Onward, Soldiers' "Let The Time Roll By", directed by Bo Webb Onward. Off their album Ghosts In This Town.
Most days, our featured musician interviews are quite informal. They take place
during the photo shoot, generally between glasses of wine or champagne, with lots
of music, chatter and people in the background. Or, it is not even an interview in
any sense, but more of a night or two out on the town, wandering in the ILM, that
gets summed up in a couple of paragraphs. But this was not our usual interview.
First off, it was not during the shoot. (No matter how much I wanted to eat Britt's
donuts on the boardwalk, someone had to be here at the shop.) And secondly,
there was no wine or champagne. This was going to be an honest to goodness
interview. Weird.
But, ever the professionals, we knew that we needed at least a couple of words
from the band, so we did what we had to do and brought front man Sean Thomas
Gerard upstairs to our offices to seduce him. Wait, no, I meant interview him. To
interview him...
We say our initial hellos, and after the first thoughts of how much we loved his
Ramones muscle-tee and black china slippers, it was time to get to work and start
asking some questions.
Katie - I really like your video for "Let the Time Roll By". Did you fall at all while
you were filming it?
Sean Thomas Gerard - No.
K- Really? Not at all?
STG - I did run into a plant on one take, but I didn't actually fall, no.
So, there you go. He has super human powers above and beyond his impressive
singing and songwriting skills. Seriously, he must've walked around at least a
million times per shoot. And he was singing, and playing the guitar. And he had
sunglasses on. Inside. And there were obstacles like people and pianos. That is
pretty darn cool.
The title of Onward, Soldiers! new album, ghosts in this town, references Gerard’s
feelings of being a stranger in the town he lived. But, after sitting down with
Gerard at my desk, I can't see him as a stranger to anyone. He is a cuter, cooler,
much nicer version of Ryan Adams that makes you wonder which little starlet
he is going to end up marrying. Such effortless charm and young, self effacing
talent is rarely seen. This combination, propelled by the marketing and ambition of
Kevin Rhodes, multi-instrumental band mate and co-founder of O,S!, and fostered
by, Jim Palumbo on guitar and Jarett Michael on bass, will prove to be one of the
largest factors in the band's sure to be rapid ascent. (They gonna get real big real
quick like.)
And, they are already gaining widespread attention. As well as fans from places
as far as Norway, they also count Sophia Bush as a fan, and have even had
a song on that show she is on... Y'all might have heard of it, One Tree Hill?
And there is no wonder that is so. The music is infinitely listenable, the whole band
friendly, fun and outgoing, and the live shows have an abundance of energy that
makes it impossible to sit still while watching. They are always entertaining their
audience, whether by having balloons fall from the ceiling during the show, or
Gerard's willingness to participate in some spur of the moment guerilla street art
downtown with us. That is until Jessie said he had a show that night and if we got
him arrested, we might not be able to bail him out in time. (And usually I'm the one
that plays mom around here.)
So, listen to the streaming tracks, check out the pics, and know that what you are
getting is not only the free downloads, but also we are giving you the gift of being
able to say 'I knew them when'.
