“Tell Me Leza”
from the album Fire, Blood, Water
2005
Download a free MP3 of “Tell Me Leza” from The Crutch
And here’s another song, also via The Crutch, from when they were The Blackouts
What is it about Champaign, Illinois that produces such talented rock bands? Add The Living Blue to the long list of enticing acts that have emerged from the wilds of Cham-bana. Despite their pronounced and sometimes unflattering resemblance to many of the day’s established garage rockers, their electrifying debut will make you skip around the room, pumping your fists and playing air guitar. It will, in other words, rock your face.
Fire, Blood, Water teems with shit-hot guitar licks and classic four-on-the-floor beats. The band’s wall of distorted guitar and explosive percussion makes a wonderfully noisy backdrop for frontman Steven Ucherek’s frayed but energetic wails. On Strokes sound-alike “Tell Me Leza,“ he launches into an energetic, reverb-drenched James Mercer imitation (you know, the guy from The Shins), demonstrating a degree of versatility that The Shins themselves lack. The arpeggiated guitars of “Greenthumb” give it a refreshingly bubbly edge, and the catchy refrain is a great Beatles homage. Also, in the interest of fair warning, prepare to have your mind blown when “Secrets”‘ dueling lead guitars get you in their ravenous grip.
Ucherek’s vocals are always tuneful and dynamic, and his melodies are consistently engaging, but he’s easily mistaken for any number of other garage rock frontmen, from the The Hives’ Pelle Almqvist to Jet’s Nic Cester. Likewise, there’s nothing about The Living Blue’s music that truly distinguishes the group from their peers. However, if the garage rock revival taught us anything, it’s that originality isn’t nearly as important as we think. Fire, Blood, Water doesn’t set out to be innovative; it focuses on the elementary essentials.