My piece on Indy musician Jethro Easyfield appears in the March 6-11 edition of NUVO. He’s a good dude. I enjoyed spending a couple days with him and getting a clearer picture of what he does. He’s quirky – not in a bad way, but he ain’t no slick Nashville boy. either. Jethro is rural Indiana with a unique voice and lyrics that take a couple listens to catch. And it is still all good. I love the backing band, “the Arrowheads”, that he recorded with, and has played with in the past (tuba, anyone?). He’s someone who could bring the band to a gig and play just about any venue that would hold 100 folks, and rock the place. It will be interesting to see if he climbs higher than where he is now. After peering into what Jethro is about, I think he is criminally underrated and could have a bigger influence on the Indy roots-rock live music landscape. Whether he can grab that, and whether others identify his uniqueness as a positive, we shall see. I just hope the guy captures some more ears.
Neil Young’s new/old invention is a 1959 Lincoln Continental that runs entirely on alternative energy -and it also serves as source material for “Fork in the Road,” Young’s new album,. It is out April 7 .
The album features longtime NY sideman Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, keyboards), plus Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Neil’s wife Pegi Young (vocals) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, guitar).
Here is the “Fork in the Road” track list:
“When Worlds Collide”
“Fuel Line”
“Just Singing A Song”
“Johnny Magic”
“Cough Up The Bucks”
“Get Behind The Wheel”
“Off The Road”
“Hit The Road”
“Light A Candle”
“Fork In The Road”
The album is about Young’s involvement with the Lincvolt Project, He spearheaded, with biodiesel expert Johnathan Goodwin, a car that uses no gas – a cool old car is the hook . I read about this project in the past year, and Neil believes in the endeavor. He may be considered a rebel with his ideas, but rebels can do brilliant things. I think Neil qualifies on both counts….Rebel and brilliant.
The vehicle, Young’s own 1959 Lincoln Continental, is making a cross-country gasoline-free road trip to Washington, DC. It will be filmed.
MY BEST INDY WEEKEND SHOW BET:
The Bittersweets – Royal Theatre in Danville
Roots rock just sounds good at the great little theatre. It’s not too far to drive, plus they sell micro-brewed beer in a little tap room in the theatre. It’s a listening crowd, respectful but not quiet. And The Bittersweets (w/ Cara Jean Wahler opening) create anthemic Americana. This is one of those shows that Indy-ites who are into hitting the best shows before a great band gets even bigger need to catch. ($18 door ($7.50 students) – all-ages show)
BONUS: The band has a free live album you can download on their website. Another reason you can tell they have a clue about how to work it in 2009….
HIS FIRST (AND MAYBE LAST) GREAT BAND
A Faces reunion may still happen in 2009 — but probably not a full-scale tour or album – and maybe not with Rod the Mod.
From Billboard
Keyboardist Ian McLagan says the latest idea, proffered by guitarist Ron Wood at a lunch in London with McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, is “we do a couple shows and film it. Whether Rod (Stewart) wants to do that…I’m hoping he’ll be into that ’cause it’ll be such a lot of fun. It’s what the three of us would like Rod to agree to.” The Faces, with Stewart’s touring bassist, got together during November in London to play for three days in various configurations. McLagan says the sessions were “really, really great.”
McLagan says that Wood is currently in Los Angeles and plans to talk to Stewart about the latest idea. “I’ll get a call eventually, and maybe we’ll do something in June or July,” McLagan says, ” ’cause I don’t want to do anything next year. I’m not gonna wait again. It’s either gonna be this year…It’s now or never! I’ve got my fingers crossed, but I’m not going to waste energy trying to make it happen. I’ve worked for 30 years trying to make it happen. It’s now in the lap of the gods — or the hands of Rod, maybe.”
Live Faces from 1972 – how can you not like this band?
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I’M DIGGIN THIS: Grungy bluegrass folkies Avett Brothers do a little Bruce.
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ROB’S “FIRST 5 IPOD SHUFFLE EXPERIENCE”
With a nod of the head and friendly wave of the hand to ickmusic.com, one of my very favorite music blogs, I’m gonna rip of their idea and give you a little peek into what’s in my music library; what I listen to when I’m in the car or walking the dog. I’m going to put the ipod on shuffle and the first five songs that come up each week I will share with you. Feel free to comment on what you get on your First 5 Shuffle, or about the songs you see pop up each week here. And smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
1. “Chips Ahoy” – The Hold Steady (Live at the Non-Comm Radio Convention)
As with a lot of the stuff on my ipod, it’s live. Bootleg copy recorded from a soundboard, it captures the grit and power of the critical darlings. I’ve never completely drank their kool-aid, but I do like their sound, most of the wordiness and the sheer volume that emits from the speakers.
