix and Bill Haley but also from Cab Calloway and the Cramps. Take Your Medicine is just what the doctor ordered.

Car Kulture Deluxe (2007)

From Vancouver, BC comes Big John Bates, a man and a half who's gonna rip your clothes off and get you dancing with his very own brand of devilish punkabilly. Whether he's performing onstage with his burlesque troupe of scantily-clad Voodoo Dollz or breaking the shit out of your boombox speakers, BJB likes to have fun and Take Your Medicine shows it.

3/4 - Indieville (2007)

Out on the edge of bluesdom there is an old fashioned traveling medicine show wagon set up. Out of the back troops the band Big John Bates. They begin to play, and the crowd looks bewildered, a little like taking a shot of Buckley's cough medicine. Yes it starts out with a taste you aren't sure you like, but guess what, it only takes a few minutes to realize; Hey! This stuff works. Well so does Big John Bates. By now I have listened to a ton of blues music over the years having written reviews for a decade, or so now, and yet I'm not sure I can compare this to anyone else. Quirky, oh my goodness YES!!!!! and I love it. Sometimes living on the edge means a band falls off that edge into oblivion. Not Big John Bates. He digs in his claws and does his own thing and dares you to try to walk away. I'm not sure why anyone would want too.

Big John has a great voice, but musically tip the old chapeau to Caroline 'sCare-oline' Helmeczi, who plays upright bass here. She really carries the beat and the flavour of the group, and that too makes this a wonderful effort. Gregory 'Stagecoach' McDonald adds drums, in this beat driven musical style. This is a band that I would love to see in concert. I bet the show, which is noted for including the Voodoo Dolls, stage show, would be totally off the wall.

For freshness, edginess and sound, one of the best I've sampled in a long while. Hope to grab a few of their earlier works one day.

9.5/10 Stars - Calvin Daniels, Yorkton This Week (May 2007)

The uproarious, bawdy carnal spectacle always inherent in rock'n'roll swoons here in the tattooed embrace of rippling, jive-dive neo-punkabilly. Fallen angels, ascending satyrs, and scathing guitar licks by the mason jar-full. (Recommended Tracks "Aren't You Pretty," "Burlesque Is Dead")

4/5 Stars - DC Larson, Rockabilly Magazine #36 USA (June 2007)

So lass ich mir Medizin schmecken, ja das müsste es auf Rezept vom Hausarzt geben. Nichts wovor man widerwillig den Mund beziehungsweise die Ohren und Augen verschließen sollte. Das, was uns BIG JOHN BATES da als Medizin verabreichen will, ist schön schmutziger Rock 'n' Roll der allerfeinsten Sorte. Er selbst ist ein Virtuose an der Gitarre, auch bekannt als „the fastest Gretsch in the West“ mit der dazugehörigen dreckigen Rock 'n' Roll Stimme, und wird musikalisch von einem sehr prägnanten und exzellent gespielten Slap-Bass unterstützt. Und weil aller guten Dinge drei sind, fehlt natürlich das passende Schlagzeug auch nicht. Doch die Krönung des Ganzen sollen die Live-Auftritte sein. Denn bei seinen Konzerten hat BIG JOHN BATES immer seine VOODOO DOLLZ mit im Gepäck. Die Go-Go Girls animieren das Publikum zum Beispiel in Krankenschwester- oder Nonnenkostümen, und wer weiß, was sie sich für die anstehende Tour ausgedacht haben. Ich bin auf jeden Fall schon sehr gespannt auf den Gig. Eine Band, die es locker mit den CRAMPS und den STRAY CATS aufnehmen kann. Zum Teil sogar mehr als das, denn die Combo hat echt Energie. A propos THE CRAMPS – auf der CD gibt es ein Cover des Songs „Goo goo muck“. Außerdem ist noch ein ganz witziges Instrumentalstück vorhanden, das geht ein wenig in die orientalische Richtung. Ansonsten geht es textlich so in Richtung „Bad girls“, „Devil motorcycles“ und so weiter. Ich muss sagen, ein sehr gelungenes Album.

