Here are just a few of the articles that have been published about the "Crimes Against Nature" album and "Mixes Against Nature" the EP with 8 remixes of songs from "Crimes..."


Windy City Times
August 20, 2003
All’s Phair: Chicago’s Liz Phair
by Gregg Shapiro

Gregg Shapiro: Some of your songs have been covered by gay men, including "Fuck And Run", which was done by Frank Rogala on his Crimes Against Nature disc . . . How does it feel to have made that kind of connection with the queer community?

Liz Phair: It feels really good. My tour manager was asking me about that the other night. He asked, "Do you have a really big gay following?" And I said, Yeah, I think I kind of do, I think I have that. And he said, "Why do you think that is?" And I said, I think it's because we both have a common interest in getting the uptight sexuality of America a little looser." I think they really appreciate the fact that I'm willing to push boundaries to get people to accept wider ranges of sexuality and roles. (entire article)

4-Front Magazine

Frank Rogala - Mixes Against Nature (from Crimes Against Nature, the solo album)

Crimes Against Nature came at a time when I was beginning to doubt if some evil Adult Contemporary curse had been put on the music scene since it had been a long while since any artist or album had made my blood race.  In all honesty, I had just about had it with compilations.   Ironically enough this the follow-up remix album to Rogala's debut named above is a compilation of some of the better songs revamps and sometimes really revamped to show that what Sting says about an album being only the foundation for the songs - that the songs are actually written after they have been played twenty times in public and done in a series of styles searching for the truly ideal one.

    Vince Rogala toys with the eight tracks consisting of four remixes of "Slowhand," two remixes of "F*ck & Run", and two remixes of "Loverman".  The highlights are that most of the songs are redone from the ground up and from the inside out.  In much the respects of Trent Renzor who put out Fixed as a follow up remix album to the "Broken" EP, Rogala has completely re-recorded these songs to barely resemble their original incarnations on the original album.  The result is sometimes trying ("F*ck and Run" is a real stretch as it is remixed into a complete 80's disco theme, when it originally appears in a simple rock style) and sometimes a great stretch (the jungle revamping of "Loverman" and the Techocolor Mix of "Slowhand").

    Frank Rogala's three songs are carefully handled and regrown by Vince Rogala.  The result is an EP that can live without the original and as a compliment of the intense and memorable work of the debut release by an artist who should one day be seen for his immense talent and craft.