2. “We Can’t Make it Here” – James McMurtry
Literate Crunchy Texas Country Rock. That’s his category. From the album “Childish Things”. I love this song, his honesty, and his Lou Reed-esque vocal delivery. He’s way too smart for me. Buy the first album, featuring Mellencamp’s band members backing him. Almost 20 years old, and it still rocks. And so does his new stuff.
3. “Close Enough For Me” – Henry Lee Summer
From his one and only live album. If you remember Henry Lee from the heyday, he was an unstoppable force in concert – full of hair, bravado, wearing Chuck Taylor high tops, slamming vocal chops and the ability to take a band and a crowd into the “magic” of what happens when the band is in the pocket and the crowd is crazy. This cut is a loose, groovin’ thang, with Carl Storie blowing on the harp. I miss this Henry Lee….
4. “Babo O’Reilly” – Bob Walkenhorst
Who cover via the ex-lead singer of a late 80’s roots-rock band The Rainmakers. I had a serious love affair with the band’s “The Good News and the Bad News” cassette tape around 1990 . Nasty Telecaster guitars, a rock and roll snare drum really high in the mix and songs that told stories, and even some horns in a couple tunes. Bootleg here recorded live at one of his solo gigs.
5. “Dancing Queen – The Yahoos
One of Dan Baird’s (Georgia Satellites) side projects. Greasy cover of the iconic ABBA song. He turns it into a rock anthem.
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Meanwhile, Back at the Rock Sideman Icon Ranch: Steve Van Zandt – aka Little Steven from the E St. Band – has some interesting things to say about rock and roll and his desire to get his vision on Tv, or someplace else.
From Rollingstone.com
“We’ve been working on a TV series for years and came very close. It’s probably my greatest frustration right now, by far. Three years in a row we came within five minutes of a network deal. They keep backing out at the last minute, they’re afraid of music on TV. They tell me it never works. I tell them, ‘I know why it doesn’t work — because it always sucks. How about we do a show that doesn’t suck? Let’s try that!’
“We could do a fantastic TV show and I think that would change everything. It will completely focus this traditional rock and roll and contemporary garage rock movement. The main thing we would do and what you haven’t seen the last 30 years is that it will have kids dancing to rock & roll. I just feel that one day we were dancing to rock & roll and the next we started listening to it, and it’s been downhill ever since — somewhere around 1967 or so. I’m exaggerating only slightly. It may end up on cable.
We may have to start it on the Internet, or a fucking cell phone. It’s something I’m determined to do.”
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With digital cable, and the web, there are more and more sources for live music and videos, and getting to something ultimately valuable and intelligently unique is tough. Frustrating sometimes. And while there is more music available that one or five or nine years ago, there is nothing on TV that has the singular drive to be garage rock-unique. I listen to Van Zandt’s excellent “Underground Garage” program on WTTS, and his Garage Rock channel on Sirius/XM. Some of it is challenging, most of it is pretty damn good and they are nearly all inspired recordings. He seems to be about the real. He pushes me to know the past and then blowtorching the preconceived notions of what something should be. He plays stuff I hear nowhere else, believing in his (this) music and presenting it with passion. Can’t ask for much more, other than some talent to back it up. Which he has. He should get this project done. Even if it becomes just one more option for people like us.
RN
Rob Nichols
Rock and Roll Wednesday Night Communion with Jethro Easyfields
New Easyfields album ‘Elixir’ recorded with full band
originally published in NUVO Newsweekly
On the eve of a monumental snowstorm in late January, Indianapolis singer-songwriter Jethro Easyfields and I are sitting at Red Key Tavern, talking for over two hours about his new album and where a guy like him finds success. A knit cap atop his unshaven face and wearing a black Rolling Stones T-shirt and winter coat, he looks like a guy who would have a PBR in front of him. Instead, he’s drinking a Heineken.
Easyfields is a man brimming with ideas, full of stories and naturally inquisitive. He muses about the expanded opportunities (via the Web) and reduced possibilities (with an economic recession and consolidated record industry) for a musician at this historical moment.
Easyfields’ new album Elixir is a full-on, full-band, hard-strumming acoustic guitar-led piece of Americana music that was recorded in five sessions over six months with his backing band, the Arrowheads. It rings of influences ranging from The Band to Tom Petty to Steve Miller. And it’s a bit of an odd record, due mostly to the uniqueness that is Jethro Easyfields. There’s a decided looseness to the album, and he says that’s the way he wanted it.
