ESCAPE VELOCITY - SCAT RECORDs
Escape Velocity is the speed required to leave the gravity of a body.
Let's be shamelessly honest: Escape Velocity is the product of a 40 year old married-with-children rock guy named Joe "Finn" Thebeau, his St. Louis basement, an abundance of imagination, formidable songwriting/lyric skills, natural vocal ability, and some current members of Prisonshake. Joe began writing and making demos for the album in 2003, about 30 songs, and in 2004 began recording - then overdubbing, editing and resequencing all the way up until the release date deadline. Adam Schmitt was enlisted in 2005 to mix the album, although Joe did a few on his own as well. It was not easy to pare the album down to its ~47 minute run time, it could've easily been double that.
Escape Velocity has many faces. It draws on power pop and prime midwestern rock, but is never formulaic. "The Beatles made me love pop. Cheap Trick made me want to start a band. Angus Young made me want to play guitar," says Joe. It's psychedelic, but there are no wah-wah pedals, rather there are sudden shifts in time and perspective within the songs. It is conceptual, but attention to the lyrics is not required (although there is plenty there to stew on if you're so inclined). It is dynamic, unpredictable, cinematic and stuck-in-your-head-for-days infectious.
So what is it with Scat and near-invisible songwriters who suddenly start making brilliant albums? What rock has this guy been hiding under? Joe has played with several area groups to "keep a hand in" over the last few years, but the last band that he performed his own material in were The Finns, who self-released three albums between 1989 and 1994 to little notice beyond posthumous inclusion on Numero Group's Yellow Pills Prefill comp, released last year. Finn's Motel, more a loose framework in which the players may come and go than a band, will at least initially consist of the musicians on EV, augmented with another player or two. They will be playing regularly east of the Rockies throughout 2006 and 2007. |
