Alternative power trio performing live with melodic songs, blistering performances, considered before their time.

15 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Progressive Rock, POP: with Live-band Production



Details:
It was 1990. An interesting time for music. People were growing tired of some of the pre-fabricated, polished sounds they had been listening to and were searching for something organic again. Grunge was big. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the like were huge. For me, alot of these groups, though I loved them, didn't represent what I wanted to write or produce. I grew up on rock. My mother sat out in the rain for tickets so her and I could see Led Zeppelin at the LSU Assembly Center in 1976. But I was schooled in jazz, "attended" the Berklee College of Music, but could never shake my love of rock and blues. I loved Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, but also artists like James Taylor, folk artists like John Prine, Willis Alan Ramsey, ( a friend and mentor), and because I embraced all these different forms of music, when I began to write, I discovered a natural confusion in my processes. I met and played with Marc Pero early in the year of 1990 and he simply was the best combination of everything I ever hoped to find in a bass player. Incredible ability mixed with a musicality that was rare. It was never all about chops with Marc though he had plenty. And he, like I, loved all forms of music, but were schooled in jazz, his father a jazz trumpeter. It wasn't long after our meeting that he suggested Terence Higgins as our drummer. I went to check him out. 19 years old he was, and though he's matured, at 19, his brilliance, even then, was obvious. The trio was formed. I'm not sure really why we were a trio. It seemed to me just simpler. Easier to get three guys together as opposed to a larger band. I had a handful of tunes and I guess we maybe rehearsed three or four times before we played our first gig: Earth Day at the Art Bar in Baton Rouge. After only a year and a half of being together we were approached by a V.P. from Chrysalis Records who signed us along with Arrested Development, Gangstar, and a hot Atlanta band named Follow For Now. EMI bought Chrysalis in 1992 and before we had a chance to do a record, like so many other bands when these transitions would happen, we were dropped. Some said we were before our time. Bands like Dave Matthews, who we've been compared to, had not yet arrived. Grunge was still big and though we were funky, we weren't as wired and angry as the Chili Peppers. We just didn't fit. We recorded a live record that sonically and vocally for me is more than a little rough, but some of the performances I feel are still pretty blazin. We continued to play, but in 1995, Terence was offered the prestigious drumming responsibilities for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. It was an opportunity and a nitch for him that really showcased all of his subdividing skills. He could stretch out and I still marvel at what he does with that group. Marc now performs worldwide with another incredible New Orleans ensemble called Papa Grows Funk. I opened a studio where I recorded and produced over 75 cd's and three film scores. Recently after running into Terence again, we thought it would be awesome for people to have access once again to the band by making available through CDBaby our entire catalog: the live record, our studio record, Desert Sky, (we recorded at Studio in the Country in December of 1990), and a new record of never before released material. It was some of the last stuff we wrote together and thought everyone should be able to hear. Well, that's about it. All the best to you and thanks for your interest.

Wendell Tilley