Sanctuary Records Week @ Music Spectrum: Better Than Ezra and Acetate

SANCTUARY RECORDS WEEK CD GIVEAWAYS! Win a prize package of CDs from Sanctuary Records. Details below.


American Band Rock: Better Than Ezra’s Live at the House of Blues New Orleans
Live at the House of Blues New Orleans is a live album that really adds something to Better Than Ezra’s discography. Many live albums are fillers in an artist’s contractual obligations, but here on this recording of BTE’s homecoming concert from August 1 and 2, 2003, the listener is given a true education in the rockin’ funk of BTE. For me, Better Than Ezra always seemed to be hit radio darlings, popping up here and there with radio friendly tunes destined for the soundtracks of WB TV shows. Live at the House of Blues shows that there’s so much more to the music made by Kevin Griffin (vocals/guitar), Tom Drummond (bass/vocals), and Travis Aaron McNabb (drums/percussion).

Better Than Ezra has got what a true rock ‘n’ roll band needs: songs that have a nice beat, you can dance to it, great melodies. Yet, the songs are substantive musically than other pop rock bands, templates that can be filled in and added to in a live jam session like the nights caught on this recording. Aided by some tremendous guest musicians, the band comes together to fill in these pop songs with energy, style, and groove. As Griffin yells “kick it” or “bass” after a breakdown section, you’re right there yelling with him, because the anticipation is just about too much as you wait for the band to build that sound back to a rockdown showdown.

Drummond lays down a dance beat rock to begin “Misunderstood” and “Rolling.” There’s a lot of energy coming from his drums, pushing that groove rock hook. The rhythmic soul to Better Than Ezra is punctuated by hearing this live recording, and then also includes the benefit of hearing Griffin talk about it during the extended jam for the closer, “Desperately Wanting.”

Griffin says, “There are two things to master to be in a rock band. It’s so easy, yet so complex. It’s mastery of two principles: the kick-it-up and the break-it-down. It gets difficult, and there’s a lot of equations and analytical geometry to get between those two. We’ve studied. We’ve spent years on the road and the bus figuring these theorems out. We have finally tapped into the juice, the juice of the matter. Right, Tom? So we’re in the breakdown right now. We’re about to demonstrate our mastery of the kick-it-up and break-it-down and transition between the two. Are you ready? Here we go.”

What comes next is the band gradually coming back into the melody and then banging pretty hard through the chorus and one of those extended finishes. However, really earlier in the disc are much better examples of the kick-it-up and break-it-down. The hometown favorite “King of New Orleans” kicks it up like a School of Fish song out of the Guitar Rock section, but then comes the break-it-down. Griffin does a improv jazz, rap-like vocal, vamping on the words, “Break it on down.” Even while this lays out a sweet groove, the anticipation is building for the kick-it-up. Disappointingly, the break-it-down includes a rather understated bass solo, but then they’re finally ready to kick-it-up again for a final chorus.

That rap-sing thing found on “King of New Orleans,” and even more so on “Good” and “Extra Ordinary.” Griffin’s style here, along with the balance you get from all parts of Better Than Ezra, places them at the end of the American Band Rock section, near others who employ groove, funk, and rap-sing in their rock ‘n’ roll style—Barenaked Ladies, Wes Cunningham, and Jason Mraz. However, perhaps rap-sing isn’t the best way to describe what Griffin is able to do. It’s more like he’s singing with the dance beat groove, adding the vocals like another part of the rhythm section.

Live at the House of Blues is a top-heavy disc, the first half being stronger than the middle ground. BTE revs it up a bit more for “Sincerely, Me” and “Desperately Wanting.” The disc then actually closes with two bonus studio tracks, perhaps anticipating Before the Robots, the new studio album due next month from Artemis Records. Of those studio tracks, “Stall” finds more of the kick-it-up and break-it-down mastery, groove-heavy, dance rock guitar breaks, and shining chorus. “Cold Year,” though, drives ahead like an Emo rocker without the groove highlighted in the live disc.

“A Lifetime,” the new single from Before the Robots, lands in the middle of the middle ground of Live at the House of Blues. As the press release from Artemis even says, “‘A Lifetime’ is shaping up to be the graduation song of the year.” Well, of course, it is. The first line is, “I woke up, 8 AM, graduation day.” The song is being released in April. So, of course, it will make a perfect graduation theme song. However, beyond being anthemic, the song comes dangerously close to spinning off into pop pap. A break-it-down section saves it from this, and McNabb’s inspired drumming leads the way, grooving the graduation march.

