The X-Angels Are Back!
October 2007

New CD Release

For fans of the real thing, the wait is over. The X-Angels are back.

After several years of limited activity, Portland’s premier purveyors of roots-rock soul return with a new CD and a renewed commitment to live performance.

To the band’s devoted followers, this is good news indeed. For the uninitiated, it’s the chance to experience one of the Northwest’s best rock n’ roll bands.

When they arrived on the Portland scene in the early 1990’s, the Angels (then known as the Cowboy Angels) immediately moved to the front ranks of the roots-rock/alt country movement that was taking hold in the city.

Leader and chief songwriter Tom McGriff had just fled the LA rat race; the debut CD, appropriately titled “Escape from LA,” caught the attention of both critics and fans, who praised the band’s smart songwriting, passionate performances and superior musicianship.

The Angels also built a reputation as one of the best live acts in the region, with a sound that echoed influences ranging from the Byrds and Bob Dylan to Brill Building pop and classic British pub-rock.

Over the next few years, the band released three more critically acclaimed CDs:

“X-Blonde” (1996), “Divine River” (1999), and “Four Bridges” (2001); they also played hundreds of live shows and built a devoted fan base.

Now, more than five years since their last record, X-Angels are back in action. Working with producer/engineer Jim Brunberg, the band is in Mississippi Studios putting the finishing touches on a new CD of original material.

The record, as yet untitled, features 10 new songs by Tom McGriff. It also marks the reunion of the original X-Angels line-up of McGriff on rhythm guitar and vocals, Steve James Wright on various guitars, mandolin, etc., bassist Rich Gooch, and drummer Tom Royer; the band is also joined by Dave Fleshner on Hammond B-3.

The record is due for a mid-November release; the band will showcase the new material, and old favorites, in a special performance at Mississippi Studios on December 1.

Latest CD Release
June 16th 2001

Four Bridges

Now the X-Angels have raised the bar again. Four Bridges is a tour de force of powerful songs, expert musicianship and the offhand mastery of a consummate live band. From the flat-out rock n' roll of songs like "Love Tracks" and "Infa-Red" to pensive acoustic ballads like "Explanation" and the emotional title track, Four Bridges is the sound of a veteran band at the top of its game.

The band's 1994 debut, Escape From L.A., announced Tom McGriff as a formidable songwriting talent and the Cowboy Angels (as they were then known) as a band to be reckoned with. The Angels were an immediate hit on the local club scene; the album spent weeks in regular rotation on Portland's powerhouse KINK, and was aptly described by a reviewer as "a gem of an album, with hints of Motown, British pub rock and mid-60's Dylan wrapped together."

The next record, X-Blonde, proved that the band's initial success was no fluke, with 11 new songs that crackled with intelligence and rock n' roll spirit. The addition of dynamic guitarist and songwriter Steve James solidified the Angels as one of the best live acts in the region. With Divine River in 1998, the band became known as the X-Angels, and released their hardest rocking effort yet, with poetic songwriting framed by crunching guitars and a propulsive rhythm section.

The Oregonian
August 14, 1998

For Immediate Release

X-angels are live wires of rock

By John Foyston
of The Oregonian staff

Guitarist Tom McGriff of X-Angels sounds pretty casual about the recording process.

"That's the beauty of being a veteran bar band," he says. "We don't spend a lot of time in the studio trying to get a sound - we just plug in and play because we already have a sound."

Do they ever. On their third CD, the Angels (known until now as the Cowboy Angels) rock with the assurance that comes only after a couple hundred sweaty, smoky nights on the boards. Divine River is full of the offhand mastery of a consummate live band, and full, too, of the spirit that keeps a good band going.

"We didn't think the last album had an underlying theme," says guitarist Steven James Wright, "until one emerged when we were all done. 'Divine River' is the same way. Now that we're done, most of the songs turn out to be about commitment and spirituality of some kind. In a way, we're talking about how all the weird music-business stuff doesn't matter - when you really believe in something, you're not gonna quit just because not everyone gets it."

Wright alludes to the fact that the Angels have gotten far less buzz than they deserve. They're not trendy. They're not especially young. Their music doesn't fall readily into any pigeonhole. They're not the flavor of the week.

What they are is two fine singer/guitarists and writers underpinned by the rock-ribbed rhythm section of bassist Rich Gooch and drummer Tom Royer. What they are is a great rock 'n' roll band and one of the best live acts in the region.

"People come up to us all the time in clubs," says Wright, "and they'll say something like, 'You guys are great! How come you're not bigger?"

Look to "Divine River" to redress that oversight. The previous CD, X-Blonde sold respectably with almost no promotional push. The new CD is better-sounding, better-played, has better songs and has an actual promotional effort behind it, thanks to the newly formed Sunset Records. A stronger organization behind the band can't help but make people aware of how good these guys are. But, make no mistake, the band will succeed on its own strengths.

"Of all the bands I've been in," says Wright (Little Women and Skinhorse are just a couple of his former gigs), "this is the only one where everything is copacetic all the time. It's like a successful marriage. There are no ego trips, no one ever gets weird - we have a great time every time we play."

That's obvious on each of the dozen cuts on "Divine River," which was recorded in early summer at Poundhouse Studio on Sauvie Island with Craig Brock as engineer and producer. From the languid Byrdsian vibe of "Great Vibration" to the rootsy lament of "Come a Day," or the flat-out rock 'n' roll of "That's What Friends Are For," the band never hits a false note, never sounds like it's trying to be anything other than what it is.

The biggest difference from the previous CD - aside from the band's name change - is the full assimilation of guitarist Wright, who replaced Mark Spangler shortly before the last album.

"By the time I joined, most of the material for 'X-Blonde' had been written, and it was mostly a case of me just learning the parts," Wright says.

He plays a much bigger role on "Divine River," on which he wrote and sang three songs and led the band in a rousing traditional tune called "Oh, the Wind and Rain." But Wright brings more than just good songs and a fine smoky voice that nicely augments McGriff, who inhabits the vocal terrain between Dylan and Graham Parker. Wright also adds a notably tougher edge to the Angels with his genre-bending guitar style, his sculpted slide-guitar work and his feel for getting the most from a classic guitar band.

"He makes a big difference," McGriff says. "I think this album is where the band is heading."