But
it’s rock & roll, not rocket science. The latest to join The Almost, Redmon
recounts early rehearsals with Aponte and Bozich to learn the songs, while
Gillespie and Vilardi were out with Underoath. “I was pretty intimidated. They
were the tightest rhythm section I’ve ever played with, and then Jay showed up;
he’s an awesome guitarist. I think we had one full band rehearsal before I went
out on tour, so the first show was great. I felt comfortable as soon as we
walked out there. This is the most fun I’ve had in a band in a really long
time—it feels so fresh to me.”
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
While Gillespie’s songs for
Southern
Weather are directly spiritual, they also allow lots of room for the listener’s
experience. “Copy” addresses the rather disposable quality of modern life and
art; “Everyone Here Smells Like a Rat” targets the denial that goes hand in
hand with substance abuse; “Everything That Makes Me Sick” takes on fear,
itself, and how it diminishes everyone and everything.
But
it’s “Amazing Because It Is,” with its reconfiguring of “Amazing Grace” in a
horn and string arrangement by Sixpence None the Richer’s Matt Slocum, and a
children’s chorus choreographed by producer Aaron Sprinkle (Anberlin, Eisley),
that gives the record its center. Planted between songs that confess being
“Dirty and Left Out,” dishonest and afraid, is a word of hope and forgiveness.
“I
think ‘Amazing Grace’ is the most gorgeous song ever penned,” says Gillespie.
“Grace is something that no matter who you are, where you’ve been or where
you’re going, how bummed, sick, old, young, poor or rich—or whatever race you
are—grace is something that people can’t live without. Every person on this
earth needs grace. That song just transcends all boundaries. I think having
that song on the record just shows that I’m on an even plane; I’m just as dirty
and in need of grace as anybody else.”
Vilardi
agrees. “The only difference between us and folks who live down the street who
don’t believe in God is that I know who Jesus is and what He did, and they may
not even care, but that’s my job. It’s my job to care, it’s my job to get out
there and speak for, and speak to, wounded kids. And the best place to find
those kids is at a rock show. It’s not our job to point out other people’s
flaws. We have flaws personally, but we turn to someone named Jesus, and here’s
what our music sounds like…and that’s the bottom line.”
--
Brian Quincy Newcomb