vee device
Local band debuts folk-rock opera
www.coloradoan.comSo Fort Collins band vee device is putting out a three act/three CD folk-rock opera using Americana instruments to form a classical/funk sound, with a storyline based on the late 19th/early 20th century Russian author Isaac Babel and his struggle between finding justice in his homeland and making a home with the woman he loves.
Oh, and the CD cover uses Soviet propaganda art with 1950s American jazz album cover motif and a music theory that links colors to music.
Got it?
Neither did most of vee device’s friends and family — even when they explained it multiple times.
They didn’t know what to think, said vee guitarist and lead vocalist Sam Ernst, of the band’s new project, Love Will Tear Us to Shreds.
Ernst, an aficionado of Soviet-era literature, had been reading Babel’s Red Cavalry cycles and decided his story of oppression, love, intrigue and “fateful self destruction” would make the perfect epic.
“Just for the record I did tell him he was crazy,” joked bandmate Dennis Bigelow. “And I didn’t want to do it at first. But I think there was no way of convincing Sam that it was going to be an incredible amount of work.”
Bigelow plays a myriad of instruments including upright bass, accordion, banjo, trombone, dulcimer, harp, organ, percussion — not drums though, the group takes great pride in not having a drummer — and crystal glasses.
The project has kept the group busy for more than two years just writing and recording the first act. Each part is recorded separately in a sound booth the band built in Ernst’s apartment. Now the band — mainly made up of vee (Ernst) and &roid (Bigelow) as well as G-Man (guitars/mandolins) and M.C. (violin) — is preparing to debut it for the world at its CD release party Friday.
Love falls somewhere and nowhere in between “Aida,” “Le Mes” and “Tommy.”
When the classical opening sequence “And Quiet Flows the Dawn” turns into a funk guitar riff reminiscent of the Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’ ” you know there is more to this than meets the eye.
The CD requires more than a cursory listening but it’s got a pull that starts with absurdist curiosity (What the hell is this?) and ends with you pondering what will happen next (Will Babel go to Paris for Elayna? Will the General kill him first? Will they ever stop eating horses?)
An even better question is — how the heck are they going to pull off a live performance of this?
“We’re not quite sure about that ourselves,” Bigelow said. The group has pulled in extra musicians to aid in the show but it will be impossible to do an exact live recreation of the CD. “It could go great or it could end horribly. Either way it will be interesting to see.”
It’s a question audiences will be well served to go to tonight’s free show and have answered.
Now, about those horses?
Fort Collins Coloradoan -- Friday, October 27, 2006
By Stacy Nick