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Picks of the
Week Home Spun
Shades
of Day Dan Grim Blog Unknown Immaculate
Inspiration Shades of Day Raves for Love Ain't Gonna
Break Me Rock to the Rescue
The Westside Goes Western Psychedelic Rock 'n' Roll Time Travel
Machine Sounding
the 805 On any given weekend, one can find evidence of a thriving, diverse, innovative and honest music scene in Ventura County. I’m a local person with a hopeless love of all kinds of music and less than 20 bucks to spend for the whole weekend. Here’s what I recently found on the ground. Members of Shades of Day peeled themselves away from recording a new album Friday to pound out an incredible two-hour set at Bombay Bar & Grill for the late-night downtown crowd and packs of adoring female fans. Glam rockers All Seeing Eyes had to pull out of the gig last minute, leaving Shades of Day free to, as Drummer Rick O Shay put it, “really get the juices flowing,” and their sound — combining elements of blues, classic ’70s rock, alternative and country in perfect measure — certainly has the juices part covered. The anticipated sophomore release is now in its early stages of recording and mixing, and is on track to drop by late summer to early fall. Their next live appearance will be June 20, when they will rock the flat-track motorcycle races at Seaside Park by day and no doubt pack the Good Bar on Main Street by night, where singer Brendan James will also perform as B Willing. Picks
of the week One of Ventura County’s favorite bands returns from a brief hiatus to share a bill with the new kids on the block. Shades of Day, with new material and a record in the works, joins up with glitter kids the All Seeing Eyes, for a night of unsurpassed rock ‘n’ roll that should leave everyone in need of a shower. The Eyes are getting ready to leave home for a mini-tour so catch ‘em while you can and Shades of Day have been busy in the barn/studio with the follow-up to Mayday, so it’s become a bit of a rare treat to see them. Friday, June 5, at Bombay Bar & Grill, 143 S California St, Ventura. 643-4404, www.myspace.com/manyshadesofday or www.myspace.com/zacharyjamesband HOME
SPUN Shades of a singer Barn storming Living the dream Ready, Willing and able Three’s company Brett_leigh_dicks@yahoo.com
By Christopher Fielder It is a well known fact that the American music scene was dominated in the 90's by the Grunge sound, which originated in Seattle. Grunge is credited, if such a word is apropos, with essentially killing Rock 'N' Roll, which had dominated the music and pop culture worlds for four decades prior. It has, therefore, been frequently uttered within the music industry that Rock 'N' Roll is in fact dead. Like Sanskrit, or the Do Do. Extinct. Lucky for music lovers, and especially rock connoisseurs, it turns out this rumor is blissfully erroneous. Ventura County's exploding music scene has just served up another red hot Rock 'N' Roll band who, though not a new act, has just touched off their first album entitled MAYDAY. Shades of Day is truly a rare blend of musical backgrounds; each lending to their heartfelt, playfull and explosive eclectic jams on Mayday. The debut album, written over two years and recorded in the band's posh rural studio located in an old barn near Ojai, represents the tight and intuitive collaborate effort focused on shaping each individual track. The result is a unique musical journey that on one song might blend influences of the Greatful Dead with Blue Oyster Cult, while on another shoots through hints of bluegrass and jazzy arrangements on its way to a twist of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Strong percussion, melodies and vocals maintain the band's pumped-up classic rock feel that makes your hairs stand on end. But it's the well placed harmonica, sax and other musical goodies that keep listeners wanting to dig around MAYDAY's enticing grab bag of tunes. At first glance lead vocalist Brendan James might resemble a young and romantic Jim Morrison, but his roots in our multicultural, multidisciplinary postmodern moment are far more diverse. "...My early influences were Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Audioslave and Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes..." His melodious voice is as mesmerizing as his presence when he performs, rarely opening his eyes, lost somewhere in the music. Micah McCabe (bass) holds his cool when talking about his love of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Guitarist and fellow Beatlephile