Sorry About Tomorrow

Emotional rollercoaster: From quiet reflection to primal screams, Sorry About Tomorrow delivers on its new album

When most bands break up, they cite the tried-and-true reasoning of "creative differences." But for the boys of local group Sorry About Tomorrow, their conflicts are what keep them together.

"Most bands breakup for creative differences," guitarist Nick Duran says. "We thrive on it."

Sorry About Tomorrow is a relatively new act on the Vegas scene, just now finishing up its first year. But it's been a successful, productive year for the genre-splicing quartet, which will celebrate the release of its first full-length CD, The Sketch Diaries, May 23 at the Huntridge Theatre. For these four young men, playing at the Huntridge is the culmination of a shared dream, and the reward for pouring everything they could -- emotionally, musically and physically -- into the year leading up to this moment.

The band that is now known as Sorry About Tomorrow has actually been together for a few years, ever since Duran, drummer Roger Pikrone, and bassist Radley Griego first came together to knock out some heavy original music. Vocalist Mike Otto was a friend who also was around in the beginning -- he actually helped write one of the band's first songs before he ever joined the band -- but wasn't too keen about the early incarnation's Slipknot-like sound. Eventually, after the band tried out different singers who didn't work, and after Otto tried to find a band more suited to his hardcore influences, Sorry About Tomorrow finally came together, bound by the different styles of its members. Coming across equal parts emo, hardcore, metal and pop, the formula that worked best for SAT was having no formula at all.

"Every band that we encountered in town sounded like somebody on a major label," says Otto. "So we were just kind of like, 'Let's just incorporate the kind of music we like, and try to make it work.' What we try to do is bring hooks when we can, without compromising the integrity of the music."

The Sketch Diaries is a solid album, featuring SAT's precise musicianship and Otto's moving, whimper-to-a-scream vocal delivery. But to truly experience the emotional depth of the music, one must see the band live, where none of the performance outside of the music is rehearsed. Songs like "Absence" and "This Door To Remain Unlocked During Business Hours" bring the emotion of real-life experiences to the front, where both the band and the audience can lose themselves in the music's power. One of SAT's most poignant songs, "The Difference Between Monsters and Heroes," was inspired by a solemn personal experience of Otto's. He found the ailing mother of his best friend dead in her bed and had to be the one to make the calls to her son and daughter.

"It always draws tears," Duran says. "That's a hard song to play, because we can't watch BJ [Otto's best friend] and his sister and all of the friends in the crowd because they start crying, then you get all choked up and forget what you're doing."

Joining SAT at its CD-release party will be Bent Valve, Sad Machine, Pale Grey and Stillframe, the first three of which have joined SAT in a gambit to create a little unity in the Vegas scene. These bands, along with others as diverse as the Loud Pipes and San Diego's the Abuse, have formed a loose collective known as the Robot Army. The bands cross-promote each others' shows, play together often, share mailing lists, and are in the process of putting together a compilation CD l.

Sorry About Tomorrow, Bent Valve, Sad Machine, Pale Grey, and Stillframe play the Huntridge Theatre on Friday, May 23, at 7:00 p.m. There is a $7 cover charge for this all-ages show. For more information, call the Huntridge Theatre at 702-678-6800.

Pj Perez is a local freelance writer. He can be reached at indievegas@hotmail.com.






- PJ Perez