The guys from General N.P. take their name from the guitarist’s truck that he customized to look like the General Lee car from Dukes of Hazzard. The band became so well-known for going around in “The General” and causing debauchery in local clubs in Veneto that they finally decided to pay homage to the vehicle by giving the band the same name. They first started toying around with the line-up back in 2011, and like many rock and roll bands, they had to go through their share of line-up adjustments. But, finally in 2013, they came up with the right balance with drummer Matteo Mazzer, guitarists Carlo Amato and Edoardo Stradiotto, vocalist Giovanni Sanson, and bassist Luca Sichi. The band says they could be best described as a mix of what they call street rock, sleaze rock, hard rock, and punk rock. With influences ranging from Guns N’ Roses to the Foo Fighters and the Darkness, the one common denominator is rock. Their first demo, which they self-produced, completely sums up what the band is all about. In each of the three songs on the record, you can hear their influences clearly, particularly in the bluesy guitar licks, hair band high energy, and high pitched, powerful vocals. The album starts off with the bass licks in the song “Affrontali” and sets the punky tone of the album with street punk drumming and their classic 80’s inspired guitar riffs (check out a video for "Affrontali" here). Then comes the self-titled track, which starts off with southern blues slide guitar, accented with soulful harmonica, and then drops into an almost Black Sabbath groove. The riffs on this short album will definitely get you grooving along. Back in December they rocked the stage at The Factory in Padua for Emergenza Festival Italia. Stay tuned to hear more news about their upcoming gig for the semi-finals of the festival.

MC