Having said the disc is top-heavy, let’s go back to the third song. The intro of “Good” jumps out from the bluesy end of “Misunderstood.” McNabb kicks it off, and then Griffin and Jim Payne wail on their guitars over the once again catchy rhythm. That intro section is the part that hit radio DJs tend to talk over, missing where the song truly begins. Without the history of the song, without knowing the origins of the rhythm and energy, we’re destined to let pop music repeat itself—leaving us with pop lyrics of no substance, pop tunes with no energy, and nothing new. If you’ve gotten to know Better Than Ezra in the history-less world of hit radio, cue up “Good,” let the guitars wail, sing along to a great song, and then know why it all can ramp up everyone to “shake it.”

Thank you to Better Than Ezra, and the Sanctuary Records Group for the review copy.


Guitar Rock: Acetate’s This Band Makes Me Feel
The title of Michael Azerrad’s book, Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991, puts into words what so many fans often feel—that everything a band says in their songs, everything a band puts into their music, and even everything about a band’s persona is akin to their own life. Acetate’s new album is titled from the fan’s perspective, too. This Band Makes Me Feel like cranking up the volume. This Band Makes Me Feel nostaglic for classic rock riffs. This Band Makes Me Feel as if I was sitting with them during their garage jam sessions. This Band Makes Me Feel love’s passion, a party’s excitement, a street corner’s downtown cruisin’ life, and a blues club’s sexual loneliness. This Band Makes Me Feel like having a beer, sitting in the garage, thinking about working on the car or some such thing.

Acetate’s ability to make us feel comes from being longtime friends who are rock ‘n’ roll fans wanting to make rock ‘n’ roll and having the chops to do just that. Like old high school pals, Dave Schools (Widespread Panic, Stockholm Syndrome) on bass guitar and vocals, Kevin Sweeney (Hayride, Sunshine Fix) on guitar and vocals, and Ben Mize (Counting Crows, Cracker) on drums and vocals, cranked out their DIY rock from Schools’ basement. Friends can make music for each other, and that band will make themselves feel the excitement, energy, and passion of the music. But it takes friends who are also accomplished artists to make music that will make others feel these things. The “me” of the title, then, isn’t just Schools, Sweeney, and Mize. The “me” can be “you” when you let this disc spin.

As they sing, “Can’t You Can’t You,” there’s a little bit of Brady Bunch pop there, a fun rock song that makes a summer companion for a drive, the beach, or a picnic, with a guitar solo that’s all classic rock. “Things Goin’ Down” opens with a ZZ Top double guitar attack on a blues rock. That blues rock sound also comes on “Captain Bringdown.” The vocals aren’t quite a true blues rock growl, but they reach back to find as much gravel as they can muster. Still in that blues vein, “Balance” finds Clapton’s voice combined with handclaps, backbeat, and a really tender melody.

“Jacob’s Ladder” features the more Garage Rock side of things with the band pushing ahead on the tempo pedal. While not the same sound, it evokes the same feeling of Boston’s guitar solos, a little raucous but mainly uplifting the higher tones of the melody line. “Pungeoned Again” and “Time to Let You Go” growl even more from that garage sound with a harder edge while still letting the vocal harmonies lead the way.

As with many Garage Rock bands (e.g. Gin Blossoms, Soul Asylum), Acetate pays homage to Country with their country-leaning “I’m in Hell.” It’s a little appreciation of the slightly rebellious country coming from bands like the Jayhawks or Son Volt.

Thank you to Acetate and the Sanctuary Records Group for the review copy.


Sanctuary Records Week CD Giveaways!
From April 22-27, there will be chances to win Prize Packs courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group and Music Spectrum.

Today’s Prize Pack:
The Doobie Brothers’ Live at Wolf Trap and Reggae Pulse (Various Artists)
Pack will include a Music Spectrum bumper sticker.

Grant from Indiana won the prize pack when he emailed me with the name a band (ZZ Top) mentioned in these reviews besides Better Than Ezra or Acetate.

Thank you to the Sanctuary Records Group, Rough Trade, Gigante Media, and Special Ops Media for the review copies and giveaway CDs for Sanctuary Records Week.