The Year of Acceleration

The Year of Acceleration may be the biggest band in Tucson. Not in terms of popularity--though they are plenty popular, especially with what we in "The Biz" call "the ladies"---but I'm talking about their sound here. The band sounds as if it were lifted straight from '80s-era Sire Records, all hugely chiming guitars and reverb-heavy dramatic vocals lifted from the Bono playbook ("tragedy" is sung "tragedaaaay"). And while that may be the case with 85 percent of the bands currently taking to stages across this vast country of ours, the fact is that Year principals the O'Gorman brothers have had a similar sound for years now (pun intended), way before The Killers and The Bravery were bitch-slapping each other in the press. The blueprint for The Year of Acceleration's sound was forged in White Chrome Splendor, the Stephen Baldwin-approved, U2-influenced band that the brothers formed, oh, I'd guess about a decade ago. They were '80s in the '90s, when it was still cool to crap on the '80s. They've always had an arena-huge sound, and with The Year of Acceleration they've added darker elements à la The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen. And now that trends have caught up with them, The Y of A seems to be far more accepted than WCS ever was. More power to 'em for sticking to their guns. - Tucson Weekly

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The Year of Acceleration
Used To Have a Life
(self-released)
By Serene Dominic


Nov 9, 2006
If Las Vegas can have its homegrown Britpop, why not Tucson? The Killers acclimated us to Yanks and synths again, but The Year of Acceleration is here to say, "What about surliness and passionate songs about the sun never shining and prescription medicine, then?" This is no ironic re-creation of a bygone sound, but exactly what you'd have expected from any puffy-sleeved Europoppers featured in the pages of The Face — so much so that we had to check the skimpy bio to see if these blokes had actually time-traveled and relocated to the desert. But they are homegrown, and the darlings of both garage-band and the NME. The band's stunning self-released debut cracks nary a smile — that'll be your job once you're seconds into "Can I Die To This," the kind of resignation slip that both erotic asphyxiation experimenters and intentional chair kickers can admire. On anyone else's album, a song called "Seaside Lips" might be a reason to smirk, but these guys pull out all the moody spots. You can even imagine the video: singer Christopher O'Gorman slow walking on a beach, moaning about the mouth he misses, the band inexplicably whooshing and swooshing without amplification behind him along the waterline. Then, O'Gorman starts screaming as synchronized waves crash against the whole band, which is still treating it as just another outdoor gig. And somewhere behind the camera, a director wonders where he can work in his signature, slow-motion milk-bottle-crashing shot. - The Phoenix Times

Check out the Concert Review of The Year of Acceleration's show with 'She Wants Revenge' and 'OK GO' at the Rialto Theater at 'Garageradio.com' by clicking the following link:

http://www.garageradio.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1453 - GaradeRadio.com

Black Sheep; Black Cats and Ballyhoo: Interview with The Year (of Acceleration)

“We’re the black sheep of this bill—but we’re going to win them over!” The Year (of Acceleration’s) lead singer Christopher O’Gorman is talking to me over pre-show cocktails at Che's Lounge; the “them” he’s referring to is the audience of The Fetish Ball gig they are co-headlining with an industrial band called Sin Machine at The Rock, of all places. They do have their work cut out for themselves. They are about to play to a crowd that is more likely expecting freak show acts like GWAR or the Jim Rose Circus. This is no place for pretty boy New-Romantic 80’s revivalists, but the black sheep job title is nothing new to O’Gorman.

Nor is it to his brother and Year’s bassist Scott (aka The Black Cat), with whom Christopher has been playing in bands with since the early nineties after Christopher’s band Faded Images literally faded away like a forgotten prom date photo. “We’ve never worried about rock critics or local band cliques. To us it’s about the fans,” The Black Cat clarifies.


Which is good for them. While other groups in town climb the short ladder of local recognition (that usually leads to nowhere) using a common support system (take the opening or headlining position at each other's shows, have little pow-wows at shared practice spaces, and, above all, fill up the head count at their collective bands’ performances by attending en mass), The Year could frankly care less. They’re too focused on being National/International successes to worry about weaving metaphoric friendship bracelets w/ the 4th Avenue commune-like contingents of musicians, who, at times, seemingly all play in each other’s bands.


