This time he’ll be touring with his new band Relentless 7, a trio of Texas blues rock musicians featuring Jason Mozersky (lead guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass and keyboards), and Jordan Richardson (drums).

Mozersky was a shuttle driver, like the ones we see all over Fuji Rock Festival driving the artists in white vans and mini-buses back and forth to the stages, only he was doing it for a Texas music promoter. If the official account is to be believed, he plucked up the courage to ask a captive Harper if he could play him his demo. Harper reluctantly agreed but was reportedly "blown away."

Hyperbole aside, Harper landed Mozersky's then band (Wan Santo Condo) a record deal and subsequently hired him to play on his 2006 double album Both Sides Of The Gun. Mozersky recommended some friends (Ingalls and Richardson from LA band Oliver Future) and their collab ended up as the song "Serve Your Soul" on the album - and the start of Relentless 7.

While it is being positioned as a "new" rock sound for Harper, it's not like the man hasn't rocked before. Ben Harper is a gifted and intense lap steel guitar player. Check out "Voodoo Child":

When he's not playing guitar on stage he's energetic and animated and known to jump off the drum set and charge out into the audience.

What is new is seeing and hearing a young, straight ahead rock band with blues chops trying their utmost to keep up with Harper's experience and formidible musical repertoire. Some of their down tempo numbers still feature that soft, folk gravel voice, but don't expect too much of that if their set is anything like what the Washington Post reviewed last week.

Expect more rock and less folk soul. Look for covers of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" (which they were streaming on their website) and Queen's "Under Pressure" (which they played at their public debut during the "Get Out The Vote" benefit show along with the Beastie Boys, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, and Tenacious D.)

The Ben Harper & Relentless 7 album White Lies For Dark Times will be released in Japan this week.

Jeff

Oh yeah--The Innocent Criminals haven't broken up, they're just on hiatus.