Heave Media

Get to Know: Invade Rome

Squealing guitars, classic lyrics, and sexy grooves. If this doesn’t appeal to you, I don’t want to meet you.

There are very few bands that are operating in the true genre of rock and roll.  Sure, there’s a deluge of bands that play indie rock, prog rock, art rock, and whatever new subgenres of rock and roll us critics come up with every day.  But how many bands play that solid rock and roll sound that bands like Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones innovated?  Very few, if you don’t count cover bands.  Classic rock is called “classic” for a reason I guess.  Invade Rome can’t be called anything but rock and roll.  There’s no new subgenre you can lump these gentlemen in to.  The four members of Invade Rome have played together for over five years though not always under this specific band name.  Before that the band was Freshwater Collins and a staple in the Milwaukee scene, but they decided to shed their jam band/stoner rock roots for a new progressive path.   

Under their new moniker Invade Rome, they spent a year and a half developing their raw rock sound in a Madison studio for their debut album.  Light Eyed & Villainous was released January 6^th independently and produced by Beau Sorenson, who had previously worked with Sparklehorse, Death Cab for Cutie, and Tegan and Sara.  However Light Eyes & Villainous is nothing like the works of Sorenson’s previous projects, neither is it like Freshwater Collins.  This is a reemergence of what it was to be rock and roll.  Light Eyed & Villainous is filled with that blues-inspired beats and rough but seductive lyrics that make classic rock young again.  They’ve forgone their ten minute jam sessions for tight five second guitar riffs.  Even their lighter tracks like “Mae West” and “Trust Another Lover” have that charged energy that must make this band a sight to see live.  It shows that this band knows what they’re doing, despite the drastic change in their style. 

The album opener “Pretty Demons” is the song on Light Eyed & Villainous that has to get the bar crowd going.  Even when I listen to it at home I start head-banging and dancing like a fiend.  I even considered ripping off my shirt and throwing it towards my computer in lieu of their stage (yet again, in the privacy of my home).  I don’t know what makes me think these inappropriate things.  It could be the ripping guitars, the saucy, gruff voice of Chris Vos, the driving drum beat of Justin Krol, lyrics like “Make love like a true sensation.”  Or it could be that inner rock girl inside of me striving to bust my ladies free.  Either way, it might be dangerous for me to go to an Invade Rome show.

Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Mar 19, 2009 @ 11:00 am