ABC Pick
Stellastarr*, Editors, The Mobius Band
Thursday, April 6, 40 Watt Club
originally published April 5, 2006
Ami Barwell
Editors
Editors has been called "Britain's gloomiest band," and that probably isn't a title most bands would want. But Editors drummer Ed Lay isn't complaining about his band's lot in life at the moment. And who can argue? Editors' debut album, titled The Back Room, has now topped 250,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom since its release there last July.
That success has not gone unnoticed, as The Back Room has just been released stateside. "We know there is a little bit of hype around us at the moment, but we've never had that in the U.K.," Lay says. "We were never the darlings of the music press. We kind of made our reputation by playing live and improving on our performances as the years have gone by. So the buzz that we've got here seems to be a direct reflection of the hard work we did back home."
Editors' gradual rise on the English music scene began about five years ago when Lay, Tom Smith (vocals/ guitar), Chris Urbanowicz (guitar) and Russell Leetch (bass) met as students. It wasn't until summer 2003, though, that they moved into a house in Birmingham and started the band in earnest.
The band's sound, while as dramatic and striking as that of U2 or Coldplay, doesn't aim for the same grandeur and warmth that often characterizes the music of those two groups. Instead, songs like "Munich," "Blood," "All Sparks" and "Bullets" all have an edgy, almost brittle sound - the product of angular melodies built around chiming guitars, tense, tightly coiled rhythms and Smith's monotone vocals. The darkly hued atmosphere that shines through in the Editors' music has earned the group plenty of comparisons to the moody music of Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division and The Cure, making the group's co-headlining tour of the States with Stellastarr* [see feature] one of spring's cooler pairings.
Alan SculleyABC Pick
Billy Currington, Brantley Gilbert
Thursday, March 6, Georgia Theatre
originally published April 5, 2006
Billy Currington
Billy Currington is the good-natured singer-songwriter who put Rincon, GA, on the map. Nowadays he’s much more likely to be found on Music Row in Nashville, where he moved, made a name for himself, and now records, signs publishing deals and generally plots his enviable career, with two enjoyably contemporary country albums on stalwart Mercury Records.
He’s a good-lookin’ fella, this Currington, and he’s blessed with a fine voice that works in both rootsy country and pop-rock formats. But the former construction worker is polite, down-to-earth and a just a tad embarrassed about the hoopla over his sex appeal. But it was, after all, a 2004 Shania Twain video that really brought him to prominence. The marketing-savvy pop-country siren made two versions of her song “Party For Two” - one for pop outlets and one for country use. The successful one featured our boy Billy and the other one featured Mark McGrath, that doofus from Sugar Ray. The rest is history (at least in Rincon). And it’s all thanks to Currington, saddled with slobbering adoration from fans for both his body and his talent. Poor guy. Oh yeah, and he appeared in Playgirl early last year.
“I remember gettin' a call from the publicity guy at the label,” he recalls. “He said Playgirl had seen some pictures of me and they wanted to put me in the magazine. At first, I was like, ‘No way,’ y'know? As a kid, growin' up, you think of Playgirl as something that's not good… But I talked it over with 'em and I thought about it. I didn't have to get nekkid or anything, so I said, ‘Why not?’ and I did it.”
Of course, were he a Bond girl or Debbie Gibson, the tasteful spread would've been career suicide. But the toned tunesmith released his second album Doin’ Somethin’ Right in October - and danged if it’s been even more successful than his debut.
Lee Valentine SmithABC Pick
Little Feat
Sunday, April 9, Melting Point
originally published April 5, 2006
Little Feat
Jazzy/ bluesy/ fusion rock band Little Feat isn't only one of rock’s longest running touring bands (nearly 30 years total), but also one of the few that has been able to sustain a consistently loyal following after losing its frontman. Sure, the sounds will always be missing the gruff howl and sharp slide licks provided by late vocalist-guitarist Lowell George, but today’s version is no cheap nostalgia act, either.
The current lineup now features guitarist Fred Tackett, bassist Kenny Gradney, percussionist Sam Clayton, guitarist-vocalist Paul Barrare, original members Richie Hayward (drums) and Bill Payne (keyboards), along with relatively new recruit Shaun Murphy. The addition of female vocalist Murphy, a step up from the previous George sound-alike Craig Fuller, is a welcome breath of fresh air harking back to the days when George and a young Bonnie Raitt used to pair up on the mic.
Much of Little Feat’s recent recorded output has been of the live variety; so much so, in fact, that the band now offers purchasable downloads of recent shows at www.LittleFeat.com. The members also began the Barnstormin’ Live series in 2005 and have since released two volumes that dig beneath the surface to rejuvenate such deep cuts as George’s “Roll Um Easy” and “Six Feet of Snow,” as well as tackling such familiar standards as “Dixie Chicken” and “Sailin’ Shoes.” For those who, in the band’s own words, “still ain’t had enough,” Sirius Satellite Radio recently launched “Feats at 5,” a weekend show that features nothing but You Know Who.
Though on a smaller scale, Little Feat seems to have taken the Grateful Dead model of self-sustainment and run with it. The fact that the bandmembers still get a rise out of their well-tread back catalog, while notching up a few surprises, is reason enough to give the not-so-worn-out Feats a go.
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