Three Stars: The Sentiment
A sentiment, as defined by Houghton Mifflin is "a thought, view, or attitude, especially one based mainly on emotion instead of reason." The title is quite apt for the local DC rock outfit of the same name. The band is the brainchild of frontman Mike Medlock, and is as much his cathartic medium as his weekend playpen. Medlock is a passionate frontman, but doesn't take himself too seriously, and wears his heart on his sleeve. The Sentiment were and sometimes still are a hard rock band, drawing from the dirt of early 90's grunge but blending it with more contemporary indie rock melodies, sans the snooty avant garde self-righteousness of the Pitchfork generation. At times Medlock belts his lyrics in scream talking, soaring over driving guitars and a thumping rhythm section; other times he'll linger in a softer chest voice delicately supported by ambient arpegiated chords.
The band has been a revolving door of sorts, reflecting the transient nature of life in Washington. The Sentiment began in the Summer of 2004 when Medlock posted an add on Craig's List looking to start a new band, eventually piecing together a lineup which played their first gig that November. Through numerous lineup changes -- most recently being the loss of guitarist Travis Frazier and drummer Sean Connor -- the band is currently a four-piece. Comprised of guitarist Andrew Diego, bassit Katie Thomas and new drummer John Mattingly, they're regulars on the local music circuit, playing on average once a month.
Photo by Eamonn Aiken (www.eamonnaiken.com)
We caught The Sentiment last week backstage at Black Cat, playing for the first time with a single guitarist. Diego and Thomas had no problems filling the void as the band kicked off the night with "We Watch So You Don't Have To" a driving song reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine's "Sleep Now In the Fire," and featuring a nice midsong half-time feel breakdown showing the band's ability to mix tempos. Next, the band slipped into "Destroy the Machinery" opening with a dissonant creepy guitar riff joined several measures after by a thumping drum and Medlock's equally dissonant vocals. "Ichiban" slowed things down a bit, giving Medlock time to serenade with softer vocals. "A Mortal Coil," and, "A Must Have" continued the band's formula for creating dark rolling sonic textures; the latter was particularly accentuated by Thomas' rolling bass lines and Medlock's soaring chorus. Overall the set found Medlock relatively reserved, only twice venturing off stage, during "They Make Fine Lines" and super-catchy set-closer, "The Proletariat." Previous concerts have seen Medlock climbing speakers, descending staircases and even bowing in worship of his own band. The Sentiment are growing out of their adolsecent hard-rock beginnings and maturing with more melodic textures and complex arrangements. It will be interesting to see where the band goes from here as their contemporary influences continue creeping into their songwriting.
Setlist:
WWSYDHT
Destroy the Machinery
Ichiban
Sleep Apnea
A Mortal Coil
A Must Have
Lipstuck
Word of Mouth
They Make Fine Lines
The Proletariat
Visit them at: http://www.myspace.com/thesentiment
See them next: Sunday, July 30, 9:00 pm at The Red and The Black
Questions for The Sentiment
How did the band start?
Medlock: We've gone through so many lineup changes. This lineup started when I put an add on Craig's List and found our first bass player, John. It turns out he was a bass phenom. He had a friend who was a drummer and he came on board. Then we found another couple guys on Craig's List and friends of friends. When our original drummer left I got the drummer from my old band to come on board. And since then it's been come-and-go. Andrew was friends with Travis, our guitar player who just left. We got Katie off Craig's List. We know John, our new drummer, through straight recommendation by mutual friends of the band.
Who would you say you sound like?
Medlock: I get that question a lot and not out of ego, but I don't know how to answer it. From my perspective, I think we have Pearl Jam undertones. The band has gone through so many changes that the sound has actually changed and evolved. I'm a big fan of the power ballad. Andrew writes hard rock songs but he also writes really sweet guitar parts and that naturally calls for a more chilled out vocal lines.
Thomas: I listened to their old stuff and it sounded more hard rock. Whereas now it's evolved a lot. It's more indie-ish. More mainstream indie than the Dischord bands. We're more like the Strokes. We've been more creative than just straight hard rock.
What is the band's songwriting process?
Medlock: Our songwriting is really evolving. We've gone through so many musicians that we've kept a lot of the old songs but we've changed them with each new person that's come into the band. But with each new thing we write, specfically with Andrew, I think the music is getting better and better and better. Our newest songs are the ones everyone is commenting on.