 
Los Angeles Times
SENSITIVE MATTERS

Times Staff Writer
By MIKE BOEHM

ANAHEIM--A musician lucky enough to have a daring, original idea usually runs with it. Frank Rogala crawled. In 1979, Rogala watched Dinah Shore belt out a brassy number on TV and was struck that a woman could blithely sing the boy part in boy-girl love songs but that a man crossing gender lines would raise eyebrows, smirks and worse. "I think it was that stupid song that goes, 'I've got a gal in Kalamazoo.' She was just smiling, beaming and singing it out like it was just nothing," the veteran Orange County rock singer recalled. "I thought, 'No guy would have the [guts] to sing a girl's song.' There was the undercurrent that lesbianism was accepted, and it wouldn't work the other way around." Rogala decided to try it, anyway. Now he will step on stage tonight in West Hollywood and give his first live performance of "Crimes Against Nature," the remarkable album that grew ever so slowly out of that light bulb moment. He has faced club audiences for 20 years as the front man of struggling, do-it-yourself grass-roots bands. This time, with his new theme of homoerotic love as a controversial wild card, Rogala doesn't know what to expect. What took him so long? Mainly, he got sidetracked by years of striving for rock success by more conventional means. He and his younger brother, Vince, started a techno-pop band called Exude in their hometown of Mackinaw, Mich. They landed in Orange County in the early '80s and got national novelty-hit exposure in 1984 with a Cyndi Lauper parody, "Boys Just Want to Have Sex." As Exude morphed into the darker, more rock-leaning NC-17, Rogala's gender-bending epiphany of 1979 remained on his list of things to do. In 1994, the Rogala brothers and their longtime bandmate, Robin Canada, began working with a novice film director on a feature-length documentary examining the long odds of making it in the music business. (Director Dov Kelemer said the film is almost done and he expects to soon seek distribution and opportunities to show it at film festivals). The experience shattered any illusions the musicians had about success being just one lucky break away. "It just knocked the pins out," Rogala said. "The blinders that kept us going were taken off." Consequently, NC-17 has not played in four years. Rogala first threw himself into work on the documentary. Eventually, he realized he needed to fill the musical void left by the band's continuing hiatus. Off the shelf came the pet idea he owed to Dinah Shore. But first, Rogala had to reckon with the consequences. "Do I do this great artistic idea and bring up all these questions, and maybe problems, or do I not do it, or [do it and] try to be coy about it? And it's not just me involved. When you're in a marriage, it's both of us." "Be honest," was his wife's answer, Rogala said. "She would never want to make me lie about it." So Rogala embarked on his album, knowing that when it came out, he would too. In a recent interview at his house in a nondescript tract but lent secluded character thanks to high hedges and an oasis-like koi pond in the frontyard, Rogala acknowledged it is more difficult to talk about bisexuality in a mainstream newspaper than in the gay press interviews he has done. As he sat on his living-room floor, the tall, slim singer first tried communicating gingerly, in the indirect language of pop-cultural allusion and inference: "On a spectrum of Bon Jovi to Elton John, I'm closer to Mick Jagger or David Bowie," he said with a nervous grin. After noting that it was vital that nobody feel he had made his album as a mere joke or novelty, he submitted some plainer, if complex, facts: "I'm a married guy in a committed relationship for many years." If, he added, the right man had come along before the right woman, that relationship would have been homosexual. "I don't see sexuality as a black-and-white issue." After giving himself the green light, Rogala said, he looked for ways to "take [familiar] songs and make people hear them in different ways." He didn't want "Crimes" to be a gimmick, but a strong, all-around musical and emotional statement. "What would be the most embarrassing girls' songs to sing, where you would be most vulnerable? I started looking for the most pathetic, codependent, sick, politically incorrect songs, and I took it from there." Rogala's wife, Nancy, suggested two of the titles that are among the album's standouts: Liz Phair's "[Expletive] and Run" and Louis Jordan's swing-era nugget, "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?"--which Rogala learned from a version by Dinah Washington. Rogala's musical partners were supportive too. His brother, Vince, started tuning in oldies radio and passing on song possibilities that would fit the concept. As co-arranger, Canada helped perform radical surgery on the famous hits chosen for the album. "Crimes Against Nature" spans pop history from the 1940s, with Jordan and Billie Holiday, through the early rock girl-group era of the Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back" and the Crystals' "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)." It winds up in the modern-rock '90s with songs by Phair, Nine Inch Nails and the Gear Daddies. Rogala drastically reworked all of them to achieve an aura of abject, suffering romanticism. Rogala sings in a grainy, low, theatrical voice that sometimes brings to mind Nick Cave or Lou Reed. He invests "Is You Is" with howling paranoia and a garage-rock drive. "He Hit Me," a Gerry Goffin-Carole King composition that is sheer thematic poison (guy smacks girl around for seeing somebody else, she takes it as a sign that he really cares), is awash in weird, spooky aura. In a masterstroke, Rogala redeems the number by respecting its profession of love, warped as it might be. His "He Hit Me" is the affecting confession of a pathetic but loving heart. "My personality is masculine and dominant. I'm not a submissive person at all," Rogala said. "With these songs, I have to surrender myself to feeling things in a different way than I have." Two of the 11 tracks on "Crimes" are Rogala originals, including the deliberately incongruous last number, "I'm Feelin' Fine," a catchy, sunny, UB40-style reggae song that captures a moment of happy calm amid life's pressures and demands. "There's been a dark cloud hanging over the gay community with AIDS, and there was a lot of dark stuff going on in the album. I wanted to leave you feeling good with a positive song at the end. It was an old Exude song I could never get Vince and Robin to record.”
For more than a year since the album's release, Rogala has worked on his own, painstakingly placing "Crimes" in record stores across the country and trying unsuccessfully to open a more reliable pipeline by persuading a national distributor to pick it up. He says he wants to avoid having the record isolated in "a gay music ghetto," but he has taken the obvious course of promoting the CD to the gay press. Susan Frazier, general manager of Goldenrod Music, which specializes in distributing music of gay and lesbian interest, says Rogala faces an uphill struggle. Frazier likes what Rogala has done musically but declined to distribute it because of her doubts that it can sell. "The biggest problem we've had has been getting the gay male audience to want to buy something other than dance music," Frazier said from her office in Lansing, Mich. "Until we see a demand, [an album like 'Crimes Against Nature'] will be hard to pick up." Jeffrey Newman, a New York City-based music writer who contributes to more than 30 gay publications, said gay-male love songs are "becoming more commonplace, and people aren't looking at it as cross-eyed as they used to. But [Rogala's record] is a bold move. Frank is trying to attract a mainstream audience and at the same time grab the gay audience. It's hard to sell a rock or alternative release to a gay audience, or [a male singer's openly homoerotic album] to a mainstream audience." Rogala says he "was more surprised than disappointed" to find that there was no readily tapped gay constituency for male-to-male rock love songs. Recognizing commercial realities, and nodding to his '80s dance-pop work with Exude, he recently put out "Mixes Against Nature," with reworked, dance-club-ready versions of several "Crimes" songs. Rogala said he delayed performing "Crimes Against Nature" live because he was too absorbed balancing do-it-yourself record promotion with his day job as a legal assistant in Newport Beach. He hopes tonight's show at Luna Park will lead to a series of live dates this spring. Most of the NC-17 members are in his backing band; Vince Rogala, who produced the "Mixes Against Nature" record and plays sax on "Crimes," says he didn't have time to rehearse a part but will serve as roadie. Frank Rogala isn't sure what to expect as, for the first time, he faces an audience in the role of homoerotic lover. "It's going to be interesting. I don't know if people will be uncomfortable. I'm really curious to find out." There are signs that bias against homosexuals is slowly wearing away, but Rogala is glad he didn't wait any longer to act on that cue from Shore. "It was important to go on the record while there was still a risk, rather than hiding and being afraid to do it. When an idea like that comes to you, it's a gift. And I would have felt like such a chicken if I hadn't taken advantage of it." "Crimes Against Nature" is available from 2166 W. Broadway, Suite 268, Anaheim CA. 92804, by telephone at 1-888-Frank-CD, by e-mail at frank@handmade4you.com or at the Web site: https://www.NC17music.com/frank.htm
* Frank Rogala plays tonight at Luna Park, 665 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. (310) 652-0611.

