Melbourne’s Nick J Harvey returns with “Careful With The Bacon, Steven,” a six-minute sonic pilgrimage that marries gritty blues, 70s psychedelia, and widescreen rock grandeur. More than just a song, it’s a cinematic vignette of modern mundanity, where the hum of urban life collides with searing guitar catharsis.
The track begins deceptively gentle—acoustic fingerpicking evoking the foggy-headed stumble of a morning routine. But Harvey’s genius lies in the slow burn: layers of warbling slide guitar, and snarling melodies until the song detonates into a wah-drenched solo that channels Hendrix’s chaos and Gilmour’s precision. The title, a seemingly absurd non-sequitur, morphs into a mantra for life’s absurd, repetitive cycles—“the push and pull of habit”, as Harvey puts it.
“This song is a slice-of-life exploration—a journey through the ups and downs of the early day. It reflects the push and pull of habit, the contrast of dark and light, the struggle always wrapped in the ever-moving and the ever present urban ambient noise of life”. – Nick Shares
Production-wise, this is retro-rock with a scalpel’s edge. The mix breathes like a live band (no sterile digital sheen here), yet every dissonant bend or feedback shriek feels meticulously placed. Harvey’s mission—reviving raw, emotional rock—is gloriously achieved: this is music that smells like sweat, spilled beer, and overheating tube amps.
A masterclass in tension and release, “Careful With The Bacon, Steven” proves Harvey isn’t just preserving blues-rock’s legacy—he’s dragging it kicking and screaming into the modern era. Play it loud, and let the dissonance shake your bones.
