I think all bands suffer from little issues when they do their first album.  Second Day Red is no different in that aspect.  Forgetting about Momo’s sound engineers issues last night, and the fact that the CD distributer botched up a batch of CD’s for them, and the fact that every time I tried to get a decent picture some ass-hat walked in front of my picture….the party went really well.  What does make them different is their unique sound, and great collaboration. 

All people who showed up at Momo’s for the party received a free CD and the band Second Day Red hopped up on stage and played through their songs.  Unfortunatly the sound engineer seemed to have some issues, but, even with that,  Second Day Red did not disappoint. 

Stephen’s vocals are fairly wide, while he’s got a great low-end, he works a lot in the the higher register which will remind you of Billy Corgan, but not as grainy, and because he has a wide range you don’t get the feeling like he’s whineing like most of the Smashing Pumpkin Songs..so yes, considerably more unique. 

Drew’s violin drops in key points in the songs and brings the quality of their music up a notch that they just wouldn’t have with out him. 

Todd who is the keyboardist has some great melodies and helps drive the songs along, I actually wish in some of the songs I would have heard more harmony or a reiteration of the melody.  Some of the songs that use an organ sound remind me very much of U2.

Frank aka (motorboat) never looses a beat, and if you listen you’ll hear some great cymbal work as some of the songs crescendo to a point - vocals, meet cybals, meet, fast violin, very cool. 

And without Roel, we wouldn’t have the thump thump of the bass guitar and the subtle rhythms.

Notable songs - I’ve been out, Dark Green Light, Wake Up, Giving me away (I think they noted on stage that they liked this one), and Phoenix Tonight.  

Influences: Better Than Ezra, Billy Corgan (vocals), U2, Dave Matthew’s Band, Blue October

Gallery of Strangers Album is available for purchase here. Or you can download it (.99 cents song) here.

Second Day Red CD Release

Second Day Red is releasing their first ever CD tonight at Momo’s (which is the same location of Katz’s on 6th).  Never heard of them? Me either, maybe it’s because they used to be called the “Stephen Clarke Band”.  But if you have not heard of them either, their music (which is original and not cover band crap) can be compared to U2, Dave Matthews,   or maybe even Blue October (who had similarly humble beginings here in Texas).

What do I like about them? I like the fact that they are true muscians.  While austin has a ton of artists and the same can be said for much of Austin, I want to point out that the industry is full of people who are not true musicians.  When you have a band that has to have studio musicians come in to make them sound better, or a band that has to have a producer that alters their voices in post production just to make sure that they remain in key when they are singing, that’s not a true musician.

Here, with Second Day Red(and many other local Austin artists), we have true professionals that actually can read sheet music as opposed to certain American Idol winners that can’t even read.  Anyway off of my soapbox.

Tonight 11pm (Get there earlier).  I’ll be there with my camera and will do a follow up review of the party with some pictures.  Side note: I also checked out the Austinist to see if this made the weekely “IST” list.  And it didn’t which was sad to see.