The American Spectator

Frank Rogala
Crimes Against Nature

Rogala is the lead singer for experimental rockers NC-17 on a solo effort here. All of this is recorded in a patchy, strung out sounding conglomeration of tunes that work out quite nicely. From covers of Nine Inch Nails to the Pointer Sisters, to originals, Rogala keeps everyone guessing where he is going next. the use of mandolins, and dobros bouncing off of synth sounds and J.J. Cale strung guitar sounds make for some very original arrangements. Rogala uses his voice in the predictable growl of punk but stretches often enough to show he really can sing. I like this approach. Do another one Frank; I've got some choice cover ideas for you.

Bite Me!

Mixes Against Nature - Frank Rogala

Gays and Drag Queens and Cover Songs, o-my! "Mixes Against Nature" are remixes off Frank Rogala's (NC-17) first solo album "Crimes Against Nature."  These are all "female" songs sung most seductively by a male.  Excellent for gay nightclubs  - can't think of much more fun than getting down with a bunch of boys to Liz Phair's "F*ck and Run" redone and remixed.  Also "Slowhand" and "Loverman" receive the full treatment.

Mean Streets

One would have to do a double-take looking at promotional photos of O.C.'s Frank Rogala as a solo artist sporting a trendy short hairstyle and goatee. Could he really have been the lead singer for NC-17, the guy with the long hair and jeans torn at the crotch?

Perhaps this is an indication of the versatility Rogala represents as an artist featured in an upcoming documentary entitled "Won't Anybody Listen" which depicts the struggle of independent musicians. Apparently the story of NC-17 is told herein, with interviews of music industry execs and the press interwoven into the story line.

Rogala was the once-upon-a-time lead singer of Exude. Remember their hit song, "Boys Just Want To Have Sex?" It remained in the international top 200 for over five years as an independent single. Exude also once won acclaim as winners of MTV's "Basement Tapes" competition.

Now Rogala has released the full-length CD, Crimes Against Nature, experimental rock music, including piano, dobro and violin. Its moody music to suit most tastes. If you'd like more information contact I.E.M., (714) 995-0471

River Cities News

Frank Rogala
Crimes Against Nature
Exude Music 1996

If you think the dramatic vision of the angel on the cover of this CD is any indication of its content you're wrong! It's not all Gothic, mind you, though some of it could be. Rogala is to be commended on the eclectic assortment of instruments he has compiled to achieve the variety of sounds and styles on his first solo album. From standard tools of the trade, aka guitar, bass and drums; to piano, mandolin, sax, and dobro, Rogala consistently proves that his music has instrumental value, as well as "alternative" appeal. His voice also carries many distinctive qualities, showing his versatility and influences.

