March 31, 2006
Joe Rogers doesn’t want you to remember the Joe Rogers Band.
He doesn’t want you to remember the covers of The Dave Matthews Band and Britney Spears — yes, Britney Spears — that he and his band played when he went to Binghamton University in 2001.
Back to Blonde formed in October 2004, and though it has retained the same cast as the Joe Rogers Band — New York City native Rogers, 23; drummer Christian Linsey, 24; and bassist Pat Malone, 29 — the sound is completely different.
"I was writing a bunch of new songs, and we liked the direction we were going," Rogers said. "We decided to drop everything and start a new project, a new band. Back to Blonde is not the old Joe Rogers Band."
Not that there was anything wrong with the old Joe Rogers Band. But mostly gone now are the grunge covers of pop songs and most of the old music associated with the group. In their place is a richer sound, backed up by electric and acoustic guitars, and solid performances from Linsey and Malone.
"Dave Matthews, Britney Spears — those were more for the college crowd. I was just having a good time," Rogers said. "Now we’re obviously a tad more serious."
The new attitude shows in the band's new album, Swim West, produced by Adam Lasus (Yo La Tengo, Madder Rose, Versus).
If you have to put a label on it, Rogers said, call it alternative indierock. He draws upon influences from Elliott Smith, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. Fire up the CD, and you’ll hear a little bit of early Radiohead and Pearl Jam.
In Last Chance Oldsmobile, the Pearl Jam influence in the sound is apparent. Drums open and set the pace for mellow sounds of the bass and electric guitar.
Another highlight of the album is Night Driving.
"It’s kind of a night, lullaby, tuckyou-into-bed song." Rogers said. "I think a lot of people are able to identify with it, driving at night and losing yourself. It’s a very interesting part of the human consciousness, the ability to kind of lose yourself for a period of time."
Indeed, anyone who has ever zoned out behind the wheel at night can relate to Night Driving: "Lights are colored into patterns deep inside my mind / Lost with the missing kids they could never find / Silver stars are humming now a very simple tune / They lose their lives like soldiers to the overwhelming moon."
One of Rogers’ favorites is The Other Cheek, a song that has a more hard-rock feel than the others on the album.
"It really encompasses the energy of our live show," he said.
The album’s name, Swim West, comes from the band’s attitude of "going against the grain," Rogers said. He wrote that motivation into one of the songs on the album, the hard-driving tune Calm Down: “Floating on the ocean in a shipwreck / praying now to heaven that you’ll be next / handing out the jackets but there’s none left / land is to the east now but you swim west."
And that’s Back to Blonde — floating in the big sea of music.
"Being in the band as a young 20-year-old and have it be the primary focus goes against what a lot of people think is the right thing to do," Rogers said. "We’re willing to swim in the opposite direction … We know that land is to the east and that we could easily fall into jobs and follow the beaten path, but we don’t want to. We’d rather just drown in the sea than take the easy way out."
It’s not been easy. Rogers left BU in 2001 to pursue music full time, and has been up and down the East Coast playing shows since then. The band has gotten air time on 100 radio stations’ rotations, including WHRW at Binghamton University. An upcoming road trip will take the trio to venues west such as Chicago, New Mexico, Arizona, Baton Rouge and everywhere in between. The band is working on another album due out at the end of the year.
Rogers has had some odd jobs in the meantime, but the music is what he lives for.
"We’re working as we can on this until we can make this entirely our focus," he said. "Back to Blonde will hopefully be paying all the bills."
That’s not to say he wants to pack stadiums. Not yet, anyway.
"We’re content with finding our own niche, putting out a few CDs." Rogers said. "We like the intimacy of smaller shows."
He described one of his few shows at a wide-open venue, the Pepsi Arena in Albany for a college event.
"It was bizarre, playing in a big, open area," Rogers said. "But it’s something we’re not big enough to say ‘no’ to yet."
Rogers likes coming back to Binghamton for shows.
"When we return, there are a lot of fresh faces, and I say, 'Where are these people coming from? All of our friends have graduated,'" he said. "One set of girls said, 'We listen to your CD all day to psych ourselves up for the show.' It's that kind of response that keeps us touring."
With its members' passion for music and a killer CD release like Swim West, Back to Blonde should come to expect fervent fans wherever it goes.
© 2006 Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.