“I always go in with sounds in my head,” Easyfields says. “I wanted the recording to be live and be real. Tell me if I am singing off key. Maybe I can fix it later, or maybe I don’t want to fix it.
“If there’s a few mistakes on it, or it’s a little wobbly here, we’re not perfect people,” he says of the cuts that made the new record. “It’s not overly produced. We made it in my living room, with Pro tools and a big-ass mixer. Scott Kern, who plays guitar on the album, is the co-pilot and the guy who has the ears. He had headphones on saying, ‘Keep going. You got it.'”
In prison for no damn reason
Easyfields’ teetering voice sings of Indianapolis and Indiana on a number of songs from Elixir. In his late 30s, Easyfields is a Northern Indiana country boy living in the city, with experiences garnered through years spent banging his guitar around streets and in clubs. Before Indianapolis, it was Fort Wayne, New Orleans and Phoenix.
“My interest grew with music and I had played and done what I thought I could in Fort Wayne. So I was like, ‘Where do I go? Memphis? New Orleans?’ So I went directly to New Orleans. I talked to someone who said, ‘You gotta go down there – you have the fever or something,'” he remembers. “I was there for six or seven years, really just going down to make sure the blues I knew was real. I mean, you have to go through some stuff – your dog has to die, you have to get robbed.”
In New Orleans, he did manage to have an “Alice’s Restaurant” moment.
“I was put in prison for a couple days for obstructing a sidewalk for no damn reason,” he recalls. “I was not even with my guitar. I was trying to help a friend … and we were up against a wall. And we were arrested. Put in a chain gang with murderers. For obstructing a sidewalk. Had to go to court, pay $120 or stay seven days.
“That kind of changed my mind for a second. ‘Should I be here?’ It made the skin a little thicker,” he admits. “I was there for a reason.”
Po Boy Chronicles
Easyfields’ two Web-only albums, Po Boy Chronicles and Retrospective, are archived at http://www.musicalfamilytree.org/band/jethro_easyfields (which offers unlimited, free mp3 storage to musicians currently or historically based in Indiana). Some of the 51 tunes on those two albums eventually ended up on the new CD. He recorded Po Boy, the longer of the two albums, after returning from a visit to New Orleans (which he made after he had moved to Indianapolis).
“After I went to New Orleans again, I came back after Katrina, and wrote 30 songs. And I can’t really put out a 30-song album. Who’s gonna buy that? So I put it up on the Web site, and gave it away for free because there is some topical stuff there. Some people may think it is interesting, come to a show and now I have a new album – boom!” he says, talking about how to reach new audiences. “The more you do, the more people will hear it. You gotta get your name out there.”
But there was a time when Easyfields wasn’t comfortable with putting everything out there.
“I’m trying to explain the trials and tribulations of everything around. Sometimes, it gets personal. You just try to find someone to appreciate it,” Easyfields says. “I sang all these songs about my life and then I’d go home and cry. I didn’t care if there were five or 150 people there. I would think I gave out too much information. It is kind of like therapy in reverse.”
Snowy open mic night
It’s another Wednesday night, and Easyfields is going to play his music for a tribe of friends at the open mic night he hosts at the Northside bar and music venue Locals Only. This tribe of mostly local musicians has been gathering just about every week for nearly five years. Despite the rotten weather following that once-impending snowstorm (I went to see Easyfields a few days after we chatted at the Red Key), the crowd continues to straggle in. By the time 8:45 p.m. comes around, a crew of 20 or so has filtered into the bar, and the number will expand to not quite twice that figure over the next couple of hours.
“I don’t go to church anymore,” Easyfields admits. “But everyone needs their own church. Sometimes that stage is like an altar. Performers have to get up there to breathe and muscle through what they believe in.”
With a long-sleeved orange shirt covered by a vest that would make Petty proud, and another knit cap, Easyfields carries his guitar case to the stage to get the music rolling. He’s a one-man gang tonight, turning on stage lights, running sound, making sure the visiting musicians can find electricity for their amps and moving vocal mics to the right place.
But before he plays roadie and MC to other hopefuls, Easyfields is going to play a few songs himself. Taking his spot on a tan padded stool, he wastes little time getting to his music. Spending the first 30 minutes of the evening on stage, he runs through six songs, including “Rabbit Foot,” one of the songs on the new record. He also does “Cult Status,” his ode to B movies, and “Man on the Moon,” a song among the 30 recorded and put online following one of his trips to New Orleans.