Matt O'Neill who alos plays slide guitar, recalls "...I remember when I first heart Aqualung by Jethro Tull, and knew immediately that I had to get a guitar!" Richard Shay on drums is quite evidently both a Zepplin, and a Carcass fan. Shades of Day is definitely not a garage band; the striking professionalism of their mixes is well coupled with slick but not veneered graphics and packaging of their first release. The group's work ethic shines through in their aggressive touring schedule through tri-county clubs including gigs on the road in Las Vegas, San Diego, and Arizona and locally at Velvet Jones, Wildcat, Rocks, Johnny Depp's Viper Room in L.A., and the Ventura Theatre. They've opened for Blondie and Little Feat, and were featured on Chrissy Strassburg's "Musical Cafe" on Channel 17. The band will travel to Ohio in September. Shades of Day's MAYDAY is available for purchase on cdbaby.com, I-tunes, through Paypal on their website shadesofday.net and in a surprising number of independent record stores including Ventura's Buffalo Records and Salzer's. Plans for an exclusive performance at VC Life & Style's Associated Gallery 33 space are underway for August or September 2006. Watch for details at vclifeandstyle.com, shadesofday.net or call 805.641.9303 to be added to our e-list to receive your private invitation. I have to say I have a big ol ego. A big
huge I'm the only best ever ego, and I am a jaded mofo for music,
so you know I'm serious when I say: I got back to gigging tonight because they got me stoked again. I got back to gigging tonight because they invited me to, and I thank them for the kick in the pants. So if I may hype where hype is deserving, even on my own me me me site: Richard(Rickles "moosehoney" O'Shay) on drums has been a brother reunited and quite literaly one of my best freinds little brother with nothing little about talent for a long long time. He's so nice he volunteered to let my wolf bite him! Which he did! unofficialy(legal whatnot) plus I hear the moosehoney is excellent. Matt "Camp" O'Neal if he gets my backpack back I'll be on track plus he can shred a guitar like a bum smokes crack. Also I shoulda bought a guitar from him, but now will suffa! Ask him about about snow pics if you Dare! Brendan "B Willin" James- is the most down to earth awesome lead man since Ben Harper and Ben can't haunt a room like B. I've seen em both enough to know. Ask him who's not home. Micah "Frowny McBass" Guftason- He's a fine engineer, he's got a punchy retro bass goodness and a winter comfort beard that says, "I'm angry and yet I make you happy". That's what a bass player with a knack for pocket can do. Plus.... Doesn't it make you feel good when frowny people smile at you? As for me you may admire my "Art of Laziness and Enjoyment" whenever Shades of Day play or wherever I walk. Lates Every once in a while a random visit to the club results in a new favorite band. This last Friday night at the Velvet Jones club in Santa Barbara I had one of these moments. The band was Shades of Day and they are fairly new from what I can tell by their website. They are not signed to a label or have a large following - YET, I say yet because these guys were something special. I have been a bit disillusioned as of late with the cookie cutter rock that is pouring out of the mainstream. Its not that most of the music is inherently bad - it isn’t- its more that its just boring. The whole Emo thing is finally playing out and with the help of Jack White ( and Jack Black ) the guitar is once again taking center stage as the instrument of Rock. It is in fact hard to imagine how so many crappy guitar players have made it as rock stars in the last 5 years. Well I think the dawn of the guitar is among us. I mean straight up bang your head drop your jaw rock guitar, not the hunch over and jump up and down power chord crap that Indie Rock has promoted, No I am talking about the Jimmy Page’s, the Joe Perry’s of the world. Those kids who not unlike myself spent many, many and many more hours nailing their lead guitar skills in their bedrooms. Well that is the type of rock that Shades
of Day erupts on stage with. Not only is is pure rock (as if from another
decade) they play it with so much gusto that you cant help but laugh.
The singer is shirtless and swales and swings with the feel of a famous
Plant. The drummer is literally Animal from the Muppets - shirtless
and all. And the guitar player, well not only did he spend more hours
than most perfecting his pentatonics he friking rips em’ to shreds.
