I know it’s weak to start with a quote, but after struggling through the smarmy world of rock music criticism (and the even smarmier world of rock music "journalism") I’ve come to relish the rare moment when a band actually has something interesting to say.
“There’s all these young kids in their twenties and thirties trying to be Nickelback. Let Nickelback be Nickelback and be yourself. Because if you’re trying to chase after a fashion you’re gonna be running forever.”
That quote comes from Brian (No Last Name), guitraist for Backlash. It’s a simple logic, but it is one which has fueled the history of rock and roll, inspiring young aritists and visionaries, igniting revolutions in sound and emotion from Elvis to John Lennon, to Iggy Pop, to Sid Vicious, to Kurt Cobain and beyond. The band is always different (Nickelback is only the latest best example) but the sentiment remains the same. Be yourself, play what you like, follow your own vision – be yourself. It’s that feeling that has kept rock and roll from suffocating itself all these years, kept it moving forward (however slowly), and, incidentally, kept people like me from getting real jobs.
Backlash is a
“We never played
“We were stuck down in
The band survived for years as a cover band regularly playing spots like The Twilighter and other notorious
“At the time it was pool cues and brass knuckles,” says
“College Hill still existed,” says Brian (no last name tendered), the bands’ guitarist. “If you could dodge a bullet.”
“It was either new country or old rock,”
playing “Achy Breaky Heart” twenty times a night so I was like ‘Come on let’s play some old rock – it’ll be fun!’ And then it just kind of blossomed. We did that from 1993 to 1997 and then one of the members died and it fell into my lap and I just ran with it. Whatever happened is my fault.”
(Left, Shawn Ames)
“Progressively it went from oldies rock to 60s rock, to 60s and 70s rock, up to harder and heavier rock up to whatever the hell we feel like playing,” says Brian.
Today the band has repertoire of over three hundred songs, including covers and originals to choose from, but while, as
“We did our first record in 2003,” says
“When I first started writing songs for the band Shawn kept telling me ‘Keep it simple. Keep it simple and stupid,” says Brian. “And I was like ‘This is simple’. And he’d say “Keep it SIMPLE.”
“He would come up with all these glorious riffs and all these lines tacked into these small sections,” laughs
Their first album, Dressed For Success, was recorded in one day in 2003, and three albums have followed since, culminating in 2009’s self-titled release, which, among their fans, has been the band’s most controversial.
“I knew people were gonna look at it and go, ‘Okay it’s the record without Danny’,”
“Danny” is Danny Tallent, an incredibly gifted bassist from Oneida, KS who worked with the band from 2006-2008. Tragically, Tallent was injured in a car accident (which took the life of his wife Ashley Tallent) in 2008, and is no longer able to work with the band. Tragedy is nothing new to Backlash – it’s part and parcel of the band, an integral part of understanding where the band comes from these days. In addition to the injury to Tallent and the death of his wife (to whom the band dedicated it’s last record) the band has had to deal with the death of two original members (bassist Steve Miller and guitarist Larry Torneden) and several close friends.
In many ways, the band’s struggle with tragedy is summed up in the chorus of the song “Everything Changes”, the fifth track from Backlash:
“Everything changes,
Nothing stays the same,
Build your empire on shifting sands,
And pray it never rains.
It all seems so familiar,
But at the same time so strange.
Everything changes,
Nothing stays the same.”
“What happens with this band is it gets to a point where it peaks, then somebody dies and you go all the way back to peg one,” says Ames. “Then you go and you peak, then someone dies, then you go back to peg one. That’s why it’s been eighteen years this year in the same band playing the same music.”
But, to alter the proverb, the more things stay the same, the more they change. In addition to numerous lineup changes, Backlash has also experienced a change in songwriting, shifting from their classic, straight ahead, badass rocker sound to a more accomplished, even thoughtful approach.
“The biggest problem we had with the last record is we’d really grown up as far as songwriting goes,”
“I got into an argument with someone the other day about how we lost our fan base because of the way we sound now. We just grew up, man… It’s like ‘Wow you’ve got acoustic guitar, you’ve got piano, you’ve got symphony, and the arrangements - you know we’re not just talking about pussy and beer.”
“There’s only one band that can get away with recording the same album over and over again and that’s AC/DC”, adds Brian. “I wish we had that magic where we could just record the same album over and over again”
(Right: Brian performing at Truckhenge)
“It’s like pulling teeth to write a song like ‘Bad Monster’ (track one from Dressed for Success) these days because I’m in a whole different world,” says
And keeping it simple is not something that Backlash seems to be interested in these days. Inside the band, the songwriting responsibilities are shared by
(Above: Drummer Ron Prothe)
“Between the two of us our biggest influences would be the glam scene,” says
Melding those two influences, which essentially come down to the minimalist punk ethos of less is more, and the prog philosophy of more is not nearly enough, is far from an easy task And keep in mind, after 18 years most bands, regardless of their level of success, rarely “grow” or evolve. For the most part they remain stagnant, rehashing the same shit, playing their greatest hits, reworking their most popular songs, or releasing half-assed crap every few years just to make an excuse to tour (anyone hear the last Neil Young album?). It’s just a paycheck to most bands at that point, and the vast majority of fans are too blind or too drunk to care that they’re being hustled. It is to Backlash’s credit that as fan bases dwindle and venues disappear throughout not only Topeka, but Kansas and the rest of the nation, the band has chosen to continue to grow artistically rather than stick to what fans expect, or even demand.
“It’s a wicked edged sword,” says
“My days of playing tribute music are just…,”
“The owner of a local bar had an idea to draw people into his bar by having bands do tribute shows,” says Brian. “We were asked to do an Alice Cooper tribute… [But] we decided to joke around, do a Spinal Tap thing and I said ‘I know, we’ll do The Wall and put shoeboxes in front of the stage so it’s sort of a Spinal Tap version of The Wall!”
“We thought it’d be funny to take the biggest arena show you could think of and put it on this little postage stamp,” laughs Ames.
“And then people wanted to pay to see it so we went from shoeboxes to actual bricks,” says Brian.
(Above: The Culmination of 'The Wall')
“[It’s a] hell of a live show,” says
Despite the occasional technical problem (“Fewer than Pink Floyd”,
“That’s been the funnest thing in the last couple of years because for one, and I’ll say this egotistically, nobody else is doing it,” says
And as the band continues to grow and explore new areas of songwriting it’s hard to say that their best work isn’t ahead of them. A summer full of shows looms on the horizon and they’re kicking around the idea of recording a new album.
“I’d like to do another album, because I think our best work is ahead,” says
“My whole goal since I’ve been with Backlash is to create a definitive sound so people say “That’s backlash” whether that sound sucks or not,” says Brian.
“And that’s how we’ve been able to survive like a bad cockroach is we adapt,” adds
Backlash will be playing July 17th at The Jolly Troll in Holton. Find them on the web at:
http://www.myspace.com/backlashhttp://www.backlashband.net/cool.html
This Band Will Go On...and on...and on...and on...Backlash is amazing! Live entertainment at its finest, every time (and any time).
ReplyDeleteBacklash is one of the best bands to come to the Jolly Troll. We love having them and look forward to many many many more bookings in the future!
ReplyDeleteI've always loved the backlash band no matter who the members were. I found their significant others to be awesome women, and the men in the group seemed to have it all together where music writing and doing it all were just a part of life for them as they love the music more than anyone else i have ever met. I wish the band many long years of happiness and success. I hope they continue to write and make their own dreams come true. I will always feel like a friend, even if I am in the distance....to Backlash thanks for keeping music alive! Anne Shiever
ReplyDelete