Diego: I was more into indie rock when I first joined the band. Travis was more into hard rock, so I tried to write less hard rock sounding parts.
Medlock: Travis wrote all the guitar parts, and then Andrew starting writing different stuff. The original bassist was really into hard rock, and played really fast and really loud and that was a major influence on our sound, but I think we've really evolved.
When you think of the Sentiment, what do you think of?
Medlock: Just to have fun. We're not going for any grand design. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel by any means. Just go out, have fun. When we write a song, we write it's strictly for us. Just go out and have a good time.
There aren't many hard rock bands coming through the Black Cat. Do you ever get any resentment?
Medlock: The Black Cat is really cool. They're really supportive of local bands. They always do what they can to help us out. They almost always let us choose the bands we'll play with. My old band used to play in D.C. but it was hard to get gigs because we didn't network like this band does. D.C.'s been nothing but receptive to us. Assylum, Velvet Lounge, DC9 -- they've all been really friendly and receptive. We've definitely gotten some negative feedback, but you're not going to please everybody all the time. Espcecially our style of music -- we're no Death Cab for Cutie. People aren't going to wait in line to see us play, but we get good feedback so I'm happy.
What do you like, and what don't you like, about the D.C. music scene?
Medlock: I love how the venues are really supportive of local musicians. It's easy to get gigs here. I love how there are more venues opening up because it shows the scene is doing well. It's just a good community of musicans and everyone is really supportive. The only thing I can say negatively about it is I feel like the potential is really there [for a band to break out] but no one is really stepping up.
Thomas: I don't like how a lot of local bands want to sound like Dischord bands hoping they'll get signed by Dischord.
Mattingly: I love the history of this city, but there's no one I'm really being blown away by at this point in time. And I want to be. I like going to see a show where the band really captures you but it's really hard to be into one band.
Mike: There are a lot of bands out there, but there are so few of them are actually artists. Someone who has integrity, who really cares about the music, and works really hard at it. Most people just pick up the guitar and write bad songs. I just wish there was more integrity in the D.C. music scene.
Tell us about your lyrics.
Medlock: When I write lyrics it's based on a thought or an emotion, but it's not a specific story like Pearl Jam's Jeremy which is one single story from start to finish. It's never really about one specific thing.
Vocals are a strong part of this band. Can you comment on those?
Medlock: Regarding my scream-singing, I don't do that on purpose, it's just when I'm singing about something, it's how I feel about it and I'm really passionate about my lyrics and I have no choice but to sing sweetly or really hard, there's really no inbetween for the most part, but there are exceptions.
What are each of your musical influences?
Diego: I've always been into bands like Weezer and Radiohead. D.C. bands like Q and not U.
Thomas: When I first started I really liked Weezer. I'm really influenced by Medications. I went through a big Fugazi phase. I like a lot of shoegaze bands. I liked discopunk and wanted to be like the Liars but I wasn't good enough!
Medlock: The Rapture's bass player is from D.C. That really inspired me to keep going. It made me want to hear more drum beats like that. They're just really funky and original but catchy.
Mattingly: I liked early 90's grunge. I used to listen to the Pumpkins all the time. My biggest influence is just really good songwriting, whether it's a single artist or a band. You don't get better songwriting than Radiohead. I'm a huge Jeff Buckley fan. I like a lot of ecclectic stuff. There's a French singer Sandre Lercher, I like him a lot. I like jazz and folk music which doesn't really jive with being in a DC band.
Medlock: One thing that people find suprising based on the style of our music is that I'm a huge Brit rock fan. Brit rock is the number one inflence in my life, and when I say Brit rock, I do mean Oasis. And I get a lot of crap for it. But honestly, it just drove me to want to sing melodic vocals. I don't think Liam should be in the band, but Noel, when he writes songs, it's so heartfelt and packed with emotion that you believe it when he sings it. That's just one aspect of it. There are a lot of Brit rock bands; you have hard punk and softer band, but Brit rock in general is a major influence.
You are a very animated front man. What's going on when you take flight from the stage?
Medlock: You're not really controlling yourself. It's like when you're in the moment and you just let go. I'm doing the one thing that