Music blog

Many fans have asked us what our influences are. It’s a hard question to answer since the list would be very long if we were to address the various past and present influences that have left an imprint on the band. Some are not even musicians! For example, a couple of tours ago, Justin absorbed Carl Sagan books and DVD’s almost exclusively for a month straight, Gabe read mostly Sci fi books by Neil Stephenson amongst others, and during that time I was obsessed with dystopian novels like George Orwells “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” Our individual and collective perception during that tour was profoundly colored by these things. We saw the world from a different stand point and we played through that new unique lens.  

We are all huge geeks and read constantly so we’ll post things about books, authors maybe even artists who’ve influenced at some point. This blog however is about two bands who have absolutely blown our minds. If you don’t know about them already definitely check out the youtube clips below and prepare to have your world changed for the better. They are the Esbjorn Svenson Trio (EST) and The Bad Plus.

EST –  
These guys were one of the biggest influences of one of our favorite bands in the world “The Bad Plus.” Upon their recommendation we had to check them out. They were a piano, bass and drum jazz trio with rock sensibilities, like The Bad Plus. They were huge over in Europe until Esbjorn’s life was cut short in a scuba diving accident. Regardless his music lives on and hopefully some of you will check out his group as they were an instant favorite for us. I personally have listened to their album “Strange Place for Snow” almost everyday since we got home from the road. Specifically check out “When God Created the Coffee Break” and “Serenade for the Renegade”, two very different but powerful tunes from “Strange Place for Snow”. 

Check em out this youtube clip of one “When God created the coffee break”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esbjörn_Svensson_Trio

The Bad Plus
To start, as a band we’ve seen them between 10 and 15 times already. We’ve seen them in NY, Philly, Boston, San Diego and LA. Every time we see them live it’s one of the greatest experiences of our lives. They are primarily a jazz trio but with more of the rocking side than EST. A big part of their commercial success has come from their covers of pop rock tunes like “Tom Sawyer”, “Iron Man” and “Smells like teen spirit.” They take these songs and toss them up and down, experiment with them, play with them, until they found just about the coolest way you can experience it. The way the three of them interact, write and play on their respective instruments is truly transcendental. They take their songs to completely new places every time, and every time it is incredible (mind you I’ve seen them play the same songs multiple times at this point and they never do it the same, not even close). 

The bassist Reid Anderson lays down some of the most solid and memorable bass lines of any bassist I’m into. He also writes most of my favorite of their tunes like “Giant”, a chilled out ballad in 9 that will bring you to tears, or on the other side of the mood spectrum check out “And here we test our powers of observation.” This is the song that got me into them. 

Drummer David King, on top of being one of the most straight up, down to earth musicians I’ve ever met is one of the most fantastic drummers on the planet. You watch him and you feel that he is completely in every note. His playing is off the wall yet in the pocket and never what you’d expect. He knows how to suspend time to the point where you’re wondering if it ever existed, and then when he brings it back full force and you can’t help but laugh out loud at how awesome what he did just was. 

Pianist Ethan Iverson, who handles the mic, is first of all hysterical. Just how the band improvises in their songs he improvises a slightly different story for the songs each time which always has the audience in tears. He is a phenomenal pianist and composer and like his band mates he has a sound that you can pick out a mile away. He often does this thing where he plays as if he’s paraphrasing the line he was going to play but adding a melodic tension to it that makes you see what he’s getting at but also leaves you thinking, “wait what did he mean by that?.” (to obscure? sorry) For me this gives a similar effect to what King does on the drums when he suspends time. When Iverson finally get’s back to the head of the song, or to a more consonant part of a solo you have this amazing release that leaves you awe struck.

They influence us for many reasons but perhaps the main reason for me is that they are an instrumental trio, who plays so honestly, and have such integrity and people everywhere, of all walks of life are loving it. They are the prime example that you can dare to do your art and as long as you stick to your guns you’ll be ok. If you haven’t heard of them, I hope this inspires you to do so. 

Here are a couple of youtube clips that you must check out. 

Here is a cover they do of an Aphex Twin tune called Flim – Check out how drummer David King absolutely tears it up. 

Here is an original called “Physical Cities.” It is unfortunately shorter than the album version but it’s the best sound quality I could get on youtube. 

They are playing Dec 28th – Jan 3rd, Including new years eve @ The Village Vanguard. Check them out! 

John
CTS