Gatefold CDs

SKINNERS CAGE (2019)
"The third album to come from the tireless touring machine that is Big John Bates, Big John Bates: Noirchestra now finds the musician stepping out into slightly different terrain. The songs are less full-on rock attack and more exploring of textures and variations while still working firmly in the Americana Noir genre the band is
known for. The music all sounds like it will go over well in-concert and it almost always does!" - The Province

FROM THE BESTIARY (2015)
"The 10 tracks of the new album "From The Bestiary To The Leathering Room" show us Canadian Big John Bates has left his roots in metal and psychobilly behind for the world of rock'n’roll, country, gothic, punk rock and blues they call "Americana Noir". Of course the bottom line is what gets in your ears and that is a dark, rocking mix of styles; punk-ish at times and other times country-esque. Dominating the rhythmic, earthy sound is John’s multifaceted guitar playing and Brandy’s dynamic upright bass. Both alternate on lead vocals, Bates with his dark, whisky-tanned voice while his female counterpart Brandy sings in a voice that reminds me of an infernal fusion of Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux." - Roadtracks Magazine

BATTERED BONES (2012)
“Battered Bones is a wonderful mix of roots rock, Americana, blues and an invigorating syringe of rock’n'roll. Songs like Wide Open Blues, the purely instrumental Battered Bones, Circadian Rhythm and Glossilalia have a delicious sound, like whiskey rinsing out a dusty throat on an abandoned highway. Adding distorted guitars to the dark-.‐colored roots sound completes this cinematic head-.‐trip to remote corners of the American West, to abandoned dives and tiny graveyards along the way. The only drawback of this fascinating disc is that it ends too soon." - Hooked on Music