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Album Review: The Amends, What We Could Be

Posted in Album Review, Reviews with tags A Certain Speed, Big City Way, Boulder, Chris Childress, colorado, Come & See, Desperate TImes, Dreamer, Drew Weikart, It'd Be Nice, Make it So, More to Give, Second Take, Shay Byington, The Amends, Tick Tock, Time Goes On, Tyler Taylor, What We Could Be, When She's Gone on Sunday, April 21, 2013 by Eric Gilardi

This story starts out with a band and a dream. The Boulder, CO based band, The Amends, has aspirations to gain popularity by way of self-promotion. Recently they reached out to see if I would check out their second studio album that was released earlier this year. Fortunately for them, I just started writing again and fortunately for me, I took that chance and gave the album a listen. The Amends consisting of band members Drew Weikart (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Tyler Taylor (Vocals, Keys and Rhythm Guitar), Chris Childress (Bass) and Shay Byington (Drums) caught me off guard with an album that touches base with classic rock and blues while adding that hint of Indie rock.

What We Could Be starts straight out with an edginess that says we have arrived and we have come to kick your door in. “Second Take” makes me think back to when the Arctic Monkeys first came out of the gate. You can really hear the direct message from a band that just wants to jam and make people have fun. The second track, “A Certain Speed”, keeps the party vibe going. They start out the album with a kick and you think that is what you have turned yourself on to but you better think again.

As soon as the keys hit in a “Big City Way” you get more of a blues sound to their rock music. This tells you that this band is not a one-dimensional rock group. Continue reading →

Mind Inversion interviews Vernal Pool

Posted in Interviews with tags across tundras, colorado, denver, eric torkelson, examination of the..., heath rave, lungs, sioux falls, south dakota, vernal pool on Thursday, March 5, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Vernal Pool is a Minneapolis-by-way-of-South Dakota doom metal band that really doesn’t give a shit if you like them or not – but they do think that right people might if they just had the time. It’s a sound that takes patience, but their free-minded, introspective, brand of classic doom metal is one that reveals many astonishing sonic rewards amidst its many varied layers, from devastation to meditative bliss. In truth, Vernal Pool may play the bleakest, slowest metal music you’re bound to hear in your life, and the wisping traces of shoegaze, Americana, western, and folk music that accent their doom, especially in the live setting, create a result is something very dark and haunting indeed. After nearly two years of work and quiet shows around the area, they’ve just finished putting their first record together and look to be releasing it soon. However, before it’s out they’ll be playing the album live at their shows around the area, the first of which comes next week when they open the much anticipated Battlefields, Irepress, Frontier show at Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis next Wednesday, March 11th. Ryan from Mind Inversion was able to meet up with Eric (vocals, bass) and Heath (drums) from Vernal Pool at their place in NE to talk about their band, their sound, their take on doom and experimental metal in the Midwest and Minneapolis, and what we can expect from their future.

Mind Inversion: For anyone not familiar with Vernal Pool, could you tell me a bit about yourselves, your history, where you come from, and how you all came together as Vernal Pool.

Eric Torkelson: Well Heath and I are both from South Dakota, near Sioux Falls, and we both left there.

Heath Rave: Yeah, exactly; we left…. Continue reading →

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