Streetlamps for Spotlights

Long live rock ‘n roll.

Yeah, I said it. Sometimes we lose sight of what really matters. We focus on the small screen that fits in our coat pocket instead of looking up and seeing that panoramic view that surrounds us 24/7 called the world. We’re in danger of becoming so reliant on others and things to tell us what to think, see and hear that that we’ll forget what it’s like to experience the joy of discovery. The joy of figuring out that “Hey, I like this! I really, really like this! And I could care a less what anybody else thinks. This ‘thing’ makes me happy!”

For me, that’s what rock ‘n roll is. It’s not a genre, or a sub-genre. It’s not a category in Ping on iTunes. It’s just pure, raw emotion put to chords, words and a little blood and sweat thrown in for good measure. Rock ‘n roll is when you get someone’s essence on tape. Played at maximum volume through speakers or headphones, you are let into that artist’s heart and mind. I don’t care if it’s a howling Gibson SG screaming incantations through a Vox at maximum volume, or an acoustic reverberating on a quiet stage as a guy or gal chokes on intimate confessions and long forgotten demons being exorcised in front of a live, coffeehouse audience.

It ain’t how big your pen is, but how you wield it folks.

Streetlamps for Spotlights wield a mighty pen. They wield it in the form of jagged rock ‘n roll. Tight little songs that float along in the analog stream of Jason Davis’ vacuum tube fever dreams. A place where Cheap Trick, Wire and Television had a musical orgy and gave birth to what we hear on Streetlamps for Spotlights two newest singles, ‘After The Bullfight’ and ‘Vultures’. They walk that line between ‘catchy-as-hell-but-rough-around-the-edges’ pop and pissed off post punkers looking to bust their Jazzmaster over someone’s head. SfS, for the most part leave the nooding to the Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd-types. But listening to last year’s single ‘Wake Up’ gives one the impression that Jason Davis can noodle with best of ‘em. The jangle of that Fender tells me SfS should do a one-off show and as an encore play ‘Marquee Moon’ with the help of Mr. Ben Larson, Davis’ bandmate in TIMBER!!!. That’d be a show that would get me out of my slippers and into some well worn-in loafers.

Streetlamps for Spotlights is Jason Davis on guitar and vocals, Jay Hackbush on bass and Ryan Holquist and drums. Davis started this band as something of a break from making local bands sound like a million dollars at his Off the Cuff Sound recording studio. All analog, all the time. There have been different version of SfS over the last few years, but I think this current line up is the one that sounds the most concise. They’re tight, lean and wicked good. Not only is Jason Davis the front and center ‘Streetlamp’, but he also put out the excellent solo album ‘Flatline Movements’ back last spring(Morrison may even have a vinyl copy still of that local masterpiece over at NNN). If you haven’t heard it, for shame. Say seven Hail Marys and get a copy, toot sweet kiddo.

So, ‘After The Bullfight’ and ‘Vultures’ are hot off the griddle. They’re tight, fun, jagged and everything you want in rock ‘n roll. Plus, if you haven’t heard it, check out the Here It Come e.p. on the SfS website. That thing is insanely good as well. Word on the street is a full length 12″ is in the works. Sweet Jesus let’s hope that’s true. Check back here every week and as soon as I hear something, you’ll hear something.

Long live rock ‘n roll and long live Streetlamps for Spotlights.



http://streetlampsforspotlights.bandcamp.com/track/after-the-bullfight

http://www.streetlampsforspotlights.com/media.html - WCYT The Point Blog

" 'Here it Come' redefines garage rock today...or it should." - Riot House Review

"These guys came though again. 'The Room' sounds like a hot summer night at The 40 Watt circa 1986. And the flipside rocks out with a hip flair that melds vintage Violent Femmes and Husker Du with whomever the latest hip underground punk/pop/rock band is." - Ear Candy

"This is the Jam and Television squeezed together like two shades of rock ‘n’ roll playdough." - Ear Candy