The tone of Crimes Against Nature seems to be very mellow for the most part. Tracks like "Lover Man" and "The Avoid Song" evoke a sort of dreamy mood, whisking the listener away to the realm of the smoky blues lounge of the forties, while tracks three and seven are borderline pop rock. However, Rogala's cover of "Closer" (originally done by Nine Inch Nails), is just, uh, indescribable. Yet his cover of the old song, "Slowhand," is fabulous! Who would have ever thought you could rave to this song. It could, quite possibly be even too good for KALA's Prince Albert.

But that's not all. Rogala took a stab at ska too. Apparently he'll try anything once. Ya gotta love it. His influences reflect everything from country to techno, blues, reggae, and beyond. There is truly something here for everyone, no matter what your musical preference is.

The Blade Magazine

Frank Rogala
Crimes Against Nature

If you're tired of the oh-so-clean disco tinged sound one associates with gay-oriented music, a listen to Frank Rogala's "Crimes Against Nature" is a refreshing difference. With a sound somewhat reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails and Iggy Pop, Rogala has created a unique sound. A critic once described Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" as "cabaret for necrophiliacs," because of the dark sound. The same can be said for Rogala's album.

An interesting aspect of the production of this album is Rogala's deliberate "low tech" approach. So much music is now created in studios with a technically perfect sound, using computers and midi sequencers. There is a sterile quality to works created under these near-perfect conditions. Rogala has rejected this approach, recording his album in his garage, using out-of-date equipment. Normally this would be considered a bad thing, but Rogala uses it to his advantage, producing an engaging album, warm yet disturbing.

From the excruciatingly slowed down version of "My Boyfriend's Back" to the more smoke filled seedy nightclub sound of "Lover Man" to the upbeat "F*ck and Run," this album exudes originality. While Rogala's approach may not be for everyone, it's definitely a breath of fresh air from what is normally defined as gay-oriented music.

Genre Magazine
October 1996

TOM ROBINSON "Having It Both Ways" and  FRANK ROGALA "Crimes Against Nature" (Integrated Entertainment)

Unfortunately, these accomplished artists remain fringe players in the universe of pop music because both are unafraid to be up-front about their sexuality. For the record, Robinson's bi, and he may be one of the best artists you've ever heard. And his 12th album - a juxtaposed mix of socio-sexual and political issues - artfully proves it. Some may know Rogala through his involvement with the infamous rock band NC-17. The concept of his industrial-styled album is to morph songs your ears think they know - "My Boyfriend's Back," "Slowhand," and "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby," - into man-to-man barnstormers. Both CDs are unique aural experiences that are worth the effort to track down.

Texas Music News
September 1996

FRANK ROGALA "Crimes Against Nature" (Integrated Entertainment)

This is an EXTRAORDINARY CD with a blend of Frank Rogala originals and new and old tunes we all know. It begins with an original version of "My Boyfriend's Back," and "Nine Inch Nails "Closer." The CD ends with two originals, "The Avoid Song," and "I'm Feelin' Fine." The music ranges from industrial, jazz, and rock through-out the CD.

4-Front Magazine
By: Christian Calson

Crimes Against Nature
Frank Rogala
I.E.M.

Recorded at intervals when not filming a documentary about being in the band NC-17, Frank Rogala's solo album did everything right for me. Start off with a Nine Inch Nails' cover, then a Pointer Sisters' cover then a Broadway standard, and top off the album with more covers and two original songs.

"Closer" is courageous and should be hailed. It should be hailed firstly because Renzor never puts out sheet music for his songs, and secondly because NIN's version left very little to the possibility of being topped. It was...

"Slowhand" (i.e. "I Need a Man With A Slowhand" is hilarious and almost impossible to distinguish. Bordering on annoyingly over done techno, the cover is still prime.

"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" brings new jive to the disgruntled and disrespected lover's gripes. Speaking of love's gripes, there is "Stupid Boy." The only track easily distinguished as a ballad, "Stupid Boy" highlights Rogala's full and masculine voice that he often hides with industrial-type effects. With a full string arrangement and a drum track that's a spin on a traditional ballad drum beat.

