Single review: The Bayonets – Whatcha Got

As the fourth in the string of five singles, The Bayonets’ Whatcha Got is a boastfully explosive, gritty and driven rocker, with both Brian Ray and Lucrecia Lopez Sanz jousting with their sizzling vocals as Oliver Leiber holds down the fort on drums.

While The Bayonets’ first single Sucker For Love was a radio friendly pop/rock song and their third single Vagabond Soul was more of a reflective rocking soul ballad, Whatcha Got is not too structurally dissimilar to their second single Smartphone, with its minimalistic verses and more musical choruses.

Musically this fourth single is quite simple, driven by its incessant guitar riff and thudding drums, you can almost hear the spurs of the cowboy boots chinking and jingling as Whatcha Got confidently strides along. The songs almost angrily pent up mood is compounded in a screeching guitar solo that brings it to an abrupt close.

In fact the deceptively simple guitar work sounds as if Brian May of Queen was instead emerging as one of the guitar heroes of the late 50’s, like Duane Eddy, Link Wray and Dick Dale (all of whom are massive inspirations to the members of The Bayonets).

The vocals are nicely split, with Brian spitting out egotistical lyrics about knowing he’s the biggest and baddest guy in town, while Lucrecia handles the more melodic choruses, which are effective ripostes, challenging Brian to prove himself and lyrically giving as good as she gets.

The fact that the bulk of the vocals are handled by the lovely Lucrecia is a interesting change. Usually all lead vocals are handled by Brian, but over the course of the string of singles, the sole female Bayonets’ luscious backing vocals have been itching to break out and take over on lead. Whatcha Got is the perfect showcase for her sexily smooth and exotic voice.

Joining the usual trio of Brian Ray, Oliver Leiber and Lucrecia Lopez Sanz are Scott Shriner on bass and Adam MacDougall on Hammond B3 and Vox Continental Keyboards.

The song has also been named August’s ‘Coolest Song In The World’ on Little Stevens Underground Garage radio show on SiriusXM. It will recieve its premiere airing on August 9th on not only SiriusXM but all worldwide terrestrial radio affiliates, and will be played on heavy rotation for 8 weeks from August 12th (full story here).

Whatcha Got will be available to purchase as an MP3 download to buy from www.thebayonets.com, www.brianray.com, iTunes, Amazon, and wherever else fine digital music is sold. You can also get The Bayonets’ smash hit debut single Sucker For Love and followup rockers Smartphone and Vagabond Soul feat. Steven Tyler from these places too!  There are also brand new, super soft and rockingly retro Bayonets T-shirts available via their store, so be sure to pop by there too!

And as with their official website you can also find out more about the band by visiting The Bayonets’ Wikipedia page.

BUT WAIT…there’s more! To thank the fans that have purchased any of the bundles offered for all 4 songs, they will receive their fifth (and last…for now) single for free, the title of which will be revealed in an upcoming Bayonets newsletter, so be sure to go to their website and sign up to receive the spam free updates!