Actual_Analog

Denver, CO — If you’re what Blair Shehan calls an “early adopter,” as he referred to the crowd at the Bluebird who showed up at 8 o’clock sharp to see Racquet Club play, you’re in the know. You’d never guess this was their first tour together. The well polished performance would have you thinking they had been a band for as long as Samiam or The Jealous Sound.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Shehan, along with Sergie Loobkoff, The Jealous Sound backbeat drummer Bob Penn and new bassist Ian Smith are Racquet Club . It’s music that sounds completely effortless for these musicians. If you read their about page on Facebook, the “story” tab tells a little different, um… “story.” Sergie and Blair say it was “a struggle at times,” making the record was not as easy as the sound of the notes they recorded. Some history on Shehan and Loobkoff; these two musicians have great careers in very different sounding bands. Guitarist Sergie Loobkoff formed Samiam in the late eighties and early nineties with singer Jason Beeboout. Blair Shehan formed The Jealous Sound in the late nineties and early two thousands after being the singer guitarist for Knapsack. Samiam is still active but, The Jealous Sound recently called it quits. Samiam for some East Coast Punks was like music from another planet in the 1990s. Bands like New York’s Sick Of It All, Killing Time or Boston’s Slapshot had a merciless sound. They were heavy and stripped of guitar solos.  When Samian made their way across the country from California to Providence, Rhode Island and played Club Babyhead, the band spoke a second language to some hardcore kids which felt as indigenous as their first language of Supertouch and Gorilla Biscuits. It was suddenly important to be musically bilingual and the East Coast learned to speak West Coast. The Jealous Sound was an etherial band whose vibe, not sound, always reminded of The Cure and music written in the 1980s long before Emocore, even if the sound was 2000s Emo. Blair has a different, but equally powerful, story to tell from Samiam in his lyric writing. Comparing the two is senseless like comparing peanut butter to jelly. His words seem to scream of losing and gaining relationships and how those encounters have impacted him. The self titled Racquet Club record is what’s great about both Samiam and The Jealous Sound, but it pushes both band’s very different sounds in a new direction. It’s like the confluence of a river, it’s powerful, and merges the best of both donor bands. Amazing rock and roll guitar plus strong singing and important meaningful words. You want to miss Jason Beebout’s introspective, self deprecation, his description’s of life and his storytelling, but Sergie’s guitar playing is just so good, you can’t help getting stoked. You get excited for the next Samiam show, but Racquet Club is it’s own thing. The moment’s in Blair’s words are beautiful, not only in his description, but also in the tone of his voice. The Racquet Club record is a complete album from beginning to end with a strong middle. The live show was the same. Racquet Club opened the show with “Caldwell Park” and closed with “White Knuckles” same as the record. Missing from the show was “Blue Skies” and “Battlefield.” In the middle they played “Let Beauty Find You,”Blood on the Moon,” “Boundaries,” “Head Full of Bees,” “New Granada,” and “I Can’t Make You Believe.” Mixing it up from the album made it rock. Playing “Calwell Park” first, the words “We were punks and skins and metalheads” — Not an anthem, but a reminder, lyrics to pull yourself out of your past, out of your stomach and out of your mind — into the moment. Playing “Blood on the Moon” third, the words make you feel strong, able to dance or endure a circle pit. “Head Full of Bees” and “New Granada” are dance tunes for the aforementioned punks, skins and even metalheads. Could be that it’s a slow dance, but the middle of the set puts you in the groove. Closing with “White Knuckles” feels like the climax of a really good movie. It brings the plot points together, wraps up the story and leaves you with resolve and conclusion. The march of time is a delicate walk not a military hike. It’s more favorable to some than others. For Blair Shehan and Sergie Loobkoff the march is a Russian ballet, as time goes their skills shine in a way that’s matched by only few punk musicians. Racquet Club is a beautifully choreographed dance between Samiam and The Jealous Sound. The band combines the rhythm of Samiam with the beauty of Shehan’s songwriting and singing voice. The metaphor ends there, it’s not delicate. It slams 2000’s Ashtray with 2003’s Kill Them With Kindness and comes out with a record that’s more than a step, more than a leap forward, it’s a perfect music for current times. The concert at the Bluebird Theater was excellent, these guys are great performers. Don’t settle for the record. See them live, it’s captivating and shines as bright as two comets combined flying through the sky. They’re beyond rising stars, they’re seasoned performers doing what they do best, playing compelling meaningful punk rock and roll.

  Editors Note: The title of this piece and other elements have been updated for clarity