AQUARIUM DRUNKARD 2022 YEAR IN REVIEW
POOLSIDE
“Everyone’s favorite transatlantic chooglers One Eleven Heavy return with their third deep-fried heater, Poolside. Bandleaders Nick Mitchell Maiato and James Toth are joined this outing by new members Guy Fowler on bass and Jake Morris on drums, but the feel is consistent with the 111H format: the leads spiral out, the band shambles and gets down, and the mood feels frisky. A welcome return.”
RECORD COLLECTOR ALBUM REVIEW, JAN 2023
POOLSIDE
“With a new posse of associates aboard for the ride, the pair finesse their sound on a set of superior cosmic jams, more focused than on previous outings, but still harnessed to their trademark carefree ramshackle shuffle.” ****
MOJO ALBUM REVIEW, JAN 2023
POOLSIDE
“One Eleven Heavy’s Allman-Brothers-meets-Royal-Trux take on Cosmic American Music here transcends its initial barroom holler for something more mellow and ineffable, if no less intricate, with extraordinary guitar solos erupting from every hidden crevice…” ****
SHINDIG ALBUM REVIEW, NOV 2022
POOLSIDE
“The epic ‘Fruit Loops’ is CSNY with the emphasis on Y, complete with ragged Neil-style guitar solo, before briefly alighting on that Graham Nash-fronted version of Supergrass you never knew you needed.” ****
UNCUT ALBUM REVIEW, NOV 2022
POOLSIDE
“On Poolside, you can hear shades of everything from Gram Parsons to Willie Nelson, from Michael Hurley to David Crosby, from The Allman Brothers to Santana, with nods to Led Zeppelin… This is cosmic American music, but one with a sense of distance and an international perspective.” 7/10
OUTSIDE LEFT “TYRANT KING” REVIEW, AUG 2022
“…somewhere between Donald Fagen and Howard Devoto but hung with the worn denim threads of a trucker pissing on a hippy.” 4/5
RECORD CRATES UNITED “TYRANT KING” REVIEW, AUG 2022
“There’s a kind of joy you can only get from a One Eleven Heavy album… Nick Mitchell Maiato and James Toth have never sounded so loose and so on fire at the same time (especially when the band launches into a rollicking jam towards the later half of the track).”
RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES “TYRANT KING” PREVIEW, AUG 2022
“The album opener is as limber as they’ve ever sounded, with dexterous guitars weaving their way through synths by Michael Troutman on the track. This one ought to be pushing its way up the list for most anticipated of the Fall.”
FULL PAGE FEATURE IN SHINDIG, OCT 2019
“Drawn together with a mutual love of the aforementioned Dead and Little Feat, Mitchell and James Toth seemed destined to get a band together.”
UNCUT AMERICANA ALBUM OF THE MONTH, OCT 2019
DESIRE PATH
“This is Americana at its most peripatetic, a feast of Cosmic American Music that dares to travel where it likes, picking up spores along the way.” 8/10
SHINDIG ALBUM REVIEW
DESIRE PATH
“The three-part harmonies are the salt of the earth, the rhythm section’s rock solid and the interplay between guitars and keyboards is intricate without being too showy.” ****
THE WIRE ALBUM REVIEW
DESIRE PATH
“Similar to Royal Trux, One Eleven Heavy have an uncanny knack for sucking in the charms of rock heroes of yesteryear and expelling them with contemporary fancy…”
RECORD COLLECTOR REVIEW
DESIRE PATH
“There are call backs to all the right influences across the album: a touch of The Allman Brothers Band in a guitar lick; CSN&Y in the twisting, twirling, twining backing… Grateful Dead as a song gradually drifts off into an extended dreamlike instrumental wig-out.” ***
CLASSIC ROCK REVIEW
DESIRE PATH
“One Eleven Heavy season Grateful Dead tropes with engaging Stones-y swagger…” 8/10
AQUARIUM DRUNKARD INTERVIEW
EVERYTHING’S BETTER
“Everything’s Better is a pure blast to listen to, its boogie contains multitudes.”
VIKING’S CHOICE—NPR
“CROSSES” (SINGLE)
“Toth says ‘Crosses’ is ‘sort of about Virginia Dare,’ the first child born of English parents in the Americas. It swings on a revolving door of goofball riffs, spun up and spun around all dizzy from an elastic rock and roll boogie.”
One Eleven Heavy 