Not without merit is their bass player who through enough deep end punch
to make it vibrate your ass off the stool and end up on the floor. Just
the kind of player I like, reluctant and solid. Immaculate Inspiration By Matthew Singer Ventura County Star May 25, 2006 With their first album, Ojai’s Shades of Day hit a major milestone... Most successful musicians can recall the moment of their personal big bang — that explosive instance where the path of their lives suddenly appeared before them, beckoning them to follow. Brendan James, the 26-year-old frontman for Ojai-based quintet Shades of Day, is no different. Only, he’s not quite sure there was any single catalytic experience. Music is certainly burned into his DNA: His mother plays guitar, and his father replaced Sammy Hagar as the vocalist for ’70s proto-metallurgists Montrose. But up until his mid-teens, James virtually ignored what appeared to be his birthright, preferring sports and other, more “traditional” adolescent activities. Then, at 14, he picked up a bass, and nothing else mattered. Call it “immaculate inspiration.” Since then, the LA-born songwriter has been chugging straight toward his goal of becoming a professional rocker. And he just recently crossed a significant mile-marker: Last month, his band celebrated the release of MAYDAY!, their first self-produced disc of driving, Southern-tinged hard rock. Shades of Day formed in 2000 after James left Los Angeles
for Santa Barbara. He dove into the college town’s open mic scene,
honing his songwriting skills and struggling to get over his anxiety of
performing for other people — even though, more often than not,
there wasn’t that many to actually perform for. “I was nervous
doing songs in front of other people,” he says. “But as hard
as it was, it was extremely appealing. I was bitten by the songwriting
bug, and I wanted it bad.” Living in Isla Vista, James hooked up
with singer Rebekah Hodgson, joining her backing group as a guitarist.
There he met drummer Richard Shay, formerly of heavy thrashers the D-Minus
Players, then reduced to playing with brushes for Hodgson’s mellower,
more atmospheric material. Impressed with his sonic diversity, James invited
Shay to start jamming with him on some of his own stuff, which leaned
closer to the louder end of the spectrum. But it wasn’t until bassist
Micah McCabe came into the fold that he confirmed the band’s direction.
“That’s when I knew I wanted to be in a rock band,”
he says. After steadily building the group’s reputation around Santa Barbara as a propulsive live act, in 2002 James decided to return to Los Angeles, where he thought he’d be able to launch Shades of Day to the next level. Although he did score the band a handful of gigs, he quickly realized that LA is “not the same as up here [in Ventura County].” Around the time James relocated to Westlake and moved in with Shay, O’Neill proposed the idea of converting his family’s barn in Ojai {SOD.NET correction, it's McCabe's family barn, not O'Neill) into an all-purpose recording studio and practice space. For the next two years, the band worked solely to fund the construction. During that period, James went through a “black” shade of life: His 4-year-old journal, a primary source of inspiration, disappeared. The loss sent him into a state of depression. “It was like I lost a person,” he says. “It felt that hard.” James contemplated quitting the band and splitting to Boston.
Eventually, he met a girl who helped pull him out of his funk. But the
darkness of that experience carried over to the songs that make up MAYDAY!.
