Just wanted to let you know you did a great job on your 8 to Watch stories. I don't even have any questions for you (this is rare - I'm a tough editor). FYI, here are the edited versions.
The Alice Rose
by Barrett Brown
After having played together in Austin for some five years, the guys in The Alice Rose finally got around to releasing their first album, {Phonographic Memory}, in 2006. A week later, their track "West" was chosen as NPR's song of the day. They had become, quite suddenly, a national band.
They pulled off the coup in question with local assistance. "The NPR thing came through David Brown of KUT's {Texas Music Matters}," recalls lead signer JoDee Purkeypile. "He really went out on a limb and got us on there, and we'll always be grateful to him for that. We're probably one of the only unsigned bands to have gotten that. One could only wish there were more like him, but there just aren't that many left; people who love music for it's own sake and take a chance."
Aside from Brown's assistance, Purkeypile also attributes the band's sudden success to its members' own penchant for taking chances, this being a creative virtue he finds lacking in the local scene these days. "We've taken risks with our music that [other] bands just don't bother with."
Outside observers tend to agree with the assessment. Jennifer Marchand, who does booking and publicity for a number of prominent area venues, is unreserved in her praise for the Alice boys. "My experience with watching Austin bands is that I find myself filling the holes in my mind as to what the band needs to make them a better act or better sound," she says. "With The Alice Rose, I find no holes, I'm never in want of something else ... there's a balance to their sound, songwriting, and the energy behind it that is very satisfying."
Just as at least a few national critics have done, Marchand goes so far as to link The Alice Rose to rock's most legendary act. "The only band I've ever found myself comparing them to is The Beatles. Initially, I thought it was the fact that the songs were such supremely wondrous shots of energy, with melodies you can't shake. But then I realized it was also the excitement that they inspire with their tunes. I've found myself comparing this excitement to the thrill I had when I first heard The Beatles.
You want to hear more and more, because it just feels so good."
For his part, though, Purkeypile awaits the day when someone will compare Alice to The Band. He cites Bob Dylan and Lightnin' Hopkins as chief influences, while shrugging off widespread assertions that there's something peculiarly English in his band's presentation. Moreover, he eschews any attempt to define The Alice Rose by any particular genre. "We've never been a part of any trend," he says, "other than the one that started 50 years ago when kids started playing rock and roll."
In the wake of an acclaimed performance at last year's South by Southwest, The Alice Rose is now set for its second tour of the Midwest in April, a month after the planned release of its first single. Then, Purkeypile says, the guys plan to cut either an EP or a second album, "depending on how much money falls out of the sky."
Tacks, the Boy Disaster
By Barrett Brown
It can be tough for a new band to break out of the Austin ghetto. But not always. For Tacks, the Boy Disaster, it was easy.
Headed by singer/songwriter/keyboardist Evan Jacobs, a veteran from such local outfits as Midlake and Polyphonic Spree, Tacks put out an album before celebrating its eight-month anniversary. Recorded on borrowed equipment in Jacobs' own home, {Oh, Beatrice} won acclaim from local and national media, including NPR and the CMJ Network, which tapped the group for its popular New York music festival. Last year, the guys went on two
U.S. tours and one in the U.K., where they managed to acquire another record deal and fall in with the successful English indie rock band Cherry Ghost.
Describing Tacks can be tough; one reviewer resorted to likening the group to both David Bowie and the Beach Boys, a characterization that's oddly and amazingly on the mark. "I would have to say that a knack for big melodies and danceable rhythms is something the band can attribute to [Bowie]," says Lev Kuperman, who agreed to manage the band after having "fallen in love" with a demo provided by longtime friend and Tacks guitarist Nathan Stein (also of Brazos). However, he says, "I'd probably say that there's more of a Beach Boys vibe overall in the production, instrumentation and arranging, because unlike Bowie, Tacks doesn't really put the focus on the singer as much as it does the whole group."
It would be hard not to focus on the whole group anyway. As Kuperman notes, "The band is fused of a free-jazz drummer, a dub-reggae bassist, the keyboard player for the Polyphonic Spree who is jazz trained and a guitarist who composes symphonies and plays in three other bands, including another of {
Austin Monthly's} "8 to Watch in 2008." I think that's what Austin is all about."
That being said, founding member Jacobs downplays the influence of the band's local roots on its finished product. "We're not really an Austin band in the usual sense," he says, although he does concede that Tacks is fairly "connected" to other area groups. And, sound aside, the band does share the local product sensibilities. "There's a lot of do-it-yourself mentality in Austin," he notes. "We recorded our album ourselves, and we're going to do the same thing for the next one."
Though self-produced, "the next one" promises to outdo the first, which was recorded after only three practice sessions with guitarist Stein. With its sophomore effort, Tacks is opting to take its time and make full advantage of its newfound cohesion. "We're more developed as a band now," Jacobs says. And, of course, "it's nice to have more time to let the songs percolate."
Melissa Delaney
Editor in chief
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