Canadian band throws CD release party
The Canadian band Vedanta has been living in a trailer in the Mendenhall Valley and playing Metallica covers at Marlintini's Lounge for five weeks just to get the chance to unleash its own hard rock songs on Juneau.
Vedanta is holding a CD release party at 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at Marlintini's.
"This is sort of the whole point (of coming to Juneau)," said Jeremy Couglin, Vedanta's Elvis-Costello-glasses wearing guitarist. "This is our first full-length album."
Though self-described hard rockers, in person the band, clad in oversized pants, snowboard sweatshirts and the occasional Abercrombie beaded choker, give the impression of well-scrubbed college boys.
Coughlin, 27, Eddie Vedder-voiced frontman Greg Stearns, 26, drummer James Dyer, 26, and bassist Anson Boyes, 26, hail from a little town called Grande Prairie in Alberta, Canada. They met in high school and have been playing together and touring Canada for five years, supporting themselves as full-time musicians.
"It's not a lucrative thing, but it keeps us eating," Couglin said.
The band's self-produced album, "Searching...," takes a listener back to a '90s adolescence complete with oversized black T-shirts and black Converse Allstars, when heavy-metal rockers Metallica ruled supreme. Members say their influences also include Tool and U2.
The album's first track, "Vent" pulses tension-building bass beats while Stearns croons out ubiquitous tortured boy-band lyrics: "Buried deep inside of me/With no valve to release/This pressure turns me cold/And I don't know." If Vendanta had a music video, this is where directors would insert footage of the crowd keeping time with hands in the air, possibly with middle and ring fingers tucked and pointers and pinkies extended. At the instrumental climax, "Started cracking at the seams/Pressure's gone beyond belief," there would be a crane-shot close-up on Stearn's face confronting the mike, veins popping out in the neck, sweat pouring down.
Not to say Vedanta is hair band-esque. There is just a touch of that WhiteSkidJoviGuns-n-Warrant flavor tweaking the Metallica/U2 hybrid. Importantly, mosh pits do not form at their shows.
"We are not metal," said shaved-head bassist Boyes. "You can understand the words - let's just put it that way."
Stearns came up with the band's name which, similar to grunge sensation Nirvana, comes from a Hare Krishna consciousness book. It means "the search for true knowledge."
"I got it from a couple of monks selling books on the street for donations," Stearns said.
Vedanta members have been touring Canada and Alaska to promote themselves, with the help of an agent. They are hoping to get signed by a recording label. They are careful to mention that Nick Blagona, one of the producers of "Searching...," also produced albums for Deep Purple and The Police.
"There is actually a little bit of a buzz (around Vedanta) right now," said drummer Dyer. "There is no big deal in the works, but we will see where it leads."
On the Web: www.vedantamusic.com.
Julia O'Malley can be reached at jomalley@juneauempire.com.