Upon finishing the building of their rural studio — which they appropriately
christened “the Barn” — in 2004, the group wasted no
time utilizing the equipment they had just installed. It took them two
years to complete the album because, James explains, their music and knowledge
of the recording process evolved at such a rapid pace they had to constantly
re-record material they felt wasn’t up to par with the stuff they
were doing only a few weeks later. The band recruited their old mutual acquaintance Rebekah Hodgson to design the cover art. It’s a thoroughly professional-looking package, which makes the absence of a label imprint rather surprising. And that’s a major point for James. “It shows people you don’t need a record company to do all this,” he says. “I paid my dues to make this. It’s something I can die with. And that’s a good feeling.” Shades of Day Members: Richard Shay (drums and vocals), Matt O’Neill (guitars and vocals), Brendan James (vocals and guitar), Micah McCabe (bass and vocals), Dr. Relaxo (guest sax). Style: Classic ’70s-inspired wailing cock-rock, but with more than a hint of romantic chivalry that soon has the guys in the crowd fired up, and the girls standing in a slippery little puddle. Influences: The Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Neil Young. Prior Gigs: Velvet Jones, Wildcat, Rocks, Johnny Depp’s Viper Room in L.A., and the Ventura Theatre. They’ve opened for Blondie and Little Feat, and were featured on Chrissy Strassburg’s “Musical Café” on Channel 17. The Skinny: Formed in Ojai six years ago, the band literally rose from ashes: After two garage-based years, they began the monumental task of converting a century-old barn into a deluxe practice/recording space (the “Red Barn Studio”) that perfectly suits their somewhat hippie-esque grassroots ideals. With wailing vocals, searing guitar hooks, and a punch-tight rhythm section, they take the phrase “in your face” literally, and they deliver on that promise. Hold on to your hat, cuz your ass’ll belong to Shades of Day. Next Gig: The band holds its triumphant CD release gig for the eagerly anticipated album Mayday at the appropriately named Rocks this Friday, May 12. Raves for Love Ain't Gonna
Break Me ~~For some strange reason, my first impression of this song was "Foriegner meets Soundgarden"...what a great combination! The guitar work is extremely retro-70's, the vocals are early to mid 90's, and the song gives an overall impression of modern rock. The musicianship of this song is simply to die for! I love the recording quality of this track, professional all the way. Lyricaly strong, structurally strong.... An awesome track....let me know when I can buy the CD!!!~~~ ~~The HOT track! What a great startup - the swinging cymbal. This is heavy
and indeed too heavy for me on my earpiece. ~~This is a good solid rock tune. It's put together well and executed the same. The band is tight. A little old school, but nothing wrong with that in my eyes. Good vocals, clean and in tune. Good job guys. Production is great!~~ ~~whoa! awesome awesome. the vocals just struck me out when it first came in. it's that good. great melody set up. and the chorus ROCKS. guitar...drool....when i heard the instruments break down i was really hoping for a solo and i got it. and i always love wah. and i love this guitar solo. and it's the chorus again.....which is AWESOME. such a good chorus. ~~~ ~~GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me of David Coverdale a bit. Excellent vocals. I saw his last incarnation of White Snake with Steve Vai,
Vandenberg, Sarzo and Aldridge. Awesome. You guys sound great. Good work. Good luck to you.~~ Rock to the Rescue Shades of Day promises its upcoming 'Mayday' CD will be a lifesaver for fans craving melodic jams There are a few rock 'n' roll cliches that are as tiresome as they are true. The show never starts on time. The thirstier you are, the more invisible you are to the bartender. The T-shirts cost too much and the prettiest girls are always with the band, in this case, Shades of Day. For example, Brandi Crockett, the former blond barmaid queen at Wine Lovers in Ventura, is now the significant other to Shady bass player Micah McCabe. While perhaps not entirely objective, Crockett can offer up some interesting insight into the Ventura rock band's appeal. "Let's see, they all look like they time warped in from another time — the '60s or the '70s," she opines. "Very eclectic. I think the music is very sexual. You can tell that they communicate well because of the way they play together." Shades of Day will play well together when it performs an "evening with" gig Friday night at Rocks in Santa Barbara. A fiver will get you in the door. Rocks is not only the place, but it's also what this band does. The boys in the band include aforementioned bassist McCabe,
