Tony Pascarella
06/09/06, 12:50 AM
On Wednesday night, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Sub Pop Records' Rogue Wave (http://www.myspace.com/roguewave) open for The Stills (http://www.myspace.com/thestills) here in Fort Lauderdale. About once a year, a band comes along and plays here that absolutely floors me. Last year, it was Jimmy Eat World's nearly two-hour headlining set, and this year it's shaping up to be the 12 songs/45 minutes that Rogue Wave played for. Playing a wide swath of songs from their 2005 release, Descended Like Vultures including "Publish My Love," "Bird on a Wire," "Love's Lost Guarantee," "California," and "You," the band turned the entire crowd into bona fide fans. With an electric live show that will make any self-respecting hipster weak at the knees, you owe it to yourself to check out their flawless performances for yourself. Frontman Zack Rogue pulls off the emotion to their music perfectly with a soaring vocal quality to his voice (in generally a poor venue for vocals), and the band switches up the performances live by having members rotate through instruments.
Drummer/guitarist/keyboardist/cowbell player extraordinaire Gram LeBron and I spoke for about half an hour on Wednesday night, and the band apparently has about 25 songs written to select from for their third album. They're looking to record in the winter of 2006 (after extensive touring) and we should see a release on Sub Pop Records in either spring or summer of 2007 if all goes well.
Rogue Wave is the one band I wish I had discovered last year when the album released; I didn't get into them until about February on a recommendation from Jason Gleason (ActionReaction/ex-Further Seems Forever), and I was pleasantly surprised. Descended Like Vultures is fantastic (although it can run a bit slow in parts if you're not expecting it) and will merit a mention on my Best of 2006 list as "The Band I Wish I Knew About Last Year." Don't make the same mistake I did; if you haven't listened to Rogue Wave yet, do so. If you love the CD, get out to a show and show them how many fans they've got.
Rogue Wave Myspace (2 new songs, 1 old) (http://www.myspace.com/roguewave) | Rogue Wave Purevolume (all old songs) (http://www.purevolume.com/roguewave) | Rogue Wave Website (http://www.roguewavemusic.com/)
Rogue Wave is touring across the Midwest this month with future tour plans to follow.
Drummer/guitarist/keyboardist/cowbell player extraordinaire Gram LeBron and I spoke for about half an hour on Wednesday night, and the band apparently has about 25 songs written to select from for their third album. They're looking to record in the winter of 2006 (after extensive touring) and we should see a release on Sub Pop Records in either spring or summer of 2007 if all goes well.
Rogue Wave is the one band I wish I had discovered last year when the album released; I didn't get into them until about February on a recommendation from Jason Gleason (ActionReaction/ex-Further Seems Forever), and I was pleasantly surprised. Descended Like Vultures is fantastic (although it can run a bit slow in parts if you're not expecting it) and will merit a mention on my Best of 2006 list as "The Band I Wish I Knew About Last Year." Don't make the same mistake I did; if you haven't listened to Rogue Wave yet, do so. If you love the CD, get out to a show and show them how many fans they've got.
Rogue Wave Myspace (2 new songs, 1 old) (http://www.myspace.com/roguewave) | Rogue Wave Purevolume (all old songs) (http://www.purevolume.com/roguewave) | Rogue Wave Website (http://www.roguewavemusic.com/)
Rogue Wave is touring across the Midwest this month with future tour plans to follow.