The Say So
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The Say So

Arvada, Colorado, United States | SELF

Arvada, Colorado, United States | SELF
Band Rock Alternative

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"At The Upcoming CD Release Show, "The Say So" Says So"

You could say the Say So kind of sounds like the Killers in the aggressive drums and quick stabs of guitar, or you might say the band calls to mind At the Drive-In in the vocal acrobatics and the way it plays with tempo-changing breakdowns. You probably would not compare it to a jam band. Yet that's exactly how the Say So started out under the moniker En Plein Air.

Now getting ready to release its first record under the new name, the Say So is honing a sound that takes its pop-punk base and applies a certain amount of hardcore sensibility for something that's a little more ambitious, yet still easily approachable. In time for the upcoming CD release show at the Marquis Theater on Friday, Westword caught up with the Say So to talk about maturing musically, changing names and not being ashamed of Boyz II Men.
Westword: How did you guys start out in this band?

Sean Palmer: Well us three--Chris and Robbie and I--have been playing together for about three years. We had a band before the Say So with a few other members, and we kind of just started out as a jam band, and then it progressed into something where we actually wanted to write songs, compose and stuff. So then we changed our name from En Plein Air to the Say So, just kind of to get a fresh start.

WW: When you say you were a jam band, you mean you just weren't composing? You'd just come up with riffs and jam on them?

SP: Yeah, I mean, it was just more of a thing where--I don't know, we were listening to a lot of Umphrey's McGee and stuff like that. And just like everyone, your music styles change, and what you listen to, and we kind of matured musically in what we wanted to do and whatnot.

WW: When you changed the name, was that a conscious effort to get away from that sound, or toward a new sound?

Robbie Spradling: When En Plein Air released that EP, we were already moving into the kind of style we play now.

SP: I mean, you listen to that previous EP that we have, and it's not like completely different. That was kind of the first thing we did with a modern rock-sounding album, and then we just kind of developed after that.

WW: What are you listening to now?

SP: I mean, I listen to tons of different stuff. I think we have bands that we all like to listen to, like Circuit Survive, Emma Rosa, Beyond the Coast. Indie bands, bigger bands--we listen to John Mayer, tons of stuff. I will occasionally pop in Boyz II Men into my car. I'm not ashamed.
- Denver Westword


"The Say So Rocks The Hi-Dive"

What constitutes a real rock show? Arvada locals The Say So can tell you after their show Thursday night at the Hi-Dive. Frequents of local venues such as The Marquis and Herman's Hideaway, it wasn't until Thursday night that these boys finally delivered a genuine rock display of angst, volume and reverberating roar.
The slamming chorus and riffs flowed effortlessly from The Say So, as they seamlessly blended songs from their former album, En Plein Air, tracks off their recently recorded Something Like Wild, and even a cover or two from Damien Rice and Kings of Leon.
They spoke little, other than an introduction of the band after the first song and for the rest of the night they let their music shake their audience.
They managed to have the Hi-Dive packed and their people moving from the get go when they opened with, "Criminal," the first track off of the soon to be released Something Like Wild.
The surging guitar and electric presence of the boys on stage was palpable as the audience moved and clapped along to a range of tunes.
The boys brought out a few songs from their previous record, En Plein Air, including "Your Voice Replaced My Wind" and "What's Been Waiting."
The song "Your Voice Replaced My Wind," begins with a slow build of instrument and sustains circling, aching emotion that was a perfect fit for the enclosed Hi-Dive stage allowing for the intimate expression between themselves and their audience.
Other highlights included the play off of their newest, self-recoded Something Like Wild. "We Were Strangers" details the story of a one night stand, and lines like "We were strangers/ Yet before that night/And then we were lovers until the day broke light" make an eerie bar soundtrack as this situation plays itself out in the seams of the audience.
The band's cover of Damien Rice's "Volcano" was exceptional, largely because of the driving guitar from Noah Fisher, who has no fear of letting himself disappear completely into his instrument.
With his back hunched and his face twisted, his leering guitar revived this song and gave it the angry edge Rice's violin doesn't quite express.
Always a band to persevere, the lead singer Sean Palmer announced at the end of the show that their drummer Robbie Spradling had cut his hand earlier that day, gotten stitches and might at that moment have blood running down his hands. But hey, he was bringing his all to the drum set regardless.
These guys love it that much and they won't be defeated, blood or no blood.
Responsive to their crowd, the boys really heated things up during the encore by de-shirting for the final song.
After inviting up Petals of Spain's Hunter Hall, the band launched in a fiery rendition of "Sex on Fire," with Palmer and Hunter trading off vocals that the had entire audience dancing and shouting along. - DU Clarion


"The Say So- Something Like Wild"

If the Mars Volta carried on the hyperactive, experimental legacy of At the Drive-In while Sparta, the original four-piece's other half, simplified into plain old straightforward rock, the Say So is a band that comes close to splitting the difference. Insistently poppy on first listen, Something Like Wild, the group's first release under its new name (formerly En Plein Air), reveals upon closer inspection a certain angular sensibility — particularly in the rhythm section, which recalls the syncopated, almost fragmented interplay between Sting and Stewart Copeland found in the Police's earlier work. Impeccably and creatively produced — it dabbles, for example, in the kind of occasional stereo manipulation of which Q and not U was fond — Something Like Wild is the work of a band that, if not quite fully realized, has some serious potential. - Denver Westword


Discography

June 2010:
Something Like Wild E.P.

Currently:
Finished "The Romantic," the bands debut full length album (release is pending the bands search for management and record label)

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Bio

Stronger and louder than ever before, The Say So is complete with Sean Palmer on vocals/guitar, Noah Fisher on guitar, Chris Beeble on bass/keys, and Robbie Spradling on drums. Palmer, Beeble, and Spradling met during their high school years in Arvada, CO, and welcomed Fisher in spring of 2009.

The Say So's sound thrives on tight rhythms, textured guitar, and powerful vocals that sound each story the band has created uniquely and with conviction. Their sound has been compared to that of The KIllers, Young The Giant, and Kings of Leon.

In June of 2010 they released "Something Like Wild," the bands first E.P. with their current lineup. With it came local success from having their single "Fools" played on 93.3 KTCL to playing a sold out show in front of 1,300 people. While the band was extremely proud of E.P., they were ready for something bigger and better so they embarked on writing a full length album. They began writing in early fall of 2010 and began recording in the spring of 2011. The album was produced by Andrew Berlin (Rise Against, Stick To Your Guns, Tickle Me Pink) and mixed at the legendary Blasting Room. The record is now complete and will be released pending the bands search for management and record label.