singer-songwriter Brendan James, lead guitarist Matt O'Neill and drummer
Richard Shay. Quite often the band is bolstered by a harmonica and sax
player with a classic rock 'n' roll name, Doctor Relax-o. "All day jobs," James said. "I work over at Trader Joe's, and I look forward to doing this when I get off of work. We're doing our best, and we all love to do it, which is the important thing. We really kind of spent two years being hermits. We built a studio, got the songs together and recorded an album. So for a year, we didn't really play a lot, but now we're just starting to play again. So yeah, we all have day jobs. But at night, it's all about promoting and we're going to release an album soon. It's called "Mayday.'" While "Mayday" equals "help," "new CD" generally equals "CD Party." "Yeah, definitely. I think we're gonna do it somewhere in Ojai, maybe the Arts Center and do a theatrical kind of thing. We don't have a date for it yet. The songs on MAYDAY! are kinda between two things — personal stuff from my youth and relationship stuff. I went through a helluva relationship that was pretty violent at times, and I got a lot of inspiration out of that. Without crazy chicks, there would be no rock songs." As to the cool band name: "It's actually from a Calvin & Hobbes book. Calvin can be pretty philosophical and he was talking about "shades of gray," and I just changed it to "day" because I liked the imagery of it." According to the band's Web site (thus, it must be true) the Shades were influenced by Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, the Allman Brothers, Wilco, Little Feat, Black Crowes and even a little bit of perhaps the greatest singer/songwriter ever, Harry Nilsson. "We do mostly originals and we try to do some fairly obscure covers. For the last gig, we learned (Mountain's) Mississippi Queen.' We sound like rock 'n' roll should sound. We try to be real organic. We use two guitars, bass, drums and we write melodies, then we jam out. We like to put on a show. We like to just let the music flow. None of our shows are quite the same." The band definitely has that groove thing working. If more adjectives be necessary — and they always are — the group describes itself as "a bleeding heart, a revving engine, a shooting star, a married couple consummating for the first time, the light bulb above your head, falling in love, falling out of love, an angry letter, life happening" "You've got to if you want to get yourself heard. As to Ventura, here's an example: We played at Dargan's in Ventura last October, and it was very successful. There was a line down the street and it was too hectic for them. And we play at the Ventura Theater once in a while and that's cool, but it's hard to get people in there because the drinks are too expensive and some of the people that work there. well, that stuff gets around in Ventura. I like it when we can relax, like at the Rocks show. We're gonna play for a couple of hours, let people know who we are and actually gain them as fans, rather than just bringing our friends." According to James, there's one more thing that would get the folks out to shows. "Ventura needs a modern rock radio station," he says. "If they want to pump up the scene and get good bands, that's what we need. There's plenty of great bands playing in this town, you just don't hear about them because there's no avenue for it." As to a master band plan, Shades of Day has one. "We're just gonna start playing a lot and try to sell some copies of our album," he says. "We'll probably play L.A., but as little as possible. There's a need in other places and in other states for the kind of rock 'n' roll we're gonna do." The Westside Goes
Western with Shades of Day over Halloween Weekend Rockin’ gunslingers will move the ghoul in you when Club Good Hurt in West L.A. presents Shades of Day on Saturday, October 29, 2005. A costume harkening to the Ol’ West and $5.00 will transport any roughrider and their posse to a saloon sounding with the licks and heart of the American dream. The show begins at 9:00 p.m. at the 12249 Venice Blvd. location. Bringing to its audience the enthusiasm of grassroots rock with a pop playfulness, Shades of Day will debut a set off of their newly recorded album, MAYDAY! Brendan James, the band’s lead singer, can throttle into a song with his powerful voice over the classic sound of guitarist, Matt O’Neill, and is never afraid to saunter out with a cool melody. Micah McCabe’s thundering bass swelters in the deep end while Richard Shay pounds out rhythms reminiscent of Bonham and Mitchell. The mix of modern sensibility and soul rock leaves crowds swooned with energy. Chris Klimek of the VC Reporter reviews: "Anyone caught in the Ojai foursome's crunchy twin guitar attack will know that this band understands and embodies the spirit of the age… Rock and roll from before it was exiled from the garden, from before it knew it had anything to be embarrassed about." The evening promises a line up of talented groups all flanked by the festive atmosphere of Good Hurt’s transformed bar space. Price at the door on the day of the event is $7.00 without costume or flier. For more information contact: Brendan James at 805.252.5288. This release is available on the Shades of Day press website at www.sonicbids.com/shadesofday by clicking on the “Press” link. -###--
