It simply makes you want to move.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Modern Rock, POP: Pop/Rock



Details:
Donât let the first track from Bixby Laneâs sophomore effort CD âUsâ fool you. Though it may sound like it, theyâre not an emo band. Itâs not that theyâre fickle, they just have a wide range of musical influences to draw from. Influences ranging from The Beatles to Miles Davis to Radiohead create the bandâs pleasurable mix of pop and rock.

Guitarist Jeff Viets describes: âWeâre a rock band at heart. We make rock music and try to give our audience something to dance to.â Just take a look at the bandâs danceable opening track âThatâs Over Nowâ. A clever title to a song that appears first on a CD. This tune grabs you like a hook to a fish complete with a mimicked Fall Out Boy proclivity in the vocals. Canât be for sure but it seems to me if youâre taking âThatâs Over Nowâ too seriously youâre missing the point? âExactly!â says trumpeter/guitarist/lead vocalist John Wirt. âI love the emo bands out there right because it totally reminds me of this new generationâs adaptation of the âhair bandsâ that were big when I was growing up as a kid. Weâre not an emo band by any means but this song just sort of wrote itself one night and we thought it would be entertaining. The song is completely as serious as it is not serious. The spiteful nature of the lyrics definitely shouldnât be taken to heart.â

The second track on the CD âIâll Not Stand in the Wayâ shifts almost 180 degrees from the first track. Instead of a blazing sawtooth keyboard lead and an up tempo beat, this songs starts with just voice and piano. âItâs a lot for the listener to take in,â says bassist Rick Willoughby. âWe just didnât want to pigeon-hole ourselves into saying âokay weâre only going to play this kind of musicâ or âweâre only going to play that kind of musicâ. We all listen to so many different styles of music and find an appreciation in all of it.â

The band unquestionably wears many hats. âSometimes,â says drummer Giuliano Mingucci, âwe prefer to show our jazz influences as in songs like Miss Construed and The Top.â This brings us to the other lead vocalist/keyboardist/pianist and composer of the aforementioned songs, Jeremy Watson. âJohnâs style of writing and my style of writing are comparatively different,â says Watson, âbut we certainly meet somewhere in the middle.â

The drums and piano on this disc were recorded by Eric Summers at Berry Music Group in Kansas City but the rest of the CD was recorded and mixed by the bandâs own Giuliano Mingucci who spent hours upon hours at the mixing board to get the sound just right. âItâs a good thing that I donât charge these guys by the hour!â says Mingucci. The CD was then mastered by audio engineer Don C. Tyler in Los Angeles, CA whose roster includes The Barenaked Ladies, Beck, James Blunt, and The Rolling Stones among scores of others. The striking art on the CD was created by Bill Phelan.

The new disc also features a string quartet in the mix. âThis was a new step for us,â says Viets. âMaybe weâll start leaning more in this directionâ¦who knows?â Right now the band is quite focused on where theyâll lean in the future. But theyâre also in the nowâ¦in the moment. And they hope youâll come along too, on a ride where all are welcome.