The Year doesn’t fit in anyway. Instead of showing up to their gigs wearing what they rolled out of bed in or picked out of the clearance rack at Value Village earlier in the day, they come dressed to kill. Their hair is sculpted in gravity-defying configurations. They wear black from head to toe; occasionally this also includes eyeliner.

The Year knows that building a fan base out of adoring females and those living outside of Tucson is going to get them a lot further than kissing up to a local venue's booking-agent-of-the-week. While many bands are stuck in a rut trying to be the new Abbey Road version of Calexico (Tucson’s most recent breakout band), Calexi-Lounge, emo-Nirvana, or emo-Creed, The Year have stuck to their guns for years. They play rich songs that stay true to 80’s influences such as The Cure (vocals and keyboards), U2 (drums and guitar), Echo and the Bunnymen (texture), and New Order (bass), which in itself alienates them from most local musician circles.


I point out to an oblivious O’Gorman that his cell phone is buzzing away around the table. “How was yr party” his text message reads, though O’Gorman has no clue what party this unknown person is referring to. Someone suggests replying the always-perfect “It was in your pants and everyone’s coming!” We never find out who sent the message, as hairdressers, photographers, and old friends start to crowd the back corner of Che’s while the rest of the band loosens up by playing video games.


Once The Year gets word there are strippers working the Fetish Ball and they’re missing out on the girl-on-girl biting exhibition, drinks are downed immediately and hellos and goodbyes are thrown about. “Call me or I’ll call you.” “For sure. I’ll text you.” It takes the guys over 5 minutes to get from the table to the doorway, though the place is totally dead! Soon, they’ll have a handler that they’ll be able to point to and say, “Hey, I’m sorry, he’s telling me I have to go”. Soon, they’ll be on a label. Soon, they’ll have a video. Soon, they’ll be long gone from this town.

The Year (of Acceleration) has just released their self-produced debut CD, “Used to Have a Life”, which is available at Zia Records as well as at The Year’s website at www.theyeartheband.com. They recorded it themselves, in the basement of their house by the U of A. The crazy thing is it sounds like they ALREADY got the label deal and paid for a hot-shot producer in a debt-inducing rented studio in L.A.

I got to visit with the band again just before their CD release party at Club Congress and I asked Josh Harrison, the band’s drummer and principal producer/engineer, about The Year’s future.

TucsonScene: What are the goals of the band? What are you looking for in a label?

Josh Harrison: We want to have a successful career as musicians. We want to write songs that are timeless and speak to people. I think everything follows that. As long as you work hard along with it . Of course we want to find a home at a respectable label that can provide the support and tools to get our music out to the masses. I think it is important to find a label, whether it is a major or an indie, that truly believes in you as an artist and can help get you where you want to go.

TS: Just wh - Tucsonscene.com

... here’s a band that I’d practically walk barefoot over glass to see, The Year of Acceleration. Every single time I see the Year play live (and I go to nearly every show), it turns into an emotional, picture-taking experience bordering on Dionysian ecstasy. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit, but you get the point.

Brothers and former members of White Chrome Splendor Chris (vocals) and Scott O’Gorman, aka the “Black Cat” (bass), join forces with guitarists Marcus Arvan and Matthieu, aka “Frenchy,” and drummer Josh Harrison to give you their own personal blend of the Cure, U2, Oasis and Manchester circa the early ‘80s. Originals like “Does Anybody Love?” and “Countryside” mesh with covers like the Psychedelic Furs’ “Heaven” to showcase Chris O’Gorman’s dramatic vocal style and range, as well as providing a sonic backdrop for the band’s famous onstage antics (Interpol pun intended).

Though they also covered Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” at Congress, O’Gorman later told me that they were opting on discarding that cover because of Ian Curtis’ vocal style. Though I love the song, good decision. This was the Year’s second show featuring sampled keyboards rather than a live keyboardist and, like their previous show at Che’s, the samples were a great success. The Year doesn’t create music; they create sonic texture that will tear your heart out and take you away. - AZ Night Buzz