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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Cowboy Curtis: Feel good hit of the winter
Wednesday 24 January @ 14:30:04 |
  by NATHAN DEAN
Adulthood is never easy. The real world demands of paying rent, starting families and establishing a "career" have broken the spirits of many a formerly fancy free twentysomething as the clock pushes closer to 30 than 20. Unsurprisingly, this quarter-life crisis time period has taken the lives of many a quality local band. That's why it's so heartening to see a band like Cowboy Curtis, a group that's managed to weather the transition from high school to college and now the real world not only intact, but still palpably excited about the chance to make music together—even if it's only once a week after work rather than twice a day in between classes.
 "We used to try and play gigs multiple times in a week and just practice all the time," recalls guitarist/keyboardist Jake Hanson while sitting in a booth at the Dinkytowner surrounded by his bandmates: brothers Nate (drums) and Neal Perbix (vocals/guitar), bass player Ethan Sutton and Sutton's infant son Finn. "We were always constantly at work on it. Now it's kind of like we get together when we can, which is less often, and work on new songs when we get around to it. If you talk about it, it sounds kind of depressing. Growing up can be hard on a band. You do wonder about how to keep it going sometimes."
 "It's just different," admits vocalist/guitarist Neal Perbix. "I mean, Jake and I started this band in my mom's basement, playing a jam in E for four hours straight—and it was awesome every single time. Now it's hard because we all have different commitments."
Thankfully all these commitments didn't stop Cowboy Curtis from releasing their long awaited sophomore album this fall. Appropriately, 35 Summers feels like the more mature companion to its predecessor, Observations/ Assumptions. The same ingredients that made Cowboy Curtis' debut such infectious listening are present: electric guitars that veer between winsome early-R.E.M.-styled jangle and thunderous pop-punk crunch while not afraid to make use of the occasional effects pedal; playful electric keyboard fills à la local forebears 12Rods; the dexterity to go for the rock 'n' roll jugular one instant only to turn around and hypnotize with a pensive minimalist ballad the next.
 It's only logical that some of 35 Summers' keyboards are reminiscent of the Rods' sound as at least a few of the parts were played by former Rods and current Halloween, Alaska keyboardist, Ev Olcott, who lent his production and engineering skills to the record alongside fellow veteran Matthew Foust of Love-cars. All of the band but Sutton, an Illinois native, grew up idolizing the likes of Love-cars and 12Rods, and the chance to work with their former heroes as peers and glean veteran insight from them in the process still has the group giddy. "Ev and Matt Foust have been huge sources of support for us," says Hanson, who joined the lineup of Halloween, Alaska on guitar shortly after recording on 35 Summers wrapped. "We went in with this batch of tunes for 35 Summers and demoed them and they said right off the bat that we were on the right track. If we didn't have those guys in our corner it could have been more discouraging. When we were younger coming up we would go see their bands and felt like, 'Hey, these guys know what they're doing.' To be on the end of playing music that they want to be involved with has been really rewarding."
The key differences lie in the emotional palette of 35 Summers' lyrics. The tendency toward wistful melancholia that occasionally surfaced on Observations/Assumptions was often tempered with more tongue-in-cheek moments, but here it's the dominant mode of operation. Perbix's obtuse lyrical ruminations on the slow fade of youth remain consistently evocative, particularly on the gossamer-guitar-lined "Jason" and the cathartic, groove-intensive "Boys and Girls."
Even as Perbix's lyrical subject matter increasingly seems to focus on the dissolution of relationships, it's clear from the hour I spent in the company of his band that the bonds connecting the Cowboy Curtis crew are of a far sturdier type.
 "We're all best friends in this band," offers Hanson, who has made music with Neal for more than seven years. "If we weren't working together on new tunes or rehearsing for a show we would probably all be together anyway watching 'Star Wars' at Neal's house. It's great because if we get together and the music isn't coming together that particular night we're still having a good time, whereas if it was a situation like that with a bunch of strangers I would be like, 'Don't waste my time.'"
Although 35 Summers was only released this past September, it was recorded back in March of 2005 and various factors delayed its release; at this point the band members have already moved on to their next effort.
"We have about seven tunes that are pretty much done and we're starting to play a few of them out," says Hanson. "There's a handful that are really great and I wish could have been on 35 Summers."
"The songs are a little darker but I like them," says Neal of the batch of tunes the band's currently working up. "It's kind of like the feel good hit of the winter. The Gorillaz released the feel good hit of the summer, we want to put out the feel good jams of mid-February." ||
Cowboy Curtis play on Sat., Jan. 26 at the Uptown Bar with Seymore Saves the World and These Modern Socks. 9 p.m. $6. 21+. 3018 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls. 612-823-4719. For more information on Cowboy Curtis check out their official website at cowboycurtis.com.
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