After six songs, Easyfields is done, and for the next several hours, performers, both solo and band, take the stage. None is able to match the confidence, the songwriting or the passion that Jethro Easyfields showed.
Roots Rock: The Elms, Buddy Miller, The Gaslight Anthem, U2
NEW MUSIC NEWS: One of the very best bands anywhere, our own Seymour, Indiana natives The Elms are trying something that will either be way cool, or a train wreck. Or maybe both. They are webcasting the recording of their new album at TheElms.net. I watched for 30 minutes Friday night, as they worked on double-tracking some lead vocals. I must say, as a music-head, it was fascinating in a short dosage like that. In the past few days, I find myself returning to see what is happening. A bit addicting. They also do a nice blog and have a twitter account.
So see for yourself just how tedious recording an album is. Right, studio vets?
Buddy Miller, one of Nashville’s most prolific singers, songwriters, guitarists, recording artists and producers suffered a heart attack in Baltimore, Md., last week. He was on tour with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin. Miller, 56, was taken to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and he underwent a triple-bypass heart surgery. The surgery was successful, and Miller will likely be recovering in Baltimore for several weeks. Called “the best country singer” alive by Steve Earle, Miller is married to Nashville singer-songwriter Julie Miller, and the pair have a duo album coming out on New West Records on Tuesday.
REPLACEMENTS ANYONE?: Though fans still want a reunion, the chance for the Replacements to get together and play live is probably not happening, according to former bassist Tommy Stinson. Stinson tells Billboard Magazine that the best material has now been cleared from the Replacements vault withthe new Rhino releases.
“It’s not on the table,” he says of that project. “I don’t think we’ve got the quality takes. I think the best live record we could make is to gather up all the bootlegs, put them together and make it on our own. Those would actually make more sense. You know what? I just don’t know if we have it in us,” he told Billboard Magazine. “We’ve played together and we have things to offer each other. But I think ultimately it’s like, why would we do it? The question comes up every time. Why would we do it? Well, they’ll pay us really great. Is that the reason to go do it or not? I don’t know. I think Paul probably struggles with it more than I, because I haven’t played those songs in 20 years,” he continues. “He has. To me, it sounds more of a fun idea to get up and play those songs again. Not for the money, but hey, it would be fun. Let’s go do it. I don’t think he’s got in him, to be honest with you.”
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Out this Tuesday:
Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies
U2 – No Line On The Horizon
In a related U2 note, the boys played a rooftop gig, high (really high) atop the BBC building on Friday. Man, they are flogging the new record, aren’t they? The Dublin lads are performing on “Late Show with David Letterman” every night this week…
Watch the BBC video here:
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BAND I DIG: Gaslight Anthem will be opening for headliner Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band on The Hard Rock Calling 2009 Festival. The Boss’ and the E Street Band will perform their first-ever UK festival appearance outside of the United States, at Hard Rock Calling 2009 in Hyde Park, London on June 28th.
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Word on E Street right now is that the suits are hammering out the particulars of Max Weinberg’s availability withtheband, in light of his move to LA with Conan O’Brien.
According to Rolling Stone:
When Max himself spoke to Rolling Stone earlier this year, he described NBC’s extreme patience over his frequent absences, hitting the road with the increasingly busy Springsteen. “It’s a hell of a problem to have in this economy,” he said, explaining that a well known NBC sitcom star’s attorney asked why Weinberg was allowed sabbaticals when his client couldn’t take one to film a movie. “The NBC lawyer thought for a second, then said, ‘The next time Bruce Springsteen asks your client to play drums, she can do that.’ In the legal department it’s known as the Weinberg-Springsteen Rule.”
Roots Rock: U2, Jack Black, Little Steven, Mat Kearney
U2 is currently streaming their new album, “No Line on the Horizon”, on their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/u2) more than a week before its March 3 release. The band will play five consecutive nights on Late Night With David Letterman starting March 2. No word on if this is in response to staffers at Universal Music Australia inadvertently mading the new album available digitally more than a week before release. According to reports, high-quality downloads of the album were briefly made available earlier this week on Getmusic.com.au, a digital store operated by Universal Music’s Australian affiliate. “Horizon” is also now understood to be widely distributed via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. They ended up selling the nine-million copies of 2004’s”How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”, which was also leaked, so this may be a case study in “Leaking an album just doesn’t matter if you are U2”
School of Rock star Jack Black married into a pretty impressive musical pedigree when he wed singer Tanya Haden. Haden is one of the triplet daughters of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden–best known for his work with Ornette Coleman. Her sisters Petra plays in the Decemberists, and Rachel is a founding member of The Rentals. Last year, the entire family, under the moniker Charlie Haden Family & Friends, collaborated on the American roots album “Rambling Boy”. They are all playing the Opry at the Ryman this weekend. Ricky Skaggs (also a guest on Rambling Boy), Del McCoury, Hal Ketchum & The Infamous Stringdusters will also be appearing.
