Quartered: In the News
Jun1911:25 AM
Filed in: Music News
The following article is re-posted as it originally appears in the Peace Arch News, at this link.
Rock Group Maturing
By Alex Browne - Peace Arch News
The most recent EP by Quartered, Straight Out The Sandbox, represents a quantum leap forward by a hard-working band.
The music retains all the raw intensity and emotional power of the White Rock-based group’s debut CD, The Falls Of Autumn, but has acquired additional polish, tight musicianship and a new and convincing sophistication in production.
There is also the band’s same capacity to surprise, and capitalize on their many musical influences to create music that defies the usual expectations of metal-tinged rock.
An impassioned theatrical showpiece like Brother, for instance, can give way to a surprisingly melodic piece such as Mandible, making good use of singer Greg Williams’ versatility and multilayered background vocals, while even a song with a title like Balls Deep continues to explore the band’s trademark concentration on dramatic lyrics plus a rhythmic complexity, driven by Todd Sanft’s blistering guitar lines, Craig Rudder’s dynamic bass and Scott Miller’s razor sharp drumming, far removed from the loose thrashing of so many rock wannabes.
The result is still uniquely Quartered, but is clearly the work of a group right on top of their game.
But, as the old saying goes, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
As Miller points out, the 18 months that separated the band’s two recordings represent a steep learning curve. They’re all much better at the pared-down, detail-focused world of recording – and ready to go again.
Now, only a few months after the release of Straight Out The Sandbox, the band is poised to go back in the studio for an even bigger and better album, having weathered an unheard-of nine years of learning and growing together,
“People in other bands are amazed,” Rudder admitted.
“They say ‘Nice, tight set, dude – how long have you been together?’ Then we tell them and they say ‘What? Are you married to these guys?’”
As they have said before, the overall feeling is one of a brotherhood that transcends occasional squabbles and, as Miller said, the occasional impulse to throw sandwiches at each other during rehearsals.
That feeling has only grown stronger with a return to the band, six months ago, of guitarist Jeff Wang after a three-year sabbatical pursuing other projects.
“He’d not been in the studio for either of our recordings,” Rudder said. “When he came back, everything worked, right away.”
“It feels great – we’re working really well together,” Wang said.
“We forgot what having another guitarist felt like,” Miller said.
As far as the roles of the two guitarists are concerned, there is no real shift, he said.
“There is no lead guitar. Both Todd and Jeff play leads, depending on the song. Our sound is ever-developing.”
“Something we are focused on is being a complete show,” Miller said. “We’re not the kind of music that’s in the background. Our shows are pretty full-on.”
So full-on, they said, the only thing they have to beware of is colliding on-stage, or accidentally smashing each other in the head with guitars, like Wang did to Williams in a recent show at The Bourbon in Vancouver.
“Hopefully, when we get bigger and play larger shows we can get more wireless (equipment),” Miller said.
While the past CDs have showcased older material and a multiplicity of musical directions, the band is evolving away from metal toward a more progressive, heavy rock sound, the musicians said. There’s inevitably going to be diversity in the music, Rudder said.
“Individually, we listen to so many kinds of music – absolutely everything, from Slayer to Enya.”
Their plans for their next stint of recording include going to Vancouver’s Greenhouse Studios, which has been instrumental in developing the sound of such commercial successes as 54-40, Theory Of A Deadman and Nickelback.
“We’re going to be more melodic and catchy, and we’re going to be coming up with three or four singles we plan to market,” Rudder said.
For information on shows, visit www.myspace.com/quartered
