Sea of Air

Inherent to the notion of "classic rock," as defined by your average Hendrix and CCR-obsessed radio station, is nostalgia, datedness, naïveté. You know what? Fuck all that. Los Angeles fivesome Sea Of Air live in the 70s and the now simultaneously, totally upending that idea that bluesy, progged-out guitar rock is the exclusive province of balding cover bands and disconnected coke fiends. You never heard electricity sound so electric as when Sea Of Air's fully plugged in. Which is always.

Could that be the heartland you hear in Sea Of Air's ragged vocal harmonies and best-bar-band-in-the-world riff rockin'? Yeah, you could have predicted that the men of Sea Of Air all hail from a place like Columbus, OH. Growing up with dudes from Early Man, Mouth of the Architect, Deadsea and Teeth of the Hydra, it's a wonder they shunned metal so effectively. There's a different kind of heaviness at work in Sea Of Air's janglified rumble-rock sound though. Heavy jams. Heavy psychedelics. Even some heavy cowbell.

The ass-shake factor in Sea Of Air's music is perhaps too purposeful to believe that the band was born from that most casual of circumstances, the L.A. jam session. Believe it. In fact the band's sort of a jam session itself. Bassist/vocalist Matt Reed played in various punk bands before co-founding the violently great record label OvrCast Records. Lead guitarist John Konesky moonlights in comedy rock quartet Trainwreck and frickin' Tenacious D. Rhythm guitarist Matt Leaver was once in the shambling Midwestern indie rock band Tiara. Drummer Josh Reed formerly bashed in aforementioned battle metal merchants Teeth of the Hydra. And Tim Ramage, master of the keys and the final Sea of Air member to waft towards the gold coast, used to split ears with experimental hardcore bands Remingtin, Beta Roric and The Lack, as fantastic as they were obscure.

What began as a bunch of dudes messing around in a practice room became a bunch of dudes messing around properly on stage – actually a downtown L.A. skate ramp, where Sea Of Air played their first gig in November 2007, with fellow SoCal psych-rockers Earthless and Green & Wood. And the gravy train just keeps on chugging for Sea Of Air. If for some reason you can't catch 'em playing out this Fall, know that they've captured all the crackling energy and glorious everything-all-at-onceness of their live shows on the new 5 Mountains Loud demo, recorded by the band themselves. Retro-rock? Please. Sea Of Air make burly, bluesy SEX music with balls and solos and sweat. And surely that kinda thing transcends time.