9.5/10 Stars - BluePrint Fanzine GERMANY (Mar 2007)

On the grounds that you should always start off as you mean to continue, Big John cranks the volume right up with the opening track "Aren't You Pretty". Surf licks abound on "Salome's Last Dance". He takes a stroll through Cramps territory with "Goo Goo Muck". "Alison Hell" is an instrumental earthquake that segues into the vampiric joys of "44 Love Bites". Best track to our ears was "Train Wreck" featuring some demented banjo playing to accompany Big John's deranged vocals.

Rip roaring, house rocking fun - that's the vibe that we got from listening to this album. Without a doubt, Big John Bates would scare the accountants at any major record company out of their neatly pressed pants. Like a '57 Chevy on the road out of Helltown, Big John Bates is not stopping for anyone. Relish it in all its grungy, lo-fi glory. Available from CD Baby.

4/5 stars - Bluesbunny.com BELGIUM (Mar 2007)

The third full-length release, entitled “Take Your Medicine,” from the Canadian group known as Big John Bates is ready to make you shake, rattle and roll with a hip and swinging sound. Big John Bates are full of confidence and attitude. “Stray Cat Strut” it certainly is not.

Quick and full of energy, “44 Loves Bites” pulls you closer with its haunting melody as “Rollin’ West” is memorable and bouncy. Big John Bates and his crew are about more than just hot licks and catchy riffs. Dark melodies come out on “Citywide” and the raw and ready gritty rhythm of “Train Wreck” creeps up on you. But while other tracks might hint at the bass-drums relationship, “Burlesque Is Dead” jumps and swings as Bates weaves an unassuming riff throughout the track before “Poppa Spoonful” takes it slow with full buzzing instrumentation.

Fans of Reverend Horton Heat may want to take notice of Big John Bates. Where the Rev puts catchy little rockabilly tunes, Big John Bates puts a rough blend of garage rock, punk and rockabilly that pulls you into a grimy and dangerous sound. “Take Your Medicine” is a modern spin on old school done in a way that is accurate to both the past and the present, with updated lyrics set over rough thumping upright bass.

Corinne - PlugIn Music.com (Mar 2007)

BIG JOHN BATES & THE VOODOO DOLLZ
Take Your Medicine / Wolverine Records

Over here at Eros Zine we don't get much luv from the music industry; in fact, we get more than a little hate. Publicists for bands with names like "Spastic Pustule Eruption" and "Lords of The Sogoth-Yar" sniff uncomfortably and admit that they find us a little too d'class'e. With rare exceptions, the occasional spoken word disk of snatch-positive goddess poetry is about the extent of our audio payola.

Vancouver's Big John Bates is different, though, and it's a good damn thing. Y'see, word on the street is that this Bates cat's a sleazehound with one foot in Memphis and the other on 42nd Street, a Hot-Cha-Cha Bubba badass pumped on moonshine liquor and knockoff Viagra, with his live gigs heated up by the Voodoo Dollz, Western Canada's bona-fide proof that there ain't no exposure like Northern exposure, a burlesque troupe so tart-a-licious that when they bump & grind up in Hollywood North, Hollywood South says "did you feel that?"

With Take Your Medicine, BJB provides a fast-moving disk ... blending '50s hillbilly-rock sound with vintage punk rock sensibilities, b-movie imagery and Tom Waits-influenced noirish lyrical scenarios. Short version: it's bad-ass. In lyrics, BJB doesn't shy away from the sleaze that makes rock 'n' roll great. There's a nasty little number called "Burlesque is Dead" and a catchy urban voodoo prayer called "44 Love Bites”, and a spanked-up cover of "Goo Goo Muck," the ultimate anthem of the prowling horndog and, not incidentally, this reviewer's favorite Cramps song of all time. The two instrumentals "Alison Hell" and "Salome's Last Dance" are equally potent, the former a one-and-a-half minute guitar frenzy and the latter a surf-rock-flavored homage to the ancient world's favorite head-choppin' femme fatale.

