Maillist
FOCUS ON: The Sights
- Official Website >>
- Label: Sweet Nothing >>
- Genre: Garage Rock
Swaggering with deference - a sound so classic, yet not derivative - and ridiculously catchy. Really.
In the summer of 1998 - brought together by a slew of disparate-yet-alluring musical reference points - high school friends Eddie Baranek (vocals/guitar), Mike Trombley (drums), and Mark Leahey (bass/vocals) formed The Sights. The trio began playing around their hometown of Detroit shortly thereafter, around which time Trombley headed to California for what would come to be a three-year respite from the band and also the impetus for a revolving door of drummers, bassist and keyboard players. Undaunted, The Sights took to the studio and began recording their debut album, Are You Green? at Jim Diamonds Ghetto Recorders in Detroit.
Originally released in June of 1999, Are You Green? was eventually picked up by L.A.-based Fall of Rome Records and re-released the following year. Never big on rest, The Sights went to work on their sophomore album, Got What We Want, released in 2002. With this, the bands freakishly precocious ability to blend frenetic garage rock, Motown and 60s pop into something equal parts classic and catchy got them noticed. Got What We Want was released in the U.K. a year later, which got them some very nice words from British press ("Got What We Want is a revelation - a treasure trove of sparky and wildly immediate songwriting." --NME) and the not-so British press ("At last - a new Detroit-garage band that comes in colors." --Rolling Stone). The Sights hit the road for a year of touring both countries, which included a straight 10-week stint sleeping inside the groups 1991 Ford Econoline touring van and stealing bagels for sustenance between shows.
In the spring of 2004, The Sights, which now included relative newbie Bobby Emmett as organist/bassist, caught the ear of ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, who signed them to his own Scratchie Records, an imprint of New Line Records. With that, the band headed back to Ghetto Recorders to record their self-titled third LP, The Sights, due out in March 2005. No small feat, the album combines the unobtrusive honesty of The Band with slivers of influence from The Sights own personal record collections: Ike & Tina, Solomon Burke, Everly Brothers, Bob Seger, Gram Parsons and raucous songwriting. The end result is an album with swagger, and deference - a classic, not derivative - and ridiculously catchy. Really.
The Sights are:
Eddie Baranek - Vocals/Guitar
Mike Trombley - Drums
Bobby Emmett - Organ/Bass
Brendan Bourke
brendan@tagteammedia.com
