The Energy Trio – Review
One of the incredible things about listening to independent bands is the diverse range of styles and influences. Not having been tainted by the labels’ desire to make all bands sound the same, indie musicians can generate an entirely unique sound without fear of getting dumped. The Energy Trio don’t create one unique sound, they manage to cross every genre and invent several of their own along the way.
The very first thing you’ll probably think when you hear them is “My God, they can actually play” and you’d be right. Hardly a surprise when you look at the staggering range of musical influences that range from Pantera to Art Blakey, Gene Harris, and Pat Martino that it is so difficult to pigeon hole them in any single style.
There is always a concern with bands offering this diverse a range of influences that the result is going to be headache inducing garbage, but that is quite possibly the only genre that the Energy Trio has yet to conquer.
Incredible rock guitar riffs, Jazz drum lines and 1960s keyboard just shouldn’t combine this well but in “Softly” they manage it perfectly and even throw in some Jazz Funk effects for good measure. This is surely 1960’s heavy metal jazz-fusion bebop at its very finest.
All the band members hail from an incredible musical background. Bob “Animal” Powers on guitar can play his way through heavy metal riffs and back out in any other musical style. Shea “LCD” Marshall is an organ player like no other. He currently lists his projects as including a Ballet School, resident pianist for a contemporary church, and is soon to take over the role as organist for a Jewish Congregation. Adam “AC Biggs” Clark is responsible for some of the most varied and accomplished rhythms of any band and boasts playing many styles of music in all styles of bands.
Nice writeup! I’m surprised that this review has been up for over a year and no one has commented before me!
As for the point of musical diversity; I think musician-ship is defined not by just how good you can play/sing but how wide you can cast your net over the waters of styles. I think diversity is what makes such big-label legends of the past as The Beatles, Elton John, and Billy Joel so popular even after the band ceased to exist and at least one of the two piano men has gone into pop-music retirement. Young bands, particularly indie ones, should take heed and not simply get locked into one style.
Great point Fardreamer. Diversity is so important in being a good musician. You need to keep up with the constantly changing styles in order to keep your popularity and to remain liked. I think that diversity is underrated by many of today’s artists, in some respects at least.
Stepping outside of the indie/rock/pop scene for a bit just to make a point about diversity:
Take a look at the career of film composer John Williams. He was a classically trained graduate of Julliard and has composed “serious” classical works, but he also played piano and done some jazz pieces. If he only did Star Wars-style scores for every movie he is hired to compose music for, he’d be one very limited artist. Instead, Williams taps into music from different genres and cultures and can pretty much score anything – from a Western like 1972’s The Cowboys to a movie set in Japan (an Eastern?) such as Memoirs of a Geisha – and remain fresh and creatively flexible.
Back to indie/pop/rock bands: While I know that some listeners love one particular style of song and stick to it, I get bored really fast with a band that adopts one style and never wavers from it. That’s why, I think, I never tire of listening to The Beatles or Billy Joel; those acts had a habit of morphing their styles when they saw they needed to evolve musically.
That fact that so many artists seem to stick with one style is really what has lead me to kind of wander around and try out different genres. A lot of artists just aren’t as diverse as they could be, and I really think it hurts them in the long run.
Unfortunately, Jewel, some musicians tend to either try to imitate other groups, particularly successful groups, or play it safe by sticking to what made them “good” when they started out. They ossify and become Johnny-one-notes after a while, which is not exactly conducive to diversity.
I have the same wandering issue Jewel. There are so many bands that make it big with a song and then every song after that is so similar where it seems as though only the words are different. I have lost interest in many of bands due to their like of diversity.
I’m gonna agree with Jewel too. This seems to happening a lot lately where an entire album will all sound the same. Nothing irks me more than someone putting out one great song and then riding on the coat tails of that one song with every other song sounding similar.
I am glad that I am not the only one who feels that way. There’s one band I really love for example, Flyleaf, however every song seems to sound the same to me. I love the band, I just wish that they had way more diversity in songs.