Vegas DeMilo is a band that will end up on popular radio stations soon, without falling into the rut that is modern rock in the new century.
It doesn't play rap-metal like Limp Bizkit, it doesn't sound like a Jars of Clay cover band the way Creed does, and it offers no pop-punk sound of Blink-182.
Touring for the past year, Vegas DeMilo found time to put out Motel California, its third full-length album on Southern California label, Pinch Hit Music. Front man Foster Calhoun and bassist/keyboardist Alec Johnson have played together since they were teenagers and formed Vegas DeMilo in late 1997 after migrating to San Francisco. The band, apparently named after an obscure AC/DC lyric, eventually settled with the current line-up with Gabe McCurdy on drums and Travis Ballstadt on guitar.
Although the members aren't what the screaming teenage masses on TRL are hoping to latch on to, they will appeal to 20-something folks looking for music that is radio-friendly but does not follow the formulaic copycat band-making sound of late. If I were listening to the radio, I would expect to hear this band fit comfortably between Tom Petty, Matchbox 20 and Barenaked Ladies.
Calhoun echoes Art Alexakis of Everclear in his vocal style throughout many of the songs on the album. The second song, "Chemical Girl," combines layered guitar and Incubus-style scratching to create a poppy, mature, lovelorn mix of electronic loops, keyboards, fuzzy guitar and samples that make up "Rocktronica" - a genre popular around the Bay Area right now.
Motel California is an album full of songs about girls - getting them, loving them, losing them, and regretting they ever happened. "All I Ever Wanted" would make the perfect background music to the next American Pie movie or its equivalent. Calhoun's voice, much like the voice of God, would be counseling the main character with "Live your life; it's all you have/wipe away the tears and don't look back" while he takes a walk to reminisce after all the good times he and the new love of his life had in the past two days after meeting, falling in love and breaking up. Meanwhile, the girl he's in love with is making out with some other guy next to the pool table at a party. Of course, she's thinking of him, too, as the lyrics "even when I'm kissing someone else/well, I think of you/cause you're all I ever wanted" play on the stereo. Thanks to Vegas DeMilo, they get back together in the end.
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With an LP title that harkens back to the classic Eagles album and the insistence that Motel California also refers to the contemporary transitory nature of California life, Vegas DeMilo's music is tinged with the double-edged sword that is coming-of-age. The band is torn between taking up the responsibility of adulthood and holding on to the free-spirited days of youth. The latter can be found in "Dusted," an ode to bike messengers - although the song is not nearly as crazy or energetic as San Francisco's finest. "Whatever Happened to Jane" could just as easily be hailing the classic film "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" as it could be about loves lost.
My favorite song on the album is "teenage pornstar," which talks about, well, a teenage pornstar. "She's been torn up/she's been condemned/but still she seems to get around/she's making cash/ she's making friends/I bet she made Will Chamberlain" are arguably the most creative, inspired lyrics of the entire album. The pop melody of the song is the perfect compliment to the subtle undercurrent of sarcasm and cynicism about the disillusionment of adulthood.
Motel California comes as an enhanced CD featuring a music video for the song "Fall" and an 8-minute long interview with the band. As much as I would like to say I hate this album for its radio-friendliness and relative lack of energy, these guys are hard working musicians who spend long hours on the road to get their name out. And I have to respect that. The band has a sound that sells and, hopefully, these guys will see some rewards for their hard work. You can catch them at www.vegasdemilo.com for mp3s, interviews and tour dates.
