To
be blunt about it, there's no way people in the Quad Cities have
any reason to know of the Los Angeles-based rock band Also,
performing Sunday at the Redstone Room in downtown Davenport.
Unless you listen to L.A.'s KCRW - the West Coast's premier public-radio station - it's highly unlikely you've ever heard of Also beyond promotion for the group's Quad Cities show.
The trio is a young and independent band, meaning they have no name recognition, no label, no touring support, and no airplay outside of their own market. The closest the band has been to Iowa - hell, the Midwest - was "the very nearby, adjacent city of Tempe, Arizona," said singer, guitarist, and lyricist Drew Conrad. When they aren't playing within an eight-hour drive of their home base, they go to Europe, where audiences are more open to ... well, bands they've never heard of.
"I'd rather make one true fan at a time," Conrad said of his band's relative anonymity. "It takes a while for us to build up our fan base, but the people who really enjoy Also are really die-hard, good-hearted, unbelievable fans. ... It's just very humbling and flattering that when people like our music, they really want to help us out."
That's what happened here. Conrad's fiancée's father and his friend - who live in the Quad Cities - hired Also for a private party, and that led to the public show. That's not such a big thing, but they also purchased a series of large print ads in this newspaper - no small investment.
"Anywhere anybody wants us to, we'll play," Conrad said.
Also's
appeal is evident on the group's debut full-length CD, It
Was Fine to Be Kind -
which is being released this week. Specializing in moody, dreamy rock
that showcases Conrad's clear, seductively powerful voice, Also has
a fuller sound than one might expect from a trio, and its music often
has surprising instrumental touches - an unexpected guitar solo, an
electric sitar, congas, the impossibly sedate funk introduction to
"Return of the Swallows." (It's hard to know if the sitar is
merely a fun flourish or the sign of a band that takes itself a
little
too seriously.) With a lounge-jazz vibe and jittery percussion, "The
Lunch Crowd" stands out as a nearly perfect showcase for Conrad's
pipes; you can almost see him hanging off the microphone stand.
The album's sound is clean, arty, and well-articulated, but for people who like driving rock and roll, the tempo might seem too patient.
"Our music definitely has a European feel to it," Conrad said, citing the influences of the British bands The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Elbow. That's one reason he thinks the band has been so well-received in Europe.
Blues and jazz artists, of course, have long favored Europe over the States because audiences are more appreciative. "They're great with the indie-rock scene, too," Conrad said. "People are a little more open there to new music."
But Europe is an expensive proposition, and the three-year-old band has only been able to make two trips across the Atlantic. When asked how Also can afford it, Conrad has one word: "Plastic."
He expands: "We go there, we do the tour, we come back, we pay off the debt, as soon as it's paid off, we go do it again. ... Until somebody else is footing the bill, we're just going to keep doing that."
The band isn't even coming close to breaking even on the trips; they pay off the debt using their day jobs. "We're just barely just holding onto those," Conrad said. "Hopefully not much longer."
Although Conrad writes the words and is front-and-center as the band's singer and guitarist, the writing process is a group one. "To me it's a very ego-less way to write," he said. "It's a collaboration. It's a band. You look up the word ‘band,' it's a group of people. It's not one person, and then four people hanging off on the side."
Although the band will listen to offers, it likes the control that being independent affords. When they're in charge of their own business affairs, he said, there aren't crossed wires; when the band shows up for a gig, it knows the show is solid. "We know when show up at a club 4,000 miles away, they're not going to say, ‘Who are you?'" Conrad said.
And there are some hints that the band might be breaking through. Also will have a song, "Kingdom Gone," in the feature film All in, a drama that stars Dominique Swain, Louis Gossett Jr., and Michael Madsen.
Conrad said he recognizes, though, that success is not guaranteed. "It's a constant loss until you get somewhere," he said, "and then suddenly you're an overnight success. Everybody's amazed at how you did it so quickly."
In the meantime, the Los Angeles band will be making its Midwest debut with a very small tour that begins and ends with the Quad Cities. "If they want us in Iowa," Conrad said, "we'll go to Iowa."
Also will perform at the Redstone Room on Sunday, September 3. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $5.
For more information on the band, visit (http://www.alsomusic.com).