Shades of Day parties like it's 1969 More than three decades after it was first proclaimed dead, rock and roll now finds itself squeezed into a weird cultural space. If we disregard the classic-rock radio stations that have been on the same Stones-Zeppelin-Credence treadmill for 25 years now, rock is pretty much absent from our Clear Channel-dominated airwaves. But it's everywhere on stage. Go to Ticketmaster.com and you can find almost any band your parents ever listened to out on the road again: Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Whomever...They're all out there. The past decade has made it socially acceptable both to download music for free and to pay $50 to $150 for a concert ticket. So if you make your living playing music, you make your living on the road. This shift has, among other things, permanently denuded, and held up for public rebuke, the quaint notion that rock and roll is meant to be played and listened to exclusively by the young. It's actually more shocking in 2004 to see guys in their twenties playing flamboyant, jovial blues-rock than it is to see forty-somethings doing the same thing. The number of young bands who remain unpoisoned by the "can't-you-see-me-suffering-up-here-this-isn't-fun-goddammit" performing ethos of frontmen like Eddie Vedder and Thom Yorke sometimes seems small enough to constitute a sort of movement: The Hives, Franz Ferdinand, Happily, the Ventura-Santa Barbara scene, so dominated by punks of every stripe, has its own able advocates of unpretentious good-time rock. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Shades of Day; Matt O'Neill, lead axe; Micah McCabe, bass; and Brendan James, guitar and lead vocals. The shade of this particular day is a cold, chalk-smear white. A red barn sits in the middle of an Oak View farm that McCabe's parents and grandparents have lived on for decades. Even the half-dozen chickens scurrying about barely pierce the wintry silence. But this barn, like the mouth of the Batcave is merely the facade of an impressive facility with an impressive purpose. It is so soundproof you can almost touch the door before you hear the low rumble of a bass guitar and the mighty crashing of drums. Opening the door, a visitor is enveloped in a warm blast of sound. Pass through a little noise-defeating airlock, and suddenly there you are, right back in 1972 or so, whether you were alive back then or not. None of the guys in Shades of Day were-the median age in this group is 26-but it hardly matters. Anyone caught in the line of fire of the Ojai's foursome's crunchy twin-guitar attack will know that this band understands and embodies the spirit of the age. Not the actual 70s, mind you, but the glorious Neverland 70s that exist only in the minds of music geeks under 30 who, somewhere along the line, had the good fortune to discover the first decade or so of the Stones. Rock and roll from before it was exiled from the garden, from before it knew it had anything to be embarrassed about. Case in point: The song the band is learning this afternoon is "Godzilla," a Blue Oyster Cult cover intended as a surprise addition to their set for a gig three days from now at Santa Barbara's Wildcat Lounge. The track is a plaintive, searching ode to...Well, actually, it's about the giant fire-breathing lizard that attacks a Legoland version of Tokyo every few months. It's a goofy tune that these guys are smart enough to play utterly straight. McCabe, squints his eyes shut beneath his shaggy mop of brown hair and thrusts his chin upward when he signs backup part on the chorus: Go, go, Godzilla! An indier-tan-thou pack of self-serious mythologizers these guys are not. "Playing music is like falling into a hole," Shay observes later, during a smoke break. "You just keep falling and falling the more you learn. You'll be feeling pretty good about where you are, and then you'll hear someone else play and you'll go 'Oh, shit! I don't know anything." But they do know more than when they started. The group has coalesced into a tight, instinctive cadre of players since coming together three-and-a-half years ago. Shay, McCabe and O'Neill knew one another from Nordhoff High School, while