Today is a big driving day for me. I’m be returning to Los Angeles from my little break in Park City, Utah. So as you’re checking this song out, I’m on the road zippin along to the soundtrack on my iPod, or maybe listening to a movie. Isn’t that a little weird? Listening to a movie as you drive? I’d have to agree, but you know? I’m actually starting to enjoy it. It helps to break up the boredom of the drive and music to have people speaking lines in your ears, tied to a good story. I’ll probably start with That Thing You Do. Which a great movie even without the picture. Besides the soundtrack is pretty cool and Steve Zahn has some great one-liners. One of my fav’s: “You’re talking gibberish.”
The song that the movie revolves around is written in a very classic style that still resonates today. Which to me is brilliant. I’ve either read or heard that Adam Schlessinger the writer actually can’t stand the song and apparently refuses to play it live. Bummer because it is actually very good. If it were to be a version by him on iTunes I’d actually post the song here as a Single of the Day. Cheesy as that sounds. But I dig the harmonies and the changes in that song. Which leads me to today’s post…
The Torries. They were a sensation around the Los Angeles area. They had broken up by the time I had actually heard of them. They were brought to my attention by my friend Kevin Packard. Who has been on Throwing Toasters recordings and he had his own band too, Penny Racer. He played me a song called “Round and Round”. Which sounded like an original until it hit the chorus and while I recognized the words it took me a while to recognize that it was a song originally by a band called Ratt. It was very impressive. It was so different but yet it made that Ratt song so cool. In fact it was the creative influence when I recorded my version of “Cruel To Be Kind” (by Nick Lowe), which I’ll likely post here sometime in the future.
That song led me to check out more of The Torries material. Powerful stuff. Lots of harmonies. Lots of cool rhythms. All from three guys. A couple of years ago my A&R rep at Taylor Guitars asked me if I’d be interested in playing with Steve Bertrand in a new project he had going called Avion. I said sure. Steve and I chatted, but never actually got to cross paths. I don’t remember the exact reason why. It’s too bad, I think it would have been fun. I haven’t kept up too much on how Avion is doing, but I think I’ve heard they’ve landed some material in movie soundtracks and such.
Enjoy today’s song. I highly recommend their other CD’s as well. Buy it, live it, love it!