"A good ol' fashioned 3-piece garage band with a fondness for unpredictable rhythmic shifts and pop chord progressions." - Intake Weekly

After releasing several 7" singles, Fort Wayne, IN based indie rockers, Streetlamps for Spotlights, have released their debut full length, Sound and Color. The twelve tracks are a grungy and noisy romp through guitar driven rock. The band's classic three piece lineup lends itself perfectly to their sound, giving the album a nice live feel, while not sacrificing studio production quality. A very fine debut album from the band. Stream and buy Sound and Color at the link below. - Floorshime zipper boots

The first thing you notice as you listen to Streetlamps for Spotlights full-length debut Sound and Color is how much these guys love texture. Sometimes it’s subtle, but these textural layers are always present in the songs. Whether it’s in Jason Davis’ guitar work with jagged punches of riffs and noise, or in Jay Hackbush’s solid bass lines keeping things afloat, or Ryan Holquist’s pounding drums going from solid rhythms to full on post-punk explosions -sometimes in the same song- the textures are there. As well as being the 6-string guru of SfS Davis sings over these aural explosions, sometimes like a man on a mission and sometimes like a man looking hopelessly for answers. Always though, with a purpose. Sound and Color is part post-punk manifesto and part grizzled, razor wire pop record. Several singles over the last few years have built up to this statement of musical authority. Streetlamps for Spotlights are ready for their close-up.

This debut makes it perfectly clear that Davis, Hackbush, and Holquist are a force to be reckoned with. “Ready Already” opens the album like an explosion of pissed-off conviction. You can almost see the spittle flying in the air as Davis sings “Are you ready already?!” Musically this is a barbed-wire slash of a song, with noise that would make Sonic Youth(RIP) jealous and salivate. But then gears shift in the great “Right Back”, which turns the previous angst in the album opener into an alternative pop gem. The previously mentioned textures? Yeah, they’re all over this one. “Someday” sounds like Green Mind-era Dino Jr, especially in Davis’ guitar work. Hackbush and Holquist give SfS that very unique, almost metal-like backbone allowing Davis to keep things loose and spacey in the mid-section. “Call it Off” is just a scorcher, with some speaker-melting guitar and Holquist completely abusing the drums.

The truly unique thing about these guys is that they keep the mood just slightly off kilter. Just when you think a song is gonna do one thing it does something else. There’s always this underlying dissonance in the music that keeps it becoming, well, “average” I guess. There’s some amazing interplay between these three players and the songs benefit greatly from Davis’ eschewed view of the universe. Take a track like “Walking”. It’s this at times eerie-sounding track with Davis having a conversation with someone about if he were to just walk away and not come back would they even care, as the song fades with a guitar ringing into space. It’s a great balance between artistic reach and melodic presence in a song. It satisfies all the senses. You don’t get fluff from these guys. Then they follow it up with a bombastic track like “Don’t Worry” which just straight up rocks. And “Damaged”? It wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an early Cheap Trick record. I can only imagine between the three of these guys their influences are quite expansive. They take them all and mesh them quite well, but are subtle enough with them that you can never quite put your finger on who a particular song sounds like. It just sounds like Streetlamps for Spotlights. “Lies” and the wonderful “New Year’s Ball” won’t be mistook for anything but SfS songs. Title track and album closer “Sound and Color” leave us with these words, “Will we still be doing this when we are 60/Same thing we’ve been doing since we were 16.” It’s a sentiment that could be taken more than one way.

Sound and Color is an album that at it’s core is about the hurt of loss; the hurt of losing someone. But around that core is a noisy, jangly, jagged rock n’ roll album that is one of the best to ever come out of Fort Wayne. The trio of Davis, Hackbush, and Holquist swirl noise like Pollock dripped paint. It can be messy and sometimes abstract, but always quite wonderful.

9.2 out of 10 - http://jhubner73.com/