Sir Splendid

Recorded and produced by Marcus Barron

By Michael Fortes

The raw, garage sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s are the hip musical references that make for bands like The Raconteurs, The Strokes, The Greenhornes and Eagles of Death Metal. Add San Diego’s Sir Splendid to that list, and someone please fax a memo to Little Steven Van Zandt!

Though a bassist and second guitarist have since been added to the band’s lineup, the sounds heard on Lords & Peacocks are the product of just two individuals. Marcus Barron handles all the guitars, keyboards, recording and production tasks, in addition to providing the album’s often distortion-laden lead vocals. Paul Chandegra meanwhile takes care of drum duties.

While all indications are that Sir Splendid is Barron’s baby, Chandegra’s rhythmic contributions can’t be ignored. The danceable groove he establishes with Barron on “Automatic Sidewalk Action” sets the loose, fun tone for the rest of Lords & Peacocks and keeps Barron’s plea of “All good people gotta get along” sounding less like a sermon and more like the ideal that it is.

Barron’s tendency toward extended arrangements at times creates the illusion of a full, four-piece band jamming in the studio. A fully fleshed out song like “Mr. Sickmeantwister,” for example, has an extended instrumental passage that never overstays its welcome or pretends to be anything other than a fun-sounding opportunity for the band to rock out. And “Curbside Killer,” with its church organ and faux harpsichord outro, sounds like prog on paper, but comes out of the speakers sounding more like a rock band having a blast in the studio.

All this and the single-worthy, riff-driven “Dumb Angel” make for a consistently pleasing, never embarrassing, fuzzy retro affair throughout Lords & Peacocks‘ 51:34 minutes of play time.

http://www.frontparlour.com/February2007/sirsplendid.htm

- Performer Magazine (west coast)

(review from Germany)

Marcus Barron lebt in San Diego, Kalifornien. Mit der Entwicklung seiner Band Square Circle war er so unzufrieden, dass er 2002 unter dem Namen Sir Splendid ein Solo Projekt startete. Mit Unterstützung des Drummers Paul Chandegra spielte er ein Album seiner Songs ein. Das wurde Anfang 2006 fertig und ist nun über die Website der Band (s.o.) erhältlich. Mittlerweile hat sich Marcus wohl auch mit einen Teil der Square Circle Musiker wieder zusammengetan, um die Platte auch live präsentieren zu können. So viel dazu. Die Musik von Sir Splendid ist im weitesten Sinn Sixties beeinflusst, sehr songorientiert und mit ansprechenden, meist eher rockigen Arrangements vorgetragen. Neben Uptempo Rockern hört man aber auch softere, fast psychedelische Klänge. Das etwas kryptische „Cricket Stew Massacre 1748“ ragt hier besonders heraus. „Curbside Killer“ wiederum überzeugt durch ein cleveres Arrangement mit Tempo und Stimmungswechsel bis hin zu einem fast unheimlich anmutenden Geplänkel zum Ende hin, das auf einem Cembalo ähnlichen Instrument gespielt wird. Insgesamt ein abwechslungsreiches Album. 13 Tracks zwischen Sturm und Drang auf der einen und nachdenklicher Besinnung auf der anderen Seite. ***

http://www.twang-tone.de/LP.html - Twang-Bang-Wah-Wah-Zoing! – Das Flyer-Zine - seit 1999

Sir Splendid: Lords & Peacocks

(self-released)

This is a throwback record from a relatively new San Diego project that includes members of Square Circle, Price of Dope and Saturnalia. They’ve got a heavy fascination with 1960s British psychedelia, with chunky guitar riffs that bend, warble and distort around Marcus B’s plaintive whinny of a voice. With Square Circle, Marcus crafted some electronic pop gems, so it’s no surprise that Splendid’s debut is catchy, well done and brimming with promise. www.myspace.com/sirsplendid.

10-25-06

Troy Johnson

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=1154&atype=CDReviews - SD City Beat

2nd-Mar-2007 11:30 am
Sir Splendid show review
Friday, 2/24/07, Honey Bee Hive

show review and pic by Brian LaVallie

I went to the Honey Bee Hive to see Sir Splendid Friday night and came in at the start of their set as they rocked out for about forty onlookers who were swaying and agreeing with Marcus Barron (Vocals/Guitar/Keyboards), Paul Chandegra (Drums), and Christian Schinelli (Bass, Moog floor Organ), as they played selections from the debut album Lords and Peacocks, May 2006, which is the brainchild of Marcus B., who, after his departure from the band Square Circle, which Schinelli also played in briefly as well, played all the instruments and wrote all the lyrics for Lords and Peacocks with the essential drumming of Paul Chandegra. They transitioned between songs smoothly with applause and a thank you from Marcus B. as a film was projected on the back wall and the players were obscured in the imagery for added effect. The trio collaborated to fill the space with melodic minor compositions that reminded me of an edgy Tom Petty that meanders into Beatles, Bowie or even Foo Fighters territory at times while maintaining originality. The changing of guitar and keyboards worked well as Marcus B. occasionally switched back and forth providing harmonizing resonance to the bass and drum foundations that changed tempo with frequent ease producing a complexity of emotion as vocals seem to give good advice or warning of danger. The band was called out for an encore to play their, soon to be classic, My Friend for the finale. Many sang along as Marcus B. sang, “My Friend, is wasted again”, “My Friend likes to pretend” and,” My Friend, is naked again”. Sir Splendid blend well live and are talented musicians, who in rock star fashion, also left with the hottest chicks. They are currently recording a new album titled Sinister Purpose due out this year. http://www.sirsplendid.com. I had intended to see VV Morgue also, who has a female Nine Inch Nails thing going on, and was probably entertaining if she played selections from her myspace page, but lagged waiting for camera batteries to charge. BL

http://reviewermag.livejournal.com/ - REVIEWER Magazine