"Lover Man" also reeks of the same raw sexuality and raw musical style "Is You Is..." did so well. "Lover Man" does it even better. When the sax solo comes in, you best run for your heart's sake. My stereo was steaming so bad I had to unplug it. You go Boy!

I forgot to mention that the album opens with a new version of "My Boyfriend's Back." I hope you have put down the magazine and are on your way to the record store by now, because I don't know what more it could take.

"F*ck and Run" is also excellent. "I'm Feelin Fine" (the reggae/watch out Ace of Base track) finishes off the album, but only after "Don't you Make Me High" (in all of it's 1980's glamour and tragic passion). Rogala mixes, produces, engineers, cooks breakfast and irons the album.

The upcoming documentary on the experimental band's struggle if anything like this album, will be a cardinal sin to miss. Supposed to be a cross between "Truth or Dare" and "Roger and Me", it will go to expose how insanely almost-impossible the chances are that a band will reach any kind of fame in Los Angeles. Just check the discount compact disc bins and see plain evidence of this. Sometimes the variety and talent in those bins far exceeds that on the shelves.

Search and find "Crimes Against Nature," or just call his management about getting a copy at (714) 995-0471.

May 1, 1996

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
By Robert Kinsler

Rock
Frank Rogala
"Crimes Against Nature" I.E.M.

[Photo Caption Reads: Frank Rogala: The NC-17 lead singer has a winner in "Crimes Against Nature"]

The experimental rock of NC-17 has never quite fit in with the pure pop, punk or ska styles that have tended to define the local music scene since the early 1990's.

So it's not surprise that NC-17 lead singer Frank Rogala's first full-length solo effort, "Crimes Against Nature," should not be any more predictable. Although the 11-song disc features several cover tunes - including works by everyone from Nine Inch Nails to the Pointer Sisters - Rogala never lets loose of his distinctive approach when singing any of the material.

Although Rogala uses the upper range of his voice in singing an especially pretty version of "Stupid Boy," he usually takes a more Cure-ish approach in using the bottom of his vocal range.

There are plenty of winning moments on "Crimes Against Nature," and original arrangements of mandolin, guitar, bass, piano and any number of instruments help insure no two songs sound alike.

July 5, 1996

RAVE! RAVE!
The Daily Breeze/News-Pilot
Friday, July 5, 1996

Frank Rogala, "Crimes Against Nature"
Rating: * * * *
I.E.M.

Every once in a great while an album comes along that's so strikingly offbeat that one feels compelled to draw attention to it. This solo album from the leader of Orange County indie band NC-17 sure fits that description.

Consisting mostly of cover versions, "Crimes Against Nature" contains a reading of The Angels 1963 classic "My Boyfriend's Back" that twists the song's sassiness into darkly malevolent shapes thanks to a mournful vocal and a surging inventive string arrangement.

Then there's a throbbing rendition of the Pointer Sisters' hit "Slowhand" bursting with every industrial-techno trick in the book, with Rogala's electronically altered vocal bringing a palpable menace to the song's provocative lyrics.

Covers of songs by Liz Phair, Nine Inch Nails and even, bizarrely, Buster Brown's obscure 1960 R&B novelty "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?" all get the Rogala treatment: intense, often distorted vocals, creative re-arrangements and offbeat instrumentation.

That's "Crimes Against Nature": a fascinating assortment of male torch songs, dark, driving dance tracks and string-driven alternative rock. Unusual barely begins to describe it. Send $10 to I.E.M., 2166 W. Broadway, Suite 268, Anaheim, CA 92804 if you are intrigued.

ICON Magazine

Frank Rogala
Crimes Against Nature
Integrated Entertainment

Here's an eye-popping jaw-dropper. Rogala, formerly lead singer of EXUDE and currently with LA experimental/alt band NC-17, whipped up this naughty little confection during down time in the filming of Lost... (a feature-length documentary on the music industry featuring NC-17). Essentially a collection of inspired covers, Crimes takes girl-group classics ["My Boyfriend's Back" and "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)"], standards ("Loverman" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby") and recent alt-rock nuggets such as Liz Phair's "F*ck and Run" and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and soaks them in moody, homoerotic atmospherics. Dark, foreboding, seductive and funny, Crimes Against Nature is a provocative, one-of-a-kind effort.

