By Mark Kirby, MusicDish e-Journal
If I had the power, I would change the title of the new Soundside CD
from "Seconds to Sunrise" to "Working Man's Soundside." No, not as
some type of homage to the Grateful Dead or their album of the same
name, but because in today's segmented music scene dominated by
generic suburban pop, ring tone rap for real and fake ghettos, and
indie rock for the college-educated hipster, there is a definite
dearth of good honest rock and roll. The kind of rock that gets you
through a day of loading boxes onto palettes or house painting. Rock
for the unpretentious, for folks that work in delis or hang sheet
rock. Soundside brings back the old school rock sound - hard but not
metal, melodic but not Justin Timberlake, and with a touch of grunge,
minus the tortured angst.
If this Seconds to Sunrise had come out twenty-five years ago, they
would have been hailed as the new gods of power pop or new wave by way
of Cheap Trick. In other words, it's chock full of hard rock hooks,
pop sensibility, and pogo-beat rhythms along with sensitive, low key,
acoustic guitar-laced moments. "Back To The Beginning" kicks things
off with a radio friendly two chord rock anthem that has a danceable
groove, over which Rich Arcati sings nostalgically of all night
partying fun: "I reminisce the time I made us, it's been awhile but
how could I forget... who remembers what time we got home? / It's just
another morning that I can never wake up... Back to the beginning of
our lives." The music here is kick ass rock and roll, with a crisp
backbeat and bass and guitars hitting all the right marks.
"With You" starts out softly with acoustic guitar and voice. When the
rest of the band comes in it's on a lower intensity musical plane,
mixing the emotional sincerity of a ballad and driving rock. This and
most of the CD are carried by front man Arcati, with his vocal mix of
Eddie Vedder and Robert Plant (at his least screechy), and guitarist
Dan Reardon. "Living in the Rain" flips the script on the classic rock
song form of soft to loud by giving a heavy metal blast of an intro
followed by low volume acoustic guitar and voice. This gives way to a
section of melodic, country-tinged rock that would fit in between
Sheryl Crow and Nickelback on a VH1 set. Its companion piece on the CD
is "Beautiful Life," a straight rock ballad with touches of violin and
cello and a simple piano riff underscoring the vocal line.
"Creepin' In My Mind" is another example of full-on rock intensity,
with a heavy, guitar-driven groove straight from the old Detroit rock
city sound of Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. This song, and the others on
this filler free CD, is locked and propelled by Karina McMahon and
Matt Fox on drums and bass, respectively. "Stuck In A Memory" rocks in
a loping hard rock, headbanging almost-waltz that nods to Led
Zeppelin. This changes into a power pop chorus that is at once sweet
and savage yet tasteful and true. In fact, this could be said about
the whole Seconds to Sunrise. Soundside draws from the wellspring of
guitar driven, kick-out-the-jams rock, giving the listener the musical
equivalent of an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. No bones
about it, Soundside is definitely maximum rock and roll.
http://www.soundsideband.com
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