Even before you rack up the promise of a live show with the Voodoo Dollz (and believe me, buddy, a visit to their website'll have you groping desperately after your lost virtue), this is high-octane stuff. From start to finish the album is a celebration of the wrong side of the tracks, an atmospheric conjuring of the spooky booga-booga land your Mom sleeps easy knowing you'll never visit. God love 'em, Big John Bates and his bandmates coax you there with the twang of a semi-hollow body, the pump of a stand-up bass and the siren song that goes "BELIEVE-BELONG-BEHAVE / YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SAVED." Hell no I don't, and this is the perfect soundtrack to keep those pesky good spirits at bay.

Thomas S. Roche - Eros Zine Online (Jan 2007)

BIG JOHN BATES & THE VOODOO DOLLZ
Take Your Medicine / Wolverine Records

Garage encombré de rock blues burlesque

Le rock’n roll a souvent permis des acrobaties burlesques délivrées sur des scènes chauffées à blanc. Dans le genre délire hédoniste, le canadien de Vancouver Big John Bates et sa horde rayonnent dans les flammes de l’univers vaudou, tout vitriolés de joutes hallucinantes dans un show très chaud. Leur musique, à nul doute issue de l’enfer, est complètement infestée de psychebilly, de rock blues infernal, et de rythmes binaires sodomisés par des attitudes dévoyées et dépravées. L’extravagance va jusqu’à offrir au public, forcément conquis, quelques ‘Voodoo Dollz’, affolantes répondant aux doux noms de Little Miss Risk, Darla Devine, Camera Luvroc, Snake Handler, Miss Cherry Ontop,....qui, sur scène, se livrent à toutes sortes de joutes incandescentes, entre bagarre dénudée, avec cravaches et fessées, cracheurs de feu et danses érotiques. Spectacle total au milieu de brûlots, de torches et de rock’n roll. Mais n’allez pas croire, petits vicieux, que, seul, le show vaut le coup d’oeil, et que les playmates cachent les membres (ooops) du gang ! Car oeuvrant à l’aise au cœur du spectacle, John Bates, l’étalon blond à la guitare Gretsch, au banjo et au chant, mène son monde jusqu’à l’ultime orgasme rythmique. Influencé par Bill Haley, Slim Harpo et Hendrix (des classiques), il apprécie les performances de ces potes les ‘Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, ou bien des ‘Legendary Shack Shakers' et délivre à la perfection un jeu d’attaque, plutôt clair et limpide au regard au joyeux bordel ambiant (re-ooops).Sa complice, c’est la contrebassiste Scare-Oline, au look de secrétaire fantasque à bas résille, aux goûts élégants (puisqu’elle aime 16 Horsepower, Tom Waits, Nick Cave et le whiskey). Elle cosigne, avec Bates, les textes de ces romantiques et charmantes mélopées que ne dédaignerait pas le Malin, tapi dans la cave. Il y a aussi Le Baron aux fûts (batterie et bière), sorte de bûcheron tatoué, qui pulse les battements du cœur. La débauche sonore porte des noms explicatifs (‘Salome’s Last Dance’, ‘Gothsylvania’, CityWide’, ou ‘Burlesque is Dead’) mais d’où sourde une folle envie de jouir en rigolant d’une bonne dose de rock’n roll. Un peu, beaucoup, de burlesque dans la musique n’a jamais fait de mal à personne. Si oui....take your medicine !

5/5 stars - Francis Rateau pour Crossroads Magazine - FRANCE (Nov 2006)

BIG JOHN BATES - It's too easy for bands these days to mix punk chords with a bit of twang and call themselves punk 'n' roll or whatever but BJB is coming from a different direction ... he's mixing old school punk rock with even older-school rock 'n' roll and keeping things simple, he's using punk as an extension of rock 'n' roll and that's how it should be! It shouldn't be too heavy. It should be straightforward and effective and that's the track BJB is riding down.

Marco - NFT (No Front Teeth) Fanzine - LONDON, UK (Nov 2006)