Written by Eddie Ferranti
One the most asked questions I get when I’m going to cover a show is “What do they sound like?” It is natural for people to ask that, but really not fair to the band in question. The performers this night have suffered from this sort of thing big time. American Aquarium out of North Carolina took its name from a Wilco song and has been compared to the sound of Drive-by Truckers and Lucero or whomever along the way. What AA sounds like is a bad ass raw, honest, creative and attention getting tight band. So there. Got that out of the way!
Lead by off-the-wall singer/songwriter BJ Barham, guitarists Ryan Johnson and Colin Dimeo, bassist Bill Corbin, drummer Kevin McClain and Whit Wright on keys/pedal-steel guitar they are a clever mix of straight up rock mixed with tongue in cheek country if you will. Barham does not really give a sheet about anything and it enhances his delivery and performance. To this reviewer he actually sounds like a southern version of Bruce Springsteen with the balls of an elephant. Dude had me rolling with lines like: “You can’t make any money writing about sobriety. I’ve been sober for 28 months and surprisingly nothing goes to shit!” Just one of the gems he spouted off at this gig. He made a point to say that most of his tunes are sad and even his “one” love song, “Man I’m Supposed to Be”, made his wife cry saying it was the saddest love song she ever heard!
Burning thru songs from stellar albums “Burn.Flicker.Die. and Wolves”, AA made you think on “Lonely Ain’t Kind”, “Family Problems”, title cut to first album which was supposed to be their last,and “Hurricane”. Then they can shift gears out of balladry to jam your butt off with trade off leads all around the stage on “Wichita Falls”, epic “losing Side of Twenty-Five”, jam fused “Casualties”and “Northeast Texas Women”! BB champions the struggles of the working class trying to make it day to day wondering whether or not they can survive in his songwriting.
In closing, bands like these are beyond refreshing to hear especially in the happening confines of Main Street Crossing. I’ve seen these cats before in bars where hard booze is sold and it has a lot more sing along and swagger, but a venue like this made one pay attention more to the passionate feel coming from the stage. Barham expressed sincere appreciation to the loyal crowd (on a Monday!) for supporting independent bands who tour endlessly to make a name for themselves. Eleven years they have been at it and they stand out in today’s jib jab short attention span of “whatever they sound like” music scene. To this reviewer being real matters and here’s hoping that elusive big stardom comes their way soon…………Peace and get off your duff and support some stuff with us!