Follow the Train. . .LUCE, Viv, and Rob Hotchkiss

You’ve got to follow the Train to see all of the connections in this music. . .

Megan Slankard
Back in February, I reviewed Megan Slankard’s A Little Extra Sun, a nice Folk-influenced American Rock sound produced by Adam Rossi.


LUCE
Adam Rossi is a member of the band LUCE, and so I promptly got a hold of their most recent release, Never Ending (co-produced by Rossi and lead vocalist/acoustic guitarist Tom Luce). Songs like “From the World of the Lonely” have an organic Folk-influenced American Rock sound with a little groove from the piano and horn section. That organic folk rock sound is where you start to pick up on the Train connection, but you got to go to Counting Crows first.

LUCE’s drummer is Steve Bowman who was originally with Counting Crows. There’s certainly a Counting Crows influence in LUCE’s sound as the folk side of things meets a rock groove. You can also hear later Wallflowers in “Buy a Dog,” a rather cheesy lyric but it causes you to rejoice in a friendship/relationship like smelling charcoal lighter fluid. That smell may make you think of environmental concerns, and yet, you can’t help the nostalgic feeling for spring picnics in the park. Same with “Buy a Dog.” The lyric may make you feel self-conscious about its cheesy, happy-go-lucky dreams, but still you’re nostalgic for the celebration of a relationship.

I also hear a jazz-groove jam on “Amsterdam” carried by an undercurrent of acoustic guitar and tambourine shake perfect for a swagger walk down the sidewalk. Earlier PFR vocal sounds appear on “Interlude One.” “The Sweetest Smile” brings out the Better Than Ezra jam sound, while the little bit of twang on “Fortunately, I” conjures up that Train sound (more on that soon). This leads me to think that LUCE’s sound is best described as Train with a heavy dose of Better Than Ezra.

The guitar licks that launch the songs are more interesting than the songs with the full sound going on. In the end, songs like “Worth the Wait” end up glossing over the lick that has plenty of potential to jam.

OK, here’s the update: Megan Slankard produced by Adam Rossi member/producer of LUCE. Rossi is also the producer of. . .


Viv
Adam Rossi started doing some producing and guest musician work with Viv, so their CD showed up in the mail, too. Flawed has some of that same organic, Folk-influenced Rock, follow the Train sound, although songs like “Friends” really spin the jam towards a skate punk flavor—sort of like Folk rock with attitude.

“Friends” came to my ears on a particularly hard day, and the chorus certainly chimes out an encouraging message: “I know by now/My soul’s in danger/Of being drowned/I’ve got good friends/That keep me alive/When I feel dead.” Surrounded by Christian brothers and sisters who encourage me through the words of God, they certainly have kept me alive through the storms.

The twangy groove of the title track leads us through a lyrical story that goes in disparate directions, but when the Train sound shows up for the chorus, there’s the grace-filled line: “You’re basically alright/A little flawed but that’s OK.” Isn’t that what Jesus has said about each of us? “You’re flawed, but that’s OK, I love you anyway.”

The drum loops pick up “Shine,” and it’s that sampling quality that gives the track its energy to pull out a fuller rock sound by the end with even a little chiming guitar a la the Edge.. In fact, the sampled sounds that launch “Friends” are similar to Rossi’s production work on LUCE’s “From the World of the Lonely,” “Buy a Dog,” and “Worth the Wait.”

So with Viv, the Train has definitely pulled into the station, and you can see how I’m following the Train right to the next CD in the package. . .


Rob Hotchkiss
Now here’s the real Train connection—Rob Hotchkiss, a founding member of Train. He’s connected, because he’s written some songs with Tom Luce. Hotchkiss introduced Charlie Colin, also formerly of Train, to Luce, and so Colin has co-written some songs with Luce (with even more coming soon). Then there’s Steve Bowman, formerly of Counting Crows, drumming now with LUCE, and a part of Hotchkiss’ band for his most recent album, Midnight Ghost.

While obviously Hotchkiss is going to bring a lot of Train sound to his solo work, it’s hard to remember that he wasn’t the lead singer for his former band. His lead vocals recall a lot of Patrick Monahan, but overall, Midnight Ghost returns to the earlier Train before the pop gloss started to ooze.

Hotchkiss mentioned in an interview that Crowded House/Neil Finn is not a conscious influence, but the Finn brothers’ R&B-flecked folk-influenced rock shows up on “Stay.”

“Midnight Ghost” is like a 70’s folk rock/classic rock collage, recalling Neil Young, the Eagles, Gordon Lightfoot, and James Taylor. It’s a lovely driving song, picked up by a banjo-like mandolin pluck.

The more rocking tone of “Evangeline” is a song in the tradition of Matthew Sweet’s “Evangeline,” a song that seems to struggle with the love for a woman who is obviously setting her heart on other, higher things. For more rocking Train, go to “Try,” a twist on Lennon’s “God” and U2’s “God (Part II).”

Thank you to LUCE, Viv, Rob Hotchkiss and Joe’s Music for the review copies and help with this article.