Click on links below to listen
Opry on GAC
Opry on WSM Radio (online)
Originally expected in April, Dave Matthews Band’s as-yet-untitled new RCA album will now arrive June 2. The group has also announced its annual summer tour, beginning May 27 in Darien Center, N.Y. – They come to Indy for two nights at Verizon Wireless Music Center on Friday, July 31, and Saturday, August 1.
Mat Kearney is set to release his new album, City of Black & White, on May 19, a followup to his major label debut, “Nothing Left To Lose”, Mat recorded in his new hometown of Nashville, TN,
CHOOSE ONLY ONE? This Week’s Indianapolis Live Show Pick: Justin Townes Earle – Saturday February 21 at Spencer’s Stadium Tavern. Earle, son of singer/songwriter Steve Earle, releases his second album, ‘Midnight at the Movies,’ in early March. He proved he has the talent to stand on his own, with or without the legendary roots-rock name. LISTEN HERE
ALBUM CHART: Taylor Swift’s album “Fearless” returns to the top of The Billboard 200. The set moved 92,000 copies on a 44% salesjump, resulting in its nine non-consecutive weeks at No. 1. The last album spend more time at the top was Santana’s “Supernatural,” which was #1 for 12 weeks in 1999 and 2000. Selling 77,000 on a whopping 715% increase, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ “Raising Sand”zoomed from 69 to 2 following its album of the year win at the Grammys. The set debuted at No. 2 in late 2007 with 112,000 and has now sold 1.26 million to date. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”rebounds 31-8 with 62,000 sold (+271%); the album generated three Grammys, including song of the year for “Viva La Vida.” Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream” falls from 2 to 6 with 65,000 sold.
Springsteen guitarist Steve Van Zandt is about to launch a new hard rock label, Lost Cathedral, with the May 14 release of Crown Of Thorns’ “Faith.” Van Zandt’s garage rock label, Wicked Cool will continue to exist. We basically decided to keep Wicked Cool identifiable as a garage rock label, at least for now,” he told Billboard this week. “In the last couple of years, we’ve gotten a lot of hard rock things submitted to us. A lot of it is quite good — a little bit punkier or hard rock than we do with Wicked Cool.”
THE REALLY ODD PAIRINGS DEPT.: Ex-Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, Fountains Of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger, Taylor Hanson of Hanson and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos have formed a supergroup named Tinted Windows. Billboard reports the band has recorded their debut album, set for a spring release, with a SXSW showcase set on tap next month.
Roots Rock Blog: Pat Green, Henry French, Album Charts, 20 Questions with Cross Canadian Ragweed
From my blog for NUVO in Indianapolis (nuvo.net) – check it out there a couple times a week for show reviews and info like this:
On the Americana airplay chart from Radio & Records, Otis Gibbs was at #5 with his “Grandpa Walked A Picketline” album. The Gourds “Haymaker!” album is in the top spot, as last week’s #1 album, “Little Honey” from Lucinda Williams falls to #4.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ “Raising Sand,” which won album of the year at the Grammy’s on Sunday, re-entered the Billboard album chart at No. 68, with sales of 9,000 last week. For the chart, most gains are a result of downloads on Sunday night after the show. The Fray earned its first #1 on The Billboard 200 with its sophomore self-titled album selling 179,000. Last week’s #1, Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream”, slips to No. 2 in its second week with 102,000 sold.
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Great little “20 Questions” interview with personal fave Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed. They blew the roof of the Vogue in late 2008 and defy simple music pigeonholing – they just rock in an American rock and roll way. Check out interview here….
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Choose Only One? Live Show Pick: Henry French and the Shameless rocked Birdy’s on Saturday night (2.14). They have a great EP “Swagger and Sway”. One of those bands (Bodeans, Swinging Steaks, Replacements) that make hook-filled, guitar-driven, songwriting-strong heartland rock records. Hear more here.