James became aware of the trio while studying at UC Santa Barbara. The group began rehearsing together three times a week, and hustling to book gigs at any venue that would have them, most often landing at UCSB college bars or Ojai's Deer Lodge. Most recently, they scored two high profile opening slots at the Majestic Ventura Theatre, warming up crowds for Blondie in September and Edwin McCain last October. For the past two years, however, the group's main endeavor has been the construction of a modern environment in which to polish their homage to happier musical times. on the outside, the barn is the same building that McCabe's mother, Leslee, kept her horse in when she was growing up in the 1960s. Inside, it's a state-of-the-art rehearsal and recording facility, built entirely by the band members themselves over the course of two years. The investment of time was substantial, but the monetary cost, McCabe says, was hardly more than the group would have spent if they'd continue to drop the $300-$400 dollar per month they'd been paying for studio time prior to embarking on this project. The performance room of the studio has a moody atmosphere, with dark scarlet paint on all four walls and the only natural light coming from two small windows on either side of the pitched ceiling. A leather couch and some candles give the room a homey feel despite all the tightly-packed instruments and gear-three big amplifiers, a mixer and an old piano, all of it increasingly cover by Guiness and Negra Model bottles as the afternoon wears on. Behind two panes of glass is the control room-home to a Tascam mixing console with an onboard hard disk recorder. The band is using this brand-new piece of equipment to record their first album, albeit in no particular hurry. The EP sold at the groups shows features five polished tracks, opening with the tongue-in-cheek blooze stomp of "Love Ain't Gonna Break Me" before shifting, quite ably to the spacey balladry of "A Simple Question" and "Starlight Spacetrains." "Out of My Life" is a fairly standard breakup number, but accessible and upbeat enough to find a home on the soundtrack to any number of teen dramas on the Fox network. McCabe, with a bachelor's degree in sound engineering, serves as the group's de facto producer. His bandmates contribute in other extra-musical roles: Shay, a graphic designer by day, runs the group's website (shadesofday.net) and creates logos, T-shirts, sticker and flyers for the band, while James writes most of the lyrics and books the band's appearances. Back in their studio continuing to rehearse for the Wildcat Lounge gig, the guys play with a cocksure swagger that would look idiotic if their musical chops weren't so solid. When they confer after each song to critique their performance, the rapport between them is charming and good-humored to an almost eerie degree, like if you were spying on the Beatles in their dressing room and you learned they really do act just like they do in A Hard Day's Night. McCabe has a flask of whiskey that circles the room several times. It would all seem like a fine show of rock and roll except that McCabe family keeps dropping by; first his sister Tara, a Brooks photography student, then Leslee, his mom and eventually his dad, too. It becomes apparent that this is the only nod to the present day-the fact that what might have seemed quite dangerous 30 years ago is downright wholesome now. Three nights later at the Wildcat, both Leslee and Shay's mother, Kim are hawking CDs and T-shirts, bobbing their heads along to every song. "We're the oldest groupies you'll ever meet!" Kim laughs, entirely unfazed by the gaggle of a dozen or so young ladies who have positioned themselves near the lip of the stage. "I don't worry about them much," Kim says. "These guys are pretty stable." The band wraps up its set after an hour with "Bring it on Home," a Zeppelin cover on which James affects Robert Plant with shocking accuracy. The crowd, James says later, is smaller than they were hoping for, noting that this is UCSB finals week. But they're still quite loud and disproportionately blonde and pretty. When James asks them if they want to hear "Cold Heart Dead," one of the band's originals their shrieks are tougher on the ears than anything coming out of O'Neill's amp. "This is the raw meat of our set," James says of the song. "Some people can eat it, and some people can't." Then the band lights into the number, and it becomes clear right away that the "can'ts" have all stayed home. Maybe they're studying for finals. Maybe they're listening to a Radiohead album pondering man's inhumanity to man. They're not here, and no one misses them. We've got partying to do, because the 70s aren't going to last forever.
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