|
Pulse of the Twin Cities Login |
|
If you do not have an account yet
Create One.
|
|
|
Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
|
|
|
|
Friends Like These: Call it a comeback
Friday 27 April @ 13:26:55 |
  by ROB VAN ALSTYNE
With a few of the right breaks, Friends Like These could have been huge by now. A cocksure young rock band with giant buzzing riffs, charisma to burn and a seemingly endless wealth of power pop at their command, the band won pretty much instant love on the local scene and already on the cover of City Pages by July of 2004 in a story chronicling their equal parts hard partying/hard luck East Coast tour. The right breaks, however, never materialized, and the party came crashing to a halt: original drummer Matt O'Laughlin split, singer/guitarist John Solomon found himself in rehab, and the band became mostly inactive for months that stretched into a couple years. Rather than finding a way into the sunset, however, Friends Like These have picked themselves up and soldiered on, and now, nearly three years after the self-release of their four-song EP Deliver Us from Evil, comes another self-released EP of should-be hits, I Hate You, Volume 1: The Greatest Generation.
"It's weird because I'm definitely not one of those people that grew jaded," says Solomon, 28, of his band's tumultuous career thus far. "I'm just not quite as eager and fresh-faced as I used to be. You hear it a million times: Don't get excited when a label talks to you, but you can't help but get excited in those situations, initially. Things have gone wrong on that front for us so many times, though, that it's kind of a joke now. Every time an A&R guy talks to us, they end up getting fired. That being said, I'm not sitting there going 'woe is me' and 'music sucks.'"
Indeed he isn't. What Solomon's been doing in the long wait between EPs has been far more interesting: He's been reinventing Friends Like These and turning it on its head. The six tracks that make up The Greatest Generation hearken back to the FLT of old at points (the kinetic Strokes-ish kick of "Girls Jeans"), but there are also two unexpected ballads, one featuring gospel back-up singers ("Excuses"), the other, gently overdubbed xylophones ("Waking Up"). In another notable departure from standard operating procedure, two tracks feature vocalist/guitarist Adam Switlick tackling lead vocal duties for the first time, revealing a soulful twang as compelling as Solomon's smoother tenor. The EP makes one thing abundantly clear: They're not the Friends Like These of old.
 "If I had my druthers I would have horns and a gospel choir at every show," says Solomon, tongue firmly planted in cheek. "I look at recording as a way to get more in-depth than you could at a show. At times I get a little carried away."
Helping Solomon and his bandmates get carried away was longtime band friend and producer John Hermanson (Storyhill, Alva Star, The Hopefuls). Recorded off and on over the course of a few rough years for the band, Solomon is quick to credit Hermanson with being "the glue" that kept Friends Like These active during dark days.
"Adam and I didn't really spend a lot of time together during recording," admits Solomon. "We kind of gave it over to John. He kept us together when we weren't really hanging out together. We would come in at different times of the day and night and work with John separately most of the time."
Having moved on from that tumult, Switlick and Hermanson are once again band brothers in arms, although Solomon says they remain expert at keeping the band they started together at St. John's University and their personal lives separate entities.
"We can basically go through periods of not liking each other personally and still get along musically," says Solomon. "I can make music on my own; I know that and I feel confident in that. But I know that if I want my music to be 100 percent better than it is on its own, then I should get Adam involved. It doesn't matter if I hate him or love him, if we hang out every day or never see each other. Once you've known someone for seven or eight years, you keep the band separate in some ways from personal stuff. I can be pissed at him up until the moment we head into practice, have a great practice that feels good, and then go right back to being pissed at him on the drive home."
Thankfully, Solomon's emerged on the other side of dark times with his rock band still intact--the group plans to self-release the remaining songs from their recording session on another EP in a few months time--and he's far too self-aware a person to think that his own trials and tribulations in the music business are particularly noteworthy in the grand scheme of things.
"I went on this big WWII history kick recently and it was really fascinating to read about these guys who were my age or younger at the time and out running around saving villages," recalls Solomon. "I mean when you start comparing your own life to that it's like, 'Great, I once played a show where 100 people danced.' It makes you realize what's actually important." ||
Friends Like These play the CD release show for I Hate You, Volume 1: The Greatest Generation on Sat., April 28 at the Turf Club with opening acts The Deaths, Forget Cassettes and The Nightingales. 9 p.m. $5. 21+. The Corner of University and Snelling Aves., St. Paul. 651-647-0486. For further information on Friends Like These visit their MySpace page at myspace.com/friendslikethese.
|
|
 |
|
|
Comments -
Post Comment |
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for its content.
NO comments yet! Be the first!
|
|
|
