Last spring Laura Cole and her team absolutely cleaned up at the Hamilton Music Awards. Bringing in almost every award they were nominated for. She has had a fairly quiet winter but that is about to change. Her record "Dirty Cheat" is a great listen front to back. 9 tracks that show off her skills as a vocalist and a song writer. I’ve always been impressed with her band. Everyone playing on the record or live knows their role and unselfishly excel at their positions. Something producer Steve Bigas believes in heavily. Laura has a sultry voice that can soothe the heart (Let It Roll) or grind the teeth (Unworthy). My personal favorite on the record has always been "On My Own". If that don’t get your toes tappin then you have no soul. Much like Amy Winehouse and Tom Waits her music makes me want to smoke cigarettes….in a dimly lit bar preferably. The Laura Cole band returns to the Lula Lounge in Toronto this Thursday! -Kris Gies
