> Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:46:51 -0700 (PDT) > From: shawn campbell > 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