infectious take on the mad British mod sound you heard Saturday at Southpaw
wasn't even from across the pond. Unless you count crossing Lake Michigan as
crossing a pond.
The blokes you saw in Brooklyn on Saturday, June 30 weren't Brits at all. Hailing
from the Lakes Region -- of the MidWest, that is -- they were born and bred in
Chicago. The city best known for beer gardens and the blues has given rise to the
best British Invasion band that never came from Britain in the first place.
At this point you're screaming at your monitor, "Who already, TixGirl, who???"
Now say it with me, write it down, and otherwise commit it to memory: The
Redwalls. You'll thank me for it later.
The moment you hear the Redwalls for the first time, it's instantly clear that the
Mods are their mentors. With a sound that pulls in elements of the Stones, the
Kinks, and Bowie, it's still their core references to the Beatles that leave the
listener in no doubt that these boys were born in the wrong decade.
But were they? Considering the revivalist tendencies of bands like Bloc Party, the
Killers, Wolfmother and their contemporaries, it's clear there's an appetite on the
part of the public for retro sounds refitted for today's tastebuds and earbuds. But
have you heard anybody do justice to the Beatles without sounding like an audition
for the cast of Beatlemania? Me neither. Not until now.
Best of all, the Redwalls can't be neatly tossed in the been-there-done-that
"Derivative" dustbin of wannabe flunkies. These are their own tunes, their own
harmonies, their own ideas. It's just clear that their collective creativity is filtered
through a lifetime of listening to the Invaders from across the pond. (The really big,
salty pond.)
I can just picture brothers Logan & Justin Baren, still in diapers, learning to sing
by harmonizing their hearts out to John, Paul, George & Ringo. Give their tunes a
listen on their MySpace page and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Now go catch one of their upcoming summer tour dates. You'll be so glad you did.
BUY REDWALLS TICKETS
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