Spinoff

BA look at the latest releases

by John O'Neill

The long road of rock and roll that Luke John and Another Society have traveled has been anything but an easy ride. Formed five years ago in Memphis, Another Society have gone through the transformation of cover band to original band, local act to touring act, small potato to up-and-comers, gigging everywhere from small, piss-soaked dives in front of the bartender and a handful of regulars to playing alongside Faith No More, Testament, and the Bogmen. Sometimes on the same tour.

But today when Luke John calls from his hotel room outside of Springfield, he has to face a challenge that makes all the long, cramped rides in the tour van and crashing on people's apartment floors minor by comparison. With two well-received albums under his arm, major radio airplay in three different markets (including Worcester's own WAAF), and a formidable touring schedule on the horizon, John is Another Society. The rest of the band didn't make the trip.

"We're going through a line-up change right now," John says in understatement. "It happened a couple of weeks ago right before we were going out on tour. The guys from Method 51 (PC Music labelmates and tour openers) are backing me up right now. We only had six practices, but it sounds good. It's definitely a change for the better."

Currently on the road in support of Blood Wrong (PC Music), John is no stranger to adversity as the band have played the part of underdog since the day they started out on the hometown club scene. While finally popular throughout the country in various pockets, this is not the case for Another Society in their local zip code.

"The unity bands have up here is something," explains John. "Four or five on a bill playing to five hundred people. The bands like Rawhead Rex and Eastcide work well together and all stick together. In Memphis, that doesn't happen. I'm here to play music that I wanna play and not worry about playing a lick better than the guy in the band next to me. [In Memphis], they worry about what everyone else is playing, and everyone's got an opinion."

Critics are also divided over Blood Wrong. The album's been praised, but some have cited a striking similarity to Metallica or Pantera, another subject that makes the usually easygoing John bristle.

"Oh God, I don't think that's there," he says of the above comparisons. "We write what we write. And if it sounds like that . . . it just comes from where it comes from. If people like it, cool. If not, I won't get down on them 'cause their [music] probably sucks, too!"

While there is some obvious Metallica influence on the album, there's also enough of Another Society's interpretation of what makes a good song go crunch to dispel most cynicism after the first couple of listens. Loaded with rock-bottom low-end, tight, sledgehammer rhythms, enough primal angst to fill a waiting room, and the top-notch production of Don Gilmore (who also twisted the knobs for the Pearl Jam/Soundgarden one-off, Temple of the Dog), Blood Wrong may owe a debt to Hetfield and Co., but certainly no more so than any pop band owe the Beatles. There's no shame in a good post-hardcore metal band knowingly or unknowingly absorbing a trick or two from the greatest of the post-hardcore metal bands.

As for the future of Another Society, John has already been hard at work lining up new personnel after this leg of the tour is over.

"I've already got some players in mind, so we'll go back home, hang out a while, and go back out on the road. The number one priority is not having any downtime. I want as many people to hear us as I can. I love being out on the road -- it's a great job, and I'm not broke."

Another Society, Method 51, Tremble, and Flambookey play the Espresso Bar on April 3.

Best Music Poll update

Well, the Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll is barreling along like a hootched-up Duke boy headed down the back roads of Hazard County. And things are shaping up quite interestingly. Keep on sending those ballots in right up till deadline, which is Wednesday, April 16, or fill out a ballot in person at a Phoenix sponsored event. It's also a chance to rub elbows/tell off one of our fine, important, music scribes. This week Mark Edmonds will be on hand at Slattery's, in Fitchburg, on April 4 when Mighty Sam McClain takes the stage.