THE ACCOMPLICES
At 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2
Live Wire Music Hall, 307 W. River St.
A confluence of styles and influences, this relatively new Savannah band’s debut CD Canned Beans is all over the map, musically. Some of the tunes are better than others – hey, you could say that about anybody’s record – but the good ones are strong enough to lodge in your ear and hold on fast, and the biggest Q–Tip in the world couldn’t get them out again.
With singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist Matt Eckstine front and center, the songs range from Dylanesque talking blues to terse, Eagles–like rockers and odes to early Neil Young. Still, the band impresses most when the echoes of others aren’t obvious.
Eckstine’s loping “Weight of the World” and “Travelin’ Man” are standouts, and “Mystery Man,” a bluesy rocker from bassist Zachary Smith, features the coolest backwards electric guitar riffing I’ve heard in years. Smith’s standup bass – so sonically different from the electric variety – brings an almost jazz/bop–like flavor to Eckstine’s numbers, and Colleen Heine’s violin creates an appropriately smoky atmosphere.
The VIP award goes to Daniel Wile on Dobro, filling in the empty spaces on nearly every song and bringing a sense of continuity to the entire record. He’s a virtuoso.
My favorite song on Canned Beans is the closer, a dreamy slice of acoustic psychedelia called “The Hagg.” Here, all the musical elements come together to create an otherwordly feeling, with Fleet Foxes harmony and buzzy electric guitars.
Sonically, Canned Beans is a great–sounding CD. Production and engineering are by the estimable Kevin Rose and Miles Hendrix at Elevated Basement. See theaccomplicesband.com.
Sonically, Canned Beans is a great-sounding CD. Production and engineering are by the estimable Kevin Rose and Miles Hendrix at Elevated Basement. See theaccomplicesband.com
ADELITAS WAY
At 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, with Art of Dying
Wild Wing Café, 27 Barnard St.
This Vegas-based hard rock quintet, signed to Virgin Records, hit big in 2009 with "Invincible," a song many heard in TV commercials for CSI Miami, and as the theme song for World Wrestling Entertainment's Superstars series. And Saw 3D featured one of their tunes, if anyone was able to sit through it. The group's second album, Home School Valedictorian, was released in June, after which they toured as the opening act for Guns ‘N Roses.
Adelitas Way was named for a Mexican bar-slash-brothel.
Despite these signs of some success, the guys live together in a communal home, and they travel the country packed into a van. "I tend to be a reasonable, practical person, and the number one thing I want to do is make sure the band can live," says singer and songwriter Rick DeJesus. "There was a point where I feel we could have gotten into a bus, but financially, I wanted to make sure we're always smart with our money. We don't tour the country just to tell people ‘I'm in a fancy bus.' We pull our van and trailer we drag with all our gear up to the venues and bust out the barbecue and the lawn chairs and hang out and just enjoy ourselves." See adelitaswaymusic.net
