Daily Thompson – Chuparosa

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · February 4, 2025

Daily Thompson is a power trio from Dortmund, Germany and started in late 2012. The band’s sound is a mix of stoner rock and grunge, with a slab of noisy power blues. Their full length releases include 2014’s Self Titled, 2016’s Boring National, 2018’s Thirsty, 2020’s Oumumua, 2021’s God Of Spinoza, and their latest album 2024’s Chuparosa. The lineup consists of Danny Zaremba on vocals and guitar, Mercedes Lalakakis on bass and vocals, and Thorsten Stratmann on drums and vocals. The band traveled to Seattle and recorded Chuparosa with Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, and Pentagram) engineering. The album contains six tracks in thirty seven minutes and was released on May 17th 2024, on Noisesolution Records.

“I’m Free Tonight” begins the album with a start and stop rocker. The guitar riff begins the song and the rest of the band then joins in. Danny Zaremba has a decent voice and “I’m Free Tonight” reminds me of Fu Manchu with the laidback groove and delivery, not to mention Zaremba’s voice. Bassist Mercedes Lalakakis also sings back up vocals on certain parts, which adds a nice dynamic to the song. At the 4:25 mark, Daily Thompson execute a nice mean riff that kicks in heavy. Coincidentally, Bob Balch from Fu Manchu provides a scorching guitar lead towards the end of the track. “Pizza Boy” is next and has a great driving flow to it. It’s mostly a mid pace rocker that has a good crunchy rhythm. The band’s grunge music elements shine through on this track with stoner vibes and they provide some nice hook laden vocal melodies too. Lalakakis sings more back ups on this one that especially blends pleasantly with Zaremba’s vocals.

The third track is called “Diamond Waves (A Love Song For The Ocean)”. The song starts with clean guitars and definitely has a nineties grunge sound. The music intensifies with fuzzy guitars but switches back and forth from mellow to heavy. It’s a solid track throughout and doesn’t waver too much in either direction and stays on the rocking coarse. “Raindancer” strikes next and carries a righteous riff rocking torch. It’s got a nice solid groove to start with some honorable crunchy riffing taking charge. The seven minute song also constitutes cool psychedelic moments half way through. Daily Thompson’s songs average in the six to seven minute range and they do a fantastic job keeping the music interesting and engaging throughout. “Raindancer” is no exception and it’s one of my favorites on Chuparosa.

The fifth track “Ghost Bird” is another well grounded number with a bluesy feel to it also. Thorsten Stratmann hammers a solid snare tapping drum beat and displays his rock solid percussion skills. Daily Thompson is a very tight unit and you can tell that they are committed and comfortable with their sound. The final cut is the title track “Chuparosa”. Another compelling seven minute song that exercises the band’s ability to convey heavy rocking rhythms and link up with melodic alternative grunge. Zaremba’s crooning voice is again coalesced with Lalakakis’s beautiful vocals when she takes command after the bass and drum break towards the end of the song. Lalakakis’s bass playing is very solid and tight on the whole recording.

Daily Thompson delivers a very excellent and engaging sound with Chuparosa and it should satisfy most riff rockers that favor both traditional stoner and desert rock and classic nineties grunge. This is my first experience listening to Daily Thompson and I am really enjoying Chuparosa and need to hear the other albums also.