SAME BOY CD/DVD package by Steve Coffey & The Lokels

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Steve Coffey & The Lokels

Red Deer Express

Steve Coffey keeps the honest, down-home tunes coming with his latest offering Same Boy, packed with 14 acoustic guitar-driven cuts tapping into accessible 'paintings' of the human experience.

Coffey is no slouch at offering up songs rich in images from the meandering title track to the melancholic, classic country strut of My Hometown.

As is noted on his web site, Coffey was clearly influenced by his dad who was a 'on the road' steel guitar player for many years and "instilled in him the notion of originality through self-teaching as the vehicle of expression."

Originality certainly bursts out at every turn. Coffey is simply not influenced by those elements which could propel him closer to potential commercial notoriety.

Tunes tend to be low-key and staightforward. The simply-structured Old Loved Man continues to unveil Coffey's skills at creating insightful, compelling stories, as does Past.

Rounding out The Lokels are Lance Loree, Pat Phillips, Russ Baker and Dave Bauer, and fans can get an up-close look at the band in an accompanying DVD featuring six new videos and the guys in a studio setting.

Those who like Folk/country tunes minus the extraneous clutter could find themselves in sonic heaven.

- Mark Weber 01/2007

"Listening to SAME BOY, recorded in about a week at an old Quonset hut in Okotoks just south of Calgary, Coffey's varied and sometimes very personal inspirations are laid bare...The 14 songs on SAME BOY are often touching and uniformly well crafted. They're wrapped in compelling melodies,earmarked by Coffey's distinctive, slightly nasal vocal delivery, with superb musicianship throughout."

-Cam Hayden; SEE Magazine 10/06

"With word awareness reminiscent of Fred Eaglesmith, Central Alberta native Steve Coffey drops his third disc with the Lokels, and fans of literate singer-songwriters should take note. Same Boy is a keeper, and should make those who appreciate Tom Russell, Dave Alvin and their ilk quite pleased.

Multidimensional, on My Hometown Coffey pulls togther foreboding prairie images of a community slowly choking. On Skates, he captures a warmer glow of freer times. Roads, leading to and from, are prominant on the disc, serving as a ready metaphor for situations both bleak and hopeful.

Lance Loree and Dave Bauer are co-stars of this disc, playing a dizzying array of stringed and fretted instruments. Coffey never takes the easy way and Same Boy is the creation of a lyricist, musician and artist come to fruition. The production is professional but grounded, with a handpicked band of Southern Albertans serving as the Lokels. The generous 66-minute album is packaged with a DVD that provides insight into the recording process while illustrating several of Coffey's loosely narrative songs."

Donald Teplyske- Red Deer Advocate 10/17/2006

"It's not dark, it's emotional," says Steve Coffey, responding to a hollow adjective lobbed at his newest batch of raw, countrified rockers. While still first-rate drinking accompaniment, SAME BOY, the third album for Coffey and his rootsy cohorts, the lokels, dredges up imagery of loneliness, abandonment and decay. "There's a lot going on in the world," he says, "so I've looked out beyond myself." Over the course of 16 tracks (two of 'em hidden), recorded in a makeshift studio on an acreage in Okotoks, Coffey and crew knock out what could be the unofficial soundtrack of the Lynnview Ridge fiasco. (Coffey himself filmed the urban ghost town for the "MY HOMETOWN" video, one of five included on the SAME BOY DVD.)..." Chris Bowerman; SWERVE Magazine; 10/20/06

"I’m trying to pigeonhole Steve Coffey. And I’m realizing it won’t work. He’s a songwriter, a singer. He’s a guitar player. He’s also a professional painter, a trained sculptor, and now a co-producer, co-director and co-editor of the DVD that comes as part of the package for his new album Same Boy.

Same Boy is a 14-song album of Coffey originals. Like its writer, this album is hard to pin down. There’s a western feel with lots of steel and prairie imagery, but there’s a raw element, almost a punk edge, that comes out in some of the vocals and guitars, particularly in the song “My Life Unwinds”.

Recorded off the floor in a Quonset outside of Okotoks, Steve Coffey & the Lokels have come up with a project that is bigger than most records. Along with the album is the aforementioned DVD. Well shot and very watchable, this 30 minute, eight song disc brings the viewer right into the studio with simple but detailed images. Highlights include Dave Bauer’s backing vocals and Lance Loree’s guitar solo in “Born To Die Alone”..."A label-defying medium merger". -Matt Masters; Beatroute Magazine

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