“Irresistible contemporary blues-rock…street-level grit and soul” – Billboard
“Phenomenal and funky…soulful vocals and inspired blues-rock guitar.” – The Washington Post
“Tommy Castro and The Painkillers are a crackling, stripped-down band with plenty of grit and a rocking soul.” – Jambands.com
After years of playing guitar-driven blues and R&B backed by a tight horn section, Castro introduced The Painkillers live in 2012, creating a lean, mean four-piece lineup, with the drum chair now held by David Tucker. Fueled by Tommy’s voice and guitar plus bass, drums and keyboards, the band released the 45rpm single Greedy / That’s All I Got later that year (both songs are included as bonus tracks on the new CD). Greedy quickly became one of Castro’s most-requested songs. An attention-grabbing video for the song has already received over 150,000 views on YouTube. The Chicago Sun-Times calls his music “fiery and soul-drenched.”
Castro views the harder-edged sound of The Painkillers as a natural extension of the music he’s been making since he was a teenager. “The Painkillers really get me back to my roots. It feels to me a lot more like it did when I first started playing with my friends as a kid. Bands were always just three or four guys playing for the fun of it,” Castro recalls. Now, Tommy Castro And The Painkillers are pushing the music to another level.