NOTE: This was originally published on 3/20/14 at KOVL's Facebook page
DISCLAIMER: I am a huge fan of the band I’m reviewing today.
I’ve been following them for five years or so, and it’s possible that I haven’t
seen them 100 times, but it’s at least in the high double-digits. I’ve
purchased all of their recorded music, and can sing along with nearly their
entire catalogue. I’ve spent between three and fourteen months getting to know
the songs that make up this particular release. I’ve seen them play in two
states, with two different guitar players. One of those guitar players is a
familiar face from a Minneapolis band I like even more than this one. I’ve
boated down the St. Croix River with this band (once, not twice—I missed out on
a second trip, and I’m still bitter about it six months after the fact). I’ve
celebrated the Fourth of July, New Years’ Eve, and two CD releases with them.
I’m not unbiased here. This may creep into my writing.
March 13, 2014 will go down as a bittersweet day for fans of
the Minneapolis band Rocket Club. It was the culmination of a daring 2013 project
which saw the band write, score, and track a new song every month, with June
and December each getting two songs. They knew it was a daunting task when they
embarked on it, but even these musical veterans were surprised at the level of
involvement. Still, they pressed on. They embraced several styles, putting
their own touch on each one. They partnered with a local country station to
debut most of the songs. When it was all said and done, they had created
fourteen songs, thirteen of which would be on the CD, titled “Lucky”. It had a
March 13 release, with a proper concert and party that evening. It would be the
only Rocket Club show of 2014.
Country music has become a bit of a nebulous beast, drawing
more and more on pop and rock elements for its sound. The wisdom, and
motivations, of such an approach can be debated another time. But Rocket Club seemingly
flips that around, drawing on elements of country for their rock and pop songs.
They birthed the term “North Country” on their previous release, not just for a
song or album title, not just for the area of United States they call home, but
for their music as well. They worked with a local country station to get the
songs out month by month, but some of the songs were out of place in that
format. Don’t take that statement to mean the songs are below average or worse.
They just can’t be pigeonholed into one radio-friendly descriptor.
On this “Lucky” release, Rocket Club includes: a midtempo
quasi-ballad about how love is essentially the strongest force around
(“Otherwise”, first December release); a rocker about a girl who’s a bit
naughty and completely appreciated because of it (“Bad In A Good Way”,
November); a true ballad about taking some wrong turns in life and having to
leave it all behind to find one’s self (“Only Goodbye”, April); and a
banjo-infused trip through an early summer day, which doubles as a reminder to
live in the moment (“Now. Here. This.”, June). This doesn’t reveal a band in
search of an identity. It shows a comfort in performing songs in any style. They
also split vocal duties between two main singers. Chris Hawkey generally takes
the more fun-loving songs, such as May’s ode to a beloved summer garment, “Tank
Top.” Don Smithmier usually handles the more sensitive and calm songs, such as
October’s “After The Fire” or June’s bonus song “Fathers And Sons”. But then
they turned that convention on its ear by having Hawkey sing February’s “Why Am
I”, a ballad about a relationship just about to break. That may very well be
the strongest song on the album. And in March, Smithmier led the way on
“Grading On A Curve”, about how various sins reflect on a person as they stand
at the Pearly Gates, with a Paisley-esque sense of humor. Rocket Club goes with
what feels right, and don’t concern themselves much with “the norm” or similar
concepts.
Is that a foolproof approach? No. July’s “World Wide Crazy”
was a rare misstep. The song doesn’t have the imagery that they’re usually so
adept at creating, and the melody is too simplistic for them. In their defense,
it was not the original song they tried to develop for that month, but it’s a
stark departure from their normal sound. This is the one song on the album sung
fully by bassist Joel Sayles, but he’s not at fault for the song being what it
is. The other voices couldn’t have saved it either. Thankfully, it’s the only
low point on the album.
“Lucky” wraps up with the title track, the second December
release. It’s another unusual song in the Rocket Club canon because it features
lead turns by all three singers, their only song with that distinction. It’s
about how fortunate they’ve been to have their place in the music world over
the last 6-7 years, including a couple appearances in Billboard’s Country Top
100. It also sounds like a “goodbye” of sorts, which has led to
speculation—including from this reviewer—that their break will be for longer
than 2014. They do acknowledge “none of us really know what’s comin’, so in
case it’s goodbye” that they’re grateful for “the warm shine of friends on the
way”, and how “every friend we’ve ever made” is a crucial part of what they’ve
accomplished. Every member of the band says there’s more to come in 2015. Hopefully
they mean it. Theirs is a passionate fanbase that has seen them grow from
weekly Thursday night basement gigs to the stages of the major country musical
festival We Fest. None of those fans are ready for the ride to be over,
speaking as someone who’s a part of that fanbase. But if all we can do from
here is look back, at the pictures and the songs and the memories, nobody can
feel too cheated. We saw a band rise up to the edges of national exposure, and
still got to call them our own. Just like Rocket Club themselves, we “got
lucky.”
Final rating: 4.3 out of 5
Download “Lucky” from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lucky/id835114473
The following pictures are mine, from various Rocket Club shows over the last few years. Please do not use any of them, in full or edited, without my permission.
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