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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: Be on the lookout for: The Pages |
| Date | Fri, 20 Jun 2003 10:38:41 -0500 |
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> Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:46:51 -0700 (PDT)
> From: shawn campbell <thursdayinjune@yahoo.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Be on the lookout for: The Pages
> Message-ID: <20030620054651.9661.qmail@web10105.mail.yahoo.com>
>
>
> I just got The Pages demo in today, and I have to say,
> if this is what the major labels are fighting it out
> with each other over these days, it's very good news
> for those members of the audities list who want to
> take the oft-mentioned "our music" to the masses.
>
I've remarked at length on the Pages after both their '02 IPO
Chicago performance and their encore appearance at the festival this past
spring. What's noteworthy is that they struck me for two entirely different
reasons at those two festivals. The first time I was taken aback not just by
what Shawn observed, that they were so earnest about music that's two
generations older than they are, but that they managed to capture so
uncannily the feel of the Hamburg/Cavern-era Beatles. It was a noteworthy
distinction, because that's not an era of the band that's usually essayed
live in the ever-thriving industry of Beatle replicants; most stick with the
eras in which the Fab Four were recording stars. Seeing them onstage at
Nevin's Live in April 2002 was a lot like hearing the early Spongetones EPs
for the first time; one was struck at how well they captured the spirit and
the feel of the Beatles without actually attempting to reconstruct them.
This past IPO I expected more of the same. But instead I was
pleasantly surprised that they: a) had ceased to be a covers band; and b)
had written some surprisingly good originals. Their energy, mannerisms, and
Liverpudlian influences were still the same -- but they had leaped to the
next step over the past year, and done so with aplomb. Nevin's Live booker
Mitch Marlow also manages the Pages, and he was the one who urged the band
to begin writing originals. But I'm willing to bet that even Mitch was
surprised at how well their initial efforts at songwriting turned out. It's
a good reminder that rock'n'roll history is replete with examples of
barely-postpubescent songwriters who got very good at the craft very
quickly.
I'm really looking forward to hearing this studio material that
Shawn's acquired.
> And the
> fact of the matter is, the band has that something
> that labels are constantly looking for -- it would
> certainly stand out, not sounding like ANYTHING else
> on the radio right now...
>
Well, I'm not all that convinced that major labels are looking for
stuff that stands out, as much as they're looking for stuff that already
fits the market or apes some other hot band. But the Pages certainly do have
what every major label insists upon: visual appeal. Young females probably
wouldn't know what to think about a band that plays music so strikingly
different than what they're used to hearing, a band whose members play
instruments rather than perform synchronized dance moves, but I'm guessing
that they'd probably think that the guys in the Pages are cute (I say
"probably", because I'm the last person on the planet who is qualified to
comment on the tastes of young females. ;-) ).
Gregory Sager
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