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Though he has always been my Bryan Adams of country music, I have liked Pat Green for a long time. CMT.com says his new song “Country Star” (and watch some sidestage video – they come out to “Eminance Front”…) is “hooky, catchy and funny enough to move him from edgy Texas rocker to full-on Nashville phenom. And it’s about time.”He is great live, and I love Texas music, even if Pat has watered his down for more mainstream success. Jack Ingram has done the same. Still, would rather listen to those two than most of the glossy, sugary, disposable country music that is on the radio and dominate awards shows. Dann Huff produces (Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts are two other clients) so that means no rough edges. Still, worth staying on board with Green. Oh, and I liked Bryan Adams until he started to suck.
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Randy Rogers Band received an Academy of Country Music nomination this week for vocal group of the year. They will lose to Rascal Flatts, but nice to have a rowdy Oklahoma/Texas/Red Dirt band get noticed.
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Finally, an interesting into-the-head blog from Springsteen on his official site. Bruce blogging? Multiple albums in one year? Ten years ago, who would have thought those two could happen? Actually, a terrific blog. (Read it here) Bruce rarely writes prose, instead does interviews and writes songs. So it is a bit unsettling to read. But behind-the-scenes is what we want, right? Plus a striking photo gallery from Danny Clinch.
Concert Review: Healing Sixes/The Garrison at Radio Radio
The Healing Sixes successfully rocked a good crowd of 150 at their Radio Radio show on Saturday night. The Indianapolis band, who have been active for more than a decade, seem on the verge of becoming an “it” band all these years later. So can I give one suggestion to make them even better? Make a sax player, like the one who joined Saturday, a fulltime bandmember.
The band, opening with “Beautiful One” and “Port-O-Let Monkey”, proved adept at blending 70’s rock influences with enough of their own personality to continue to forge an identity that may yet get them into territory once occupied by the Why Store.
Mixing up the setlist with cuts from 2007’s “One Less Friend” album, their work with Joe Bonamassa, and 2002’s “Enormosound”, the band paired some sugary hooks with alt-rock crunch. Plus, they had the elusive likability factor in their favor; You watch and want them to be good because they play with a palpable, relaxed confidence.
Bandmates Doug Henthorn, Eric Saylors, Wade Parish and Jeff Stone channeled Black Crowes, Collective Soul, Led Zeppelin and even a little Cheap Trick, which ain’t ever a bad thing. Their “Fine Tune”, originally recorded with Bonamassa, was another set highlight, with slamming blues riffs and Henthorn’s gruffly sweet vocals carrying the song.
A word to all bands who do mostly original material: good decision. It is the direction best traveled to being taken seriously as a band and finding long-term success. I know that. But throw in a cover song, and some inventive ways to let us know that you know it is only rock and roll. And Healing Sixes did, with a Zep cover and the inserting opening lines from The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy”). Well done. Also smart move to experiment on a couple songs with the one-night-only addition of saxophonist Max McAllister. He’s a writer and business owner in the motorcycle racing industry. And a damn good sax man. The addition of a sax gave the group a tighter connection to the crowd and an R&B edge that sparked the crowd and the band.
Now, maybe McAllister wouldn’t be the man, but if I were in Healing Sixes, adding a horn would be a discussion worth having. Sure, a fifth member is dividing the payday one more way, but how many bands are doing new, rough-edged rock with twin chunking and screaming Gibson Les Paul guitars and a sax? In Indiana? Anywhere? I’m just sayin’ think about it. It worked superbly Saturday night.
The show was presented by On the Throttle TV, a motorcycle racing show. Healing Sixes drummer Parish, as well as the lead singer for opening band The Garrison, Scott Smallwood, and his bass player Pete Cline are all racers.
The openers rampaged through 45-minutes of punk-inflected music much like motorcycle racers compete: full of energy and a bit out of control. Not necessarily a bad template, but not completely successful on this night, though they tried hard to connect with the crowd. Smallwood still needs to refine his stage banter, and use more resonating between-song comments to get the crowd motivated rather than chiding them for not getting closer to the stage. But the band was tight and plowed forward, and at their best, had hints of 70’s Police, The Cure, The Clash and even the 80’s band The Godfathers. (Remember “Birth, School,Work, Death”?) At their worst? Faith No More.
Radio Radio is a great music room, with good, clean sound again Saturday, and Healing Sixes, with a couple shows coming up with the 2009 version of the Why Store, seem to be building some nice momentum. Not an easy thing to do for any group, and impressive coming 11 years after releasing their first album, “Maple”. It could be a good 2009 for the band.