{"id":28478,"date":"2026-05-21T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=28478"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:41:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:41:31","slug":"the-future-shape-of-sound-heavy-load-gypsy-hotel-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=28478","title":{"rendered":"The Future Shape Of Sound \u2013 \u2018Heavy Load\u2019 (Gypsy Hotel Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

From the nighttime, neon city wastelands of East London, there came a group, a collective of soul divas and rock n\u2019 roll musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic guitarist\/producer Alex McGowan (aka Captain Future). This man without a tan has worked with the likes of Primal Scream, Jah Wobble, The Urban Voodoo Machine and Jim Jones. His band The Future Shape Of Sound could be the perfect festival band and over the years have been seen plying their trade at the likes of Red Rooster, Womad, Boomtown and even the Glastonbury festival. You can catch them occasionally, where society rejects frequent, dark, seedy bars and the occasional hometown Gypsy Hotel gig. They follow up their 2018 album \u2018Shakedown Gospel\u2019 with the long-awaited \u2018Heavy Load\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping with tradition, \u2018Heavy Load\u2019 features several lead vocalists over the 10-track album, but predominantly it’s James Brown\u2019s widow, Tomirae Brown, who not only takes the lead but also co-wrote most of the material with Alex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opener \u2018I Want A Little Slow Blues\u2019 is a low-key affair, a mid-paced groover featuring former Jim Jones Revue man Henri Herbert tinkling the ivories, backed by The Future Sisters gospel trio. This leads nicely into killer single \u2018I\u2019d Rather Be Alone\u2019, where the band fully hit their groove. Tomirae adds raunchy Tina Turner vibes to the foot-stompin\u2019 rock n\u2019 roll party anthem. Co-written by The Urban Voodoo Machine mouthpiece Paul-Ronney Angel, it\u2019s a surefire album highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Allen of The Guerilla Street gospel choir takes us to church on \u2018Ain\u2019t Standing By\u2019 and Geraldine \u2018Gee Gee\u2019 Reid of The Divettes takes over for a couple of numbers too; the rhythmic gospel laced blues of \u2018Ride\u2019 sounds like an old forgotten traditional song and the more funky jam \u2018You Can Change Your Mind\u2019 showcases the tight and groovy rhythm section of bassist Duncan DeMorgan and drummer Doc Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, you\u2019ll find a couple of beauties that encapsulate The Future Shape Of Sound vibe; the funk rock explosion of \u2018Take The Money\u2019 is trashy in a good way, it fits the Tomirae vocal delivery nicely, and the wah-wah guitars give added cool factor. \u00a0Tomirae & The Future Sisters return for the swampy blues anthem \u2018Oh Mama\u2019, and there is no surprise that it was a single. The slide guitar, the harmonica and the soulful backing vocals give depth to the catchy melody and footstompin\u2019 vibes. You\u2019ll add it to your playlist if you\u2019re that way inclined. Me? I\u2019ll just buy the record and play the whole damn thing the way the artist intended. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded at Alex\u2019s own Space Eko East studio in East London, \u2018Heavy Load\u2019 captures the soulful rock n\u2019 roll blues of a band that thrives in a live environment. With his congregation of multi-national and multi-talented musicians and singers, he takes the sounds of the streets and the dives of old London town, turns it into a celebration and takes us to pray at the church of rock n\u2019 roll once again. It\u2019s good to have them back. Now, where\u2019s that vinyl pre-order button?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the nighttime, neon city wastelands of East London, there came a group, a collective of soul divas and rock n\u2019 roll musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic guitarist\/producer Alex McGowan (aka Captain Future). This man without a tan has worked with the likes of Primal Scream, Jah Wobble, The Urban Voodoo Machine and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[726,1787,1818,1710,1681,1680,1833,2052],"class_list":["post-28478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-ben-hughes","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tourlife","tag-vinyl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28480,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478\/revisions\/28480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}