sweaty jumper cables

sweaty jumper cables

I have been putting off writing this post for a few months now because I’ve been in denial. They say that admitting the truth to yourself is the first step to recovery.  So here goes…

“Miranda Sound is breaking up.”

That wasn’t so bad.

For those who don’t know, Miranda Sound is the best band you’ve never heard.  I don’t know why you haven’t heard of them if you haven’t yet but I tell you it’s a crime against word of mouth that these guys aren’t headlining shows at your local amphitheatre.  Actually, I take that back–they are best when they are on top of each other, switching instruments, sweat dripping from their foreheads, and singing into the pickups on their electric guitars in claustrophobic bars.  Miranda Sound is the James Brown of Indie Rock bands, the hardest working men in entertainment.

Were.  Gotta start saying were.

I remember the first time I saw them play–at Easy Street Cafe in Bowling Green, Ohio. We were all students there and I knew Dan Gerken from my Philosophy of Religion class and he knew my girlfriend at the time who later became my wife.  Dan was in a band called Ten Forward (I’m assuming named for the lounge on the Starship Enterprise-D from The Next Generation).  Billy Peake was already lead singer and guitarist for Miranda Sound and you could tell he was talented even though he had a way of staring through the crowd which creeped me out a litte at the time.  But this quirk must have been young musicians nerves because when I saw them play Comfest in 2005, they had their shit together.  The sound was tight and they moved as one.

Dan Bell cracked those fucking drums like they owed him money.  Sean Sefcik ran bass grooves that sounded like water patterns they changed up so quickly.  And Gerken and Peake with dual vocals and dual lead/rhythm guitars are (were–I mean) like some crazy siamese twin call and refrain pattern that touches the deepest nerve endings in the bottom of one’s ear hole.

Indeed, truly hearing Miranda Sound is a bit like falling down a well where sound is coming at you from the bottom, sides and from someone screaming down the hole at you as you fall.  And it sounds so good at times, even when its dissonant, that you forget that you’re falling.  Well, everything that goes us up…

And themes.  These guys got themes for dat ass.  Gerken, who with all his degrees has more letters after his name than Carter’s has pills, was once referred to in my presence by another mutual friend as, “The dumbest smart kid we know.”  What this means is that he is able to take high concepts and break them down lyrically to mold together with the music and create a mood that evokes the right emotion to accompany the lyrical images. And Billy is certainly no slouch in the writing department either–he’s written some killer tunes like “We Could Be Land Owners.”

In the end, this is the heart of successful music and these guys delivered the goods for four albums, each of which has become a pillar in my late twenties and early thirties.  Every time I listen to these albums, I will be drawn back to those mysterious years after college which drifted from finding a career to getting married to having kids to buying a house and establishing a grown up life.  How the hell did that happen and has seemed to come out okay so far?  I don’t know but I do know that I’ll be listening to Miranda Sound’s music for the rest of my life.

They’re that good and they will be missed.

Don’t believe me?  Go here to download the entire Western Reserve album for free and make sure to listen to it at least five times in a row.  You will begin to hear the magic that happens when these guys play.  Pay particularly close attention to “The Lull of Youngstown,” “Take it Where You Can Get It,” and “We’re Making Amends.”

Then, go to iTunes and buy the other three albums.  You won’t regret it.

Also, if you live in Columbus, make sure to carve out Friday August 15th to make it to Miranda Sound’s final Columbus performance ever at 9:00 PM at The Ravari Room.

Photo is from Miranda Sound’s MySpace pics

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