Dark pop doesn’t have to automatically equal self-indulgent songwriting themes, and if there’s one player who really wants this to be well-known in 2022, it’s Bob Dee. Together with his band, Petro, he’s melding excess with exquisite compositional discipline in the new single “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” with the results being a lot more intriguing than they would ever sound on paper. Dee wants to get a little rough with his performance in this track, but even at his gruffest, there’s still a sense that we’re listening to someone who knows what he’s doing and how it has to be done. This man is a total professional, and you needn’t hear “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” more than once to understand how important he feels every part of his medium is.
URL: https://www.bobdeewithpetro.com/
The guitar parts are hard-charging and cling to the percussion in the mix quite well, and I especially love that the bassline is able to frame them as well as it is. It would have been easier to go with a quieter drum element and just used that to set the mood in “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” but by taking things the more experimental way, I think Dee can get away from yet another facet of predictability that most of his peers would rely on when making new music of any kind. This is not the kind of player who I can picture wanting to live in another’s shadow, which is largely what sets apart his attitude from that of the many others making rock this late winter season.
Everything in this track feels pretty weighty and physical to me, but not to such an extent that we have a hard time hearing specific intricacies when we’re supposed to. On the contrary, the clarity of the mastering here has allowed for all of the details, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to get as much of a starring role in “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” as the lead vocal does, which is pretty amazing given the indie status of this release. He isn’t relying on the fluff that his competition tends to, but at the same time, Dee is making good use of everything at his disposal with this performance and organizing himself in quite the appealing position for audiences around the world this year.
From where I sit, “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” is easily among the more nocturnal listens this singer/songwriter has put together since first coming into the game, and although it’s sporting a strain of darkness that I don’t hear or see a lot of in alternative rock at the moment, that only makes the substance of this material all the more attractive. Bob Dee is a rebel who has a genuine cause, and if you’re into legit rock n’ roll music, it’s a cause one really cannot help but support. He plants a flag for the rock gods in this release, but he does so in a manner that ensures he’ll outdo himself the next time he steps into the studio to write and record some quaking new jams.
Chadwick Easton