 

. . . Oh Elton [John]!  if you want to know how to do it right I recommend taking a listen to Frank Rogala's Crimes Against Nature.  Sure, nine of the album's 11 songs are cover versions, but oh, what daring choices and interpretations!  I promise you, you'll never listen to standards such as "Lover Man," "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby," and "Don't You Make Me High," girl group gems such as "My Boyfriend's Back" and "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)," or current favorites such as Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and Liz Phair's "F*ck and Run," in the same way again.  As if to anticipate our every need and want, Rogala has also just released Mixes Against Nature, which has eight remixes of three of Crimes Against Nature's cover tunes.  So if you think that the version of The Pointer Sisters's "Slowhand" on Crimes is something, you should hear the four remixes on Mixes!

 

 

	"Mixes Against Nature" by FRANK ROGALA

Frank Rogala caught the attention of the music industry with his stunning album "Crimes Against Nature." Notable for it's dark twist on such sunshine-inspired tunes as "My Boyfriend's Back," it quickly became a critics' fave. Now, Rogala takes another surprising twist on this album of remixes that reinterpretes some of the tracks from "Crimes" and make them much more accessible to the gay dancefloor crowd. His delightfully danceable cover of "Slowhand," by the Pointer Sisters was one of the few songs on the original album with strong dancefloor potential. It's been wisely remixed here by Frank's brother Vince Rogala (all remixes on this album have been done by Vince) in four flavors for maximum effect. The "Lush Mix" sets Frank's deep, growling voices upon an irresistable array of synthesized disco beats. The "Extended Mix" takes it's even further with strong tribal beats and a Hi-NRG reminiscent of mid-80's clubfare by the likes of Bronski Beat or Dead Or Alive. The mingling of Frank's deep voice with these beats makes a for a surprising sound. You wouldn't think they'd work so well together, but you'd be wrong. "Slowhand" is also presented in the "Pop Radio

Mix" and the "Technocolor Mix," a trance-like & trippy New Wave version where Vince has more fun with the synthesized voices and freaky beats.

 

A surprising pick for this remix album is "F*ck And Run." The "Boyfriend Club Mix" reveals an eclectic sound with a gay dancefloor sensibility. It's a more sophisticated feel along the lines of New Order or Swing Out Sister. There's also a "Boyfriend Radio Safe Mix" for radio play.

 

The third and final song mined for the remix album is "Loverman," Rogala's sexy, masculine take on the classic Billie Holiday tune. In the "Jazz/Jungle Mix,", Rogala

is careful not to stray too far from the original as he puts forth a softly danceable and romantic lounge mix complete with piano and sax. The "Slow Dance Mix" doesn't even attempt to include club beats. It's a gorgeous piano ballad that remains true in spirit to the original cover on "Crimes Against Nature."

 

"Mixes Against Nature" succeeds in reinterpreting some already unique musical fare without compromising the artist's integrity. Worth checking out even if you aren't particularly into 'Remix' albums... and if you still haven't picked up "Crimes Against Nature" you are missing out on one of the most inspired albums of the '90s. Seriously.

 

© Copyright 1998 OUTVOICE!! - Reviewed by Daniel Jenkins

 

If you think that the dramatic vision of the angel on the cover of this CD is any indication of its content, you’re wrong! It’s not all Gothic, mind you, though some of it could be. Rogala is to be commended on the eclectic assortment of instruments he has compiled to achieve the variety of sounds and styles on his first solo album. From standard tools of the trade, aka guitar, bass and drums; to piano, mandolin, sax, and dobro, Rogala consistently proves that his music has instrumental value, as well as “alternative” appeal. His voice also carries many distinctive qualities, showing his versatility and influences. The tone of Crimes Against Nature seems to be very mellow for the most part. Tracks like “Lover Man” and “The Avoid Song,” evoke a sort of dreamy mood, whisking the listener away to the realm of the smoky blues lounge of the forties, while tracks three and seven are borderline pop rock. However, Rogala’s cover of “Closer” (originally done by Nine Inch Nails), is just, uh, indescribable. Okay, let me give you a clue: if you’ve ever heard anything by John Tesh, you get the picture. Yet, his cover of the old country song, “Slowhand,” is fabulous! Who would have thought you could rave to a country song? It could, quite possibly, be even too good for KALA’s Prince Albert. But that’s not all. Rogala took a stab at ska, too. Apparently he’ll try anything once. Ya gotta love it. His influences reflect everything from country to techno, blues, reggae, and beyond. There is truly something here for everyone, no matter what your musical preference is.

by Leslie Perrigo