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The Samples and Brian VanderArk
Thursday · Mad Frog
At about the same time the Dave Matthews Band was playing keggers and making grassroots fans on Virginia college campuses, The Samples were working a similar corner on the other side of the country in Boulder, Colo. The band’s hard work paid off with a major label contract that was almost immediately terminated when the label was stymied by the band’s Police-Pop/Reggae-meets-Grateful-Dead-Jam approach. Undaunted, frontman Sean Kelly assembled a new lineup and wrote dozens of sparkling Pop songs for a new album and signed with Colorado indie What Are? Records, where they remained for eight albums. Four years ago, Kelly and The Samples started their own label, Apache Records, and began releasing their own albums through their Web site (thesamples.com). Their sound has changed very little over the past decade, but neither has the quality of their music, and their fiercely loyal fan base has followed every step of the way. The most recent release from The Samples’ camp was Seventeen, last year’s semi-acoustic “solo” album from Kelly and guitarist Tom Astin, which has also just been released as a concert DVD. This current circuit from the constantly touring Samples promises to feature new material from the band’s next CD, which is due out shortly.
Opening for the Samples on this leg of the tour is singer/songwriter Brian Vander Ark, as he takes a brief busman’s holiday from his duties fronting the Verve Pipe, who have toured only sporadically since their last album, 2001’s Underneath. Vander Ark’s solo gigs typically offer his acoustic takes on Verve Pipe songs (which is how they began life in the first place) as well as new songs he’s written in the past three years. Bring a mellow vibe and prepare to be transported.
(Brian Baker)
Sevendust
Tuesday · Bogart’s
Like System of a Down, Sevendust is one of those bands you can’t resist even if you despise the genre. No matter how many homicidal fantasies that Papa Roach, Nickelback and Linkin Park inspire in your blackest of hearts, it is still difficult to turn the station on a 7D track. The hard-rocking Atlanta quintet’s fourth disc, Seasons, released last October on TVT, is more of the same soulful Post-Metal upon which they have built a solid reputation. Their steadfast reliance on heavy riffs and staccato rhythms with irresistible vocal melody adorning most tracks hasn’t changed, but there is some evolution on the new CD. For instance, they have abandoned the loop-and-sample safety net that they shared with Incubus and others earlier in their career. Also, the songs on the new album are much more confessional than past records. They have never shied away from penning personal lyrics, but Seasons contains some of the darkest and most repentant to date. One especially sinister track is the first single, “Enemy.” Written and sung by drummer Morgan Rose, it’s a vitriolic piece of hate mail to former Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara. The disdain is rooted in Fafara’s alleged mistreatment of Rose’s wife, former CC bassist Rayna Foss. While the slams are pretty grade school, it’s still fun to see Rock guys filleting one another like Rap stars. Fafara claims the animosity is one-sided, but perhaps he will reveal an encounter with Rose’s mother if the next Devildriver album doesn’t meet sales expectations? (Ezra Waller)
The Sirens
Friday · The Cavern (Chicks RockFest)
If you were lucky enough to score the new No Thanks! Punk Rock box-set from Rhino Records this year from Santa, you were likely struck by how unabashedly new bands are copping that vintage Punk/Post-Punk style. Several of the songs on the historical collection could have been released last week and easily gotten into the rotation on 97X or Subterranean. Oddly, there’s still something resoundingly fresh and inventive (well, “post-inventive”) about new Post-Punk revivers, even after a refresher listen to old tracks from Joy Division, Gang of Four and The Pop Group. And if you’re a stickler for imagination, it could be worse — bands could be ripping off Warrant or something equally abhorrent. Washington, D.C.-based quartet, The Sirens, stir similar emotions, crafting a sound that is unquestionably derivative, yet still put together well enough to be effective. There’s a history lesson’s worth of name-checks one could come up with in describing the band’s debut release, Bad Girls. Thanks to the band members’ individual skills and their collective no-nonsense style, listening to Bad Girls fondly recalls multiple generations of female-fueled bands, from the rough-shod power of The Runaways, to early-period Blondie to smoother L7. A sense of humor only adds to the allure. On the fiery “Girls Wanna Rock,” the band distills women-in-music issues into one bluntly effective statement, even doing some of their own name-checking: “Patti, Debbie, Wendy O/Joni, Chrissie, where’d ya go?” The Sirens might not be in those icons’ ranks yet, but the band’s sentiment — and music — would surely be appreciated and respected by each one of them. (Mike Breen)
Sunspot
Saturday · BarrelHouse Brewing Co. (Chicks RockFest)
Another Chicks RockFest participant, Madison, Wisc., trio Sunspot boasts powerful drummer Wendy Lynn Staats, plus bassist/lead singer Mike Huberty and guitarist Ben Jaeger. Sunspot’s male quotient first hooked up in their early teens, but the band solidified in 1996, when they met Slaats at the University of Wisconsin. The band has drawn raves and radioplay in Madison, and they have now set their sights on the rest of the country, with an increasing touring regimen and further radio promotions. On Loser of the Year, the threesome’s follow-up to its 2000 debut, Radio Free Earth, Sunspot flaunts a tight, energetic brand of AltPop that takes cues from Punk Pop and Metal heroes. Sunspot’s excitable sound is a result of the high pace and unbridled enthusiasm that each member seems to pour into every note. The songs on Loser are compact, peppy Pop/Rock, often fit for instant radio play — the hyper “Freakshow” would be the smart A&R guy’s pick for first single, but “When the Revolution Comes” and “Don’t Tell Me I Missed the War” are also album standouts. The band keeps things interesting by occasionally bypassing that formula for something a little more out of the norm, like the trashy Punk/Metal of “Step On It” or “Summer Day,” which showcases Jaeger’s instinctive guitar approach. While largely enjoyable, Loser of the Year still often sounds “local,” and Huberty’s vocals can be a little over-dramatic, coming off sometimes like that guy from Matchbox Twenty fronting Green Day. But for the most part, Loser of the Year is endearingly honest Pop/Rock free of gimmickry. (MB)
This article appears in Jan 14-20, 2004.