A little 'Sweet Tea' with California Breed

First single, video from Glenn Hughes' new band premieres today
By Peter Lindblad

California Breed 2014
Photo by: Austyn Weiner

How about some afternoon tea with Glenn Hughes and his new band, California Breed? Instead of crumpets or finger sandwiches, there's powerful, swaggering rock 'n' roll to snack on.

Today, the newly formed power trio, featuring Jason Bonham on drums and young guitar phenom Andrew Watt, debuted the video for "Sweet Tea," the first single from their forthcoming self-titled album, at USA Today, along with a fascinating Q&A with Hughes, here: http://tinyurl.com/mmp7mxq.

California Breed's self-titled album is due out May 20 on Frontiers Records, and if "Sweet Tea" is any indication, it ought to be a raucous affair. Nasty and mean, "Sweet Tea" is a savory treat, a hunk of greasy proto-metal meat that's been sitting in the fridge of a truck stop diner since '73 and still manages to taste as fresh as if it was just butchered.

California Breed - S/T 2014

Although it borrows some of its testosterone-fueled strut from early glam-rock, "Sweet Tea," all cocksure attitude and tough hooks, sounds more like Mountain's "Mississippi Queen," with Watt's savage guitar riffs seemingly carved out of granite and Bonham breaking rocks in the hot sun with brutal violence, while Hughes stays true to his primal urges and unleashes mounting sexual frustration in vocals that really get the blood boiling.

An extension of Black Country Communion's all-too-brief existence, California Breed appears intent on sucking the marrow from the bones of the '70s classic-rock artists it wants to emulate. A performance piece, with the band's tropical eye logo covering its amps, the video finds the threesome playing the song with unbridled enthusiasm and raw machismo, with Watt dressed suspiciously like a young Ritchie Blackmore. All the while a comely lass cuts lemons and stirs up not only a pitcher of sweet tea, but also some raging male hormones to boot.

The album was produced by Dave Cobb, who's sprinkled his studio magic over works by Rival Sons and Shooter Jennings. It will be available as a CD, digital download and a Deluxe Edition CD + DVD that packages the original record with the bonus track "Solo," two videos and a documentary. Those that pre-order the digital download on iTunes will receive an instant download of "Sweet Tea" upon ordering. The iTunes and Amazon pre-order links are as follows:

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/CaliforniaBreed

Amazon CD: http://smarturl.it/CB_AmzCD

CD Deluxe Edition CD + DVD: http://smarturl.it/CB_AmzCDDVD