Music Review // The Georgia Thunderbolts "Can I Get A Witness"

 

There is something to be said for this combination of artist name and song title.   With a band called The Georgia Thunderbolts, you expect them to have the rock n roll sound of the south, not too much unlike Lynyrd Skynyrd.   At the same time, "Can I Get A Witness" seems to be the type of question you ask that is followed by an "Amen!"  The combination of these two ideas could lead to one thinking that this is going to be some good old fashioned southern rock with a hint of gospel mixed in, but it's not.

This song begins with a heavy guitar riff and that just sticks throughout the entire time.  The vocals come out like you would hear them being belted out in a metal sense, perhaps, as they just have that big presence feel to them.  Right away, the first artist I hear within these sounds is Audioslave and that's pretty cool.  After a while, I can hear this as even being something along the lines of Seether, but it just also seems to be forging its own rock trail, a little deceptively with the name, but even if you went in expecting southern rock you'd still be hooked.

Throughout the music video itself there are stills of the band playing their instruments and then the lyrics are seen almost in a comic book-like style.   This is definitely better than the traditional lyric video which just seems to be text on the screen as the creativity of it all takes it above and beyond.   The video feels so close to not being a lyric video, but it is important to read the words as they go by, to eventually sing along, because it's what this song is about.

On the surface this song is about someone not believing in the band, then they leave the band (doesn't have to be a band member, just someone who supported them once and then stopped) and now the band is making songs with people singing along.  Whether or not you've ever been in a band before, this has a universal appeal of "You didn't believe in me but now I've made it".  This can be applied to almost any life situation where you are trying to grow and better yourself and, let's face it, life should be all about growth and trying to be better so let this song guide you on your journey and block out those who doubt you.