Sparkola

When Steve Powers first met Adam Buhler, he had a panic attack and couldn’t play guitar. So the two decided to blow off his audition, get really stoned, and talk about classic rock. Next thing they knew, they were in a band together.

That may be an unlikely story, but Sparkola are a pretty unlikely band. The two principals’ backgrounds couldn’t be more different: Buhler has a high local profile and a growing national one, whereas Powers’s only previous outfit was Plank, who never left the studio. They’re both guitarists, but Powers is a long-time rock guy and Buhler was in a handful of stylish electronic bands. What’s more, after stints with Sirensong, Splashdown, and wife Cynthia von Buhler’s band the Countess, Buhler had never been in a group with a male frontperson. But chemistry is chemistry, and it didn’t take long for the two to figure out that they had it.

It was Powers’s girlfriend Melissa (now his wife) who started pestering Buhler with his demo tape. "She probably asked me about 89 times. I always say no, because we get so many demos at CVB [the label run by Adam and Cynthia]. Usually it’s people who haven’t done any research of what kind of label it is and what kind of music I like. She kept hounding me until I played Steve’s tape — it was pretty rough and ready, but there were some real bright flashes of light in there." More to the point, the two realized they got along. "We shared some things that really aren’t that typical, like an appreciation for classic rock. We also liked to smoke a ton of grass — okay, that’s not so atypical."

You might not pick those influences up from Sparkola’s homonymous debut — for one thing, you probably wouldn’t expect a band who love pot to get through 11 songs in a concise 35 minutes. And despite their professed love for classic rock — for which I can vouch, having spotted Adam at a couple of Yes concerts — Sparkola is a thoroughly modern rock album. In fact, in its way it’s one of the more obvious hits ever to come out of the CVB camp. Credit that partly to Powers’s songwriting, which is smart, catchy, and varied ("Working on It," inspired by the day-job grind and sporting a chorus of "I’ve got my people working on it," settles the question of whether he can write hooks). He also has the kind of rough and grainy voice that rock radio currently loves; and what sound like occasional female back-up vocals are in fact "me doing my sissy falsetto." It’s clear that he could also do the Eddie Vedder/Scott Stapp howl with the best of them — but he gets extra points for refraining.

For his part, Buhler plays bass (instead of his usual guitar) and gets to run wild as a producer, filling the tracks with natural and electronic instrumental details. The intro to the opening track, "Climbing Out Your Window," is a clue as to what the album is all about. The first thing you hear is an acoustic guitar and hand drums, which give it the feel of a Zeppelin ballad; then programmed rhythms and synthesizer jabs break through on the choruses. But whereas Garbage sounded overly clever when they tried a similar trick on their last album, here the idea sounds live and natural, as the programmed band kick in with the energy of a real one. (Drummer Jason Sakos fills out a few tracks; he also plays with Sparkola live.)

"I wanted to mix the classic rock sound with the things I was doing in Splashdown, sort of looking forward and backward at the same time," Buhler says. "I thought that would make an interesting stew, like a new mix of chocolate and peanut butter."

Sparkola actually formed a year and a half ago — around the same time the Countess project took off — and Buhler says he tweaked each of the individual tracks for months at a time. This was easy enough to do, since the whole disc (save the live drum parts) was recorded directly to a Macintosh computer in his living room.

"Even if the music had completely sucked, we would have kept going because we were having such a good time," Powers says. Buhler adds, "We had the Mac, one microphone, a couple of guitars, and many bags of Ted Nugent beef jerky. My personal preference is for sonic density; I like it thick. Everything was done in 24-track, and I made sure to use up all the available space." Powers continues, "We’re such perfectionists that whenever we found one word that didn’t sound great, we’d take it out and redo it until it was right." And Buhler concludes, "I didn’t sleep too much while we were doing it."

The surprise is that old Splashdown fans have been the first to show up at the gigs, even though the music is such a departure. "That’s not what I was expecting, but I love it," Buhler says. "At least, the more open-minded ones came along. The ones that were into the gentler pop side of Splashdown are the ones we probably lost." Buhler is also working on a solo album with various singers, including Melissa Kaplan from Splashdown. But he’s happy to play the Svengali role in Sparkola, letting Powers be th - Boston Phoenix

Go! has been enjoying Sparkola's self-titled debut, a stripped-down rocker of a disc, shot through with fuzzy vocal harmonies and fat bass lines. Tonight music mag The Noise hosts a CD-release party fo the trio at the Abbey Lounge at 9. Also on teh bill the Rudds and LiveSexAct. Cover $7. 3 Beacon St., Inman Square, Somerville. - Boston Globe

