Review: Ticket West – Give Me That Thrill
Ticket West – Give Me That Thrill
Format: CD / Label: For The Road Records
Release: 2025
Text: Peter Fazant
For their sixth album ‘Give Me That Thrill,’ Ticket West (Pascal & Walter Wilhelm) put Greg Izor behind the steering wheel. He acted as producer but also plays on the album. Their earlier collaboration (‘Chucufu,’ 2023) featured Izor as main artist, but this time the roles are reversed. Eleven songs written by Pascal Wilhelm who sings and plays guitar. His brother Walter on the bass, Paolo de Stigter on drums, Bas Kleine playing harmonica, Roel Spanjers playing keys on Paying The Price and Izor playing additional harmonica and guitar parts. The album sounds different than its predecessors, it has that smooth and direct Izor sound to it.
Izor: “I want a record to sound exactly like it sounded as it was played in the recording room and as live as possible. The voice needs to be in the front of the mix, that is where the story is being told.”
The result is an album that is quite intimate and personal. Pascal’s atypical blues voice is right upfront in the mix telling stories about love, divorce, and family issues. The arrangements are sophisticated and smooth, resulting in a relaxed album typical of Izor’s style of arranging, recording and producing.
Pascal: “We recorded with small amps and as live as possible in the studio. We also discovered that my voice sounded best when I sang laying on the floor. Greg’s vocal coaching did the rest.”
On the album cover, the brothers sit on a couch in the middle of a street. Pascal: “We decided to use the pictures that Dirk Schreuders made of the two of us as raw material for the cover. Vera Wentzel did an excellent job in creating the artwork.”
The brothers have made an album every year since 2020. What is their motivation? Walter: “At a certain point in our musical careers, having played in many different bands we felt that what matters most is just to create. Seeking fame and fortune is for the lucky few. We cannot think of anything more fulfilling than making our own music with friends. At a certain point I suggested to Pascal: “Let’s make ten albums”, and he just said: “Uh, OK.” It is that simple.”
Tracks:
01. Remember Your Name
02. Hey Darling
03. Every Day
04. Time Will Tell
05. Garlic Man
06. Any Other Way
07. Stop Leading Me On
08. Barstool Bop
09. Paying The Price
10. Give Me That Thrill
11. My Old Man
Website: https://ticket-west.com/