Street Dogs & Darkbuster Guitarist Lenny Lashley Re-emerges with Lenny Lashley's Gang of One Single "It Got So Dark" from Upcoming Album Five Great Egrets (Omerta MIA)
Boston's own Folk singer and Punk Rock stalwart Lenny Lashley (Darkbuster, Street Dogs, Lenny & The P*ss Poor Boys) will be releasing a collection of new songs titled Five Great Egrets under the moniker Lenny Lashley's Gang of One later this year, via Omerta MIA. Five Great Egrets is the proper follow-up to Lashley's acclaimed 2019 album, All Are Welcome, released on Pirates Press Records. BrooklynVegan recently unveiled Lenny's lead single, "It Got So Dark," describing it as "an anthemic, shambolic, Heartland Rock-infused Punk song." In support of his newest effort, Lashley will be supporting this release by staying on the road as much as possible under the current circumstances, including Mercy Union's record release show this past Friday, August 5th, at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ. "The album title came to me on a morning drive along the coast where I live," recalls singer-songwriter Lenny Lashley.
"I saw what I thought were five herons, but they were, actually, great egrets. Thematically, it's the same as the rest of my solo material. All of the stuff that I write is directly related to my personal life in one way or another." Five Great Egrets was engineered and produced by Pete Steinkopf at Little Eden Studios in Asbury Park, NJ during Fall 2020. "I've been fortunate to have folks that are remarkable musicians contribute because they like me as a person and believe in me," vows Lashley. His backing band features first-rate musicians, as well as fellow Bostonians, including Joe Sirios (The Mighty Mighty BossToneS,) Tim Brennan (Dropkick Murphys,) Johnny Rioux (Street Dogs, FM359,) C.J. Ramone (The Ramones,) Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls, Beach Rats) Sam Bey (The Parlor Mob,) Jared Hart (Mercy Union,) and others.
Lenny Lashley's Gang of One's latest effort covers everything from a tense relationship, to songs of hope and guidance, to the struggle and realization that you cannot change others, to integrity, to humanity. Five Great Egrets sheds light on Lashley's straight-forward and optimistic outlook on life. Additionally, album stand-out "Park Your Carcass" was co-written by Richard "Dicky" Barrett & Joe Gittleman once of The Mighty Mighty BossToneS. Fortunately, the song didn't make the cut for their final album, 2021's When God Was Great, and was given to Lashley. Lenny Lashley may very well be Boston's best-kept secret (his long-running band Darkbuster is held in the highest of regards locally,) but it's through his solo project, Lenny Lashley's Gang of One, that he hopes to foster deeper, more meaningful connections—not just with the listener, but with himself. The 57-year-old musician is a Punk lifer through and through and his respect and reverence for the scene is only bested by his innate ability to make music that resonates with the listener. Lenny Lashley's Gang of One's Five Great Egrets will be be released at an unspecified date, hopefully, before the end of 2022.