There is palpable distinction between bands trying to sound like new versions of the “old” and bands that capture the feel of the old, that they transform into their own style. Boston band Sparkola’s debut, self-titled CD pulls one into a kaleidoscopic swirl of music – trippy, dreamy rock. They meld those twisty atmospheric elements of the past with modern grooves. Sort of unpretentious, uncalculated retro. The band’s formation came about as easily and laid-back as their music feels – vocalist/guitarist Steve Powers was without a band and in a funk. He had material and was looking for a vehicle for it. With the help of his wife, Melissa, his material got into the hands of former Splashdown member Adam Buhler. Though the original intent was for Steve to have a solo project (Adam signed him to Castle von Buhler Records) with Adam producing, Splashdown split and to make a long story short bassist, Adam with Splashdown drummer Jason Sakos naturally clicked with Steve to form the three-piece Sparkola. They recorded a CD, produced by Adam, which has received terrific reviews. This year, however, Adam decided to branch off and do his own thing. An amicable split (Steve has much respect and admiration for Adam and his work) new bass player Nick DeSantis, formerly of The Pincushions and a fan of Sparkola’s, has recently and smoothly fit into the Sparkola lineup. Recently Steve shared a bit of the light that ignites the music of Sparkola.

SoundCheck Magazine: In your bio, it mentions a melding of classic rock with modern rock - was that something you initially intended to do?

Steve Powers: I mean I have a lot of influences and a lot of it just happens to be from those ‘70s bands and some of the ‘80s stuff.

SCM: Like who?

SP: Some of the typical ones that everybody likes, you know, Zeppelin, Beatles. But then you know there’s Cheap Trick and so many other bands that I don’t sound anything like. I like some of these funk bands and I don’t know, like The Commodores and The Temptations. I like a lot of Motown like Smokey Robinson. I just bought a compilation today at Newbury Comics of all the girl groups from Motown. So one second I’ll be listening to that and the next second I’ll be listening to an old Black Sabbath album. It’s just like, whatever music moves me and a lot of different type of music moves. I can listen to disco or James Taylor. I can seem to find something in a lot of different things that move me, as long as the song is good. I have never been into just one style or a couple of styles. It’s always just whatever the song is. If the song has got something that gets me going, then I like it.

SCM: You know, there’s a reason that musicians pull from the past. A lot of people are influenced by music from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and even ‘80s now – do you think something is lacking in music now that people have sort of almost returned to that feel from the past?

SP: Yeah I think something is lacking right now. There’s always a band here and there that’s doing something good but right now, I don’t know, I can’t be sure but it just seems like the music industry is just kind of playing it safe nowadays. One or two bands break through and some record company takes a risk with them and puts the money into them and people get into it and then they see that that works and then it seems like they end up signing a hundred other acts that kind of sound like that band and they just go with that. It seems to work, it’s like a formula and people just seem to eat it up. It’s kind of like what was happening at the end of the ’80s with all the hair metal bands. There were so many bands, like you know like Poison and Winger, and now we have all these rap rock bands, they all seem like the same; they kind of look the same, they kind of move the same on stage. It’s really, just a different style of music but the same type of thing is happening.

SCM: Kind of like the “nu punk,” too – it’s not really like the old punk but somebody starts it –

SP: Yeah, like watered down punk – it’s not the Sex Pistols. Kind of like pop punk. It’s got that crystalclear production. It’s really slick. Kind of watered down so it tastes good to everybody.

SCM: Good, but watery; like there it’s missing a little more flavor. Now you guys definitely do have flavor in your music. I know how I would describe it but
how would you describe it?

SP: Well, I don’t know I’d have to say it’s kind of a new twist to an old vibe. I try to put a fresh flavor into a classic feel. It seems like the people of the past really hit on some really cool things and it seems like some of these bands out there today, maybe they just didn’t hear that music or they don’t care about it; the bands and the music that’s around now, a lot of it anyway, just doesn’t seem to paint a picture for me. When I hear a song I like to have a visual thing.You know what I’m saying.

SCM: I have not seen you live, which I would love to do, but are you able to reproduce wha - Soundcheck Magazine

Sparkola makes it all better. This trio is Steve Powers on guitar and vocals, Adam Buhler on bass, and Jason Sakos on drums, and if you expect these Countess/Splashdown dudes to sound like either of their other/former bands, you'll be disappointed. Think of the aggressive alterna-funk of Gingerbutkis (remember them?) or the rocking ingenuity of Radiohead. Sparkola powers through this, their debut show, with a set of pop/rock songs oozing with fat funky bass and catchy melodies. Standouts are "Marmalade" and "Climbing Out Your Window." When they finish their set, the small but appreciative crowd calls for an encore, and the band, though they look shocked, delivers. It's good old-fashioned musicianship at its finest, and I can't wait to hear more.

- The Noise