FAMILY VALUES Akron/Family
May 20, 2009
The experimental band reinvents itself once again.
BY NANCY DUNHAM
Miles Seaton, nominally the bass player for Akron/Family, isn't going to be pinned down on who did what part of the band's new album Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free (Dead Oceans).
Fans know the band members each love to dabble and create, working as almost a musical co-op. The result is pieces of Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and all the artists in between coming together as Akron/Family sound that perhaps even the members can't specifically describe.
"You can definitely feel it's a lot wider and thicker sound," explains Seaton. "There is a heavy feeling to it."
It's impossible not to think of Akron/Family as arguably one of the most pure jam bands around. The musical stew of ideas combined with each member playing every instrument on the album at various points finds the sound on this latest CD moving from jam to psychedelic and beyond.
Although one of the band's original members, Ryan Vanderhoof, recently left, Akron/Family - Seaton, Seth Olinsky and Dana Janssen - doesn't feel like a different band "by any stretch," says Seaton. "We are always looking to reinvent ourselves and change and grow." The move proved a positive one, proof being found in the 11 songs on the album, which constantly shift and change almost like colors in an old Wurlitzer jukebox. "The call of outside stuff is always there. All of us love the music and really want to work on every process of it. On this [album] we spent a lot of time playing music and recording different versions of things and keeping the music together. "
Considering the band's background, that isn't surprising. The basic formation of the band came together when Seaton met Olinsky as a co-worker at a New York coffee shop.
"It was a real dead end job in a coffee shop/restaurant," recalls Seaton. "We worked ‘til 2 or 3 a.m. and then... got off work and played music. We were both looking for something more than we had found previously. Looking back, it all kinds of makes sense now."
Life had grown so harsh in New York that Seaton was on the verge of leaving when he met Seth. Music, says Seaton, became their shelter and life preserver. "The menial job and all that stuff was tough. But when Seth and I were working on recording together, it all sort of came together. My girlfriend at the time listened to it and said it was really beautiful. Before I met Seth, I had lived in New York for six months and thought, `This place is a bummer. I'm leaving.' When I heard the music we recorded, I thought, `That is why I came here.'
"God, I haven't thought about that in a long time. That's so cool to remember."
[Akron/Family will be touring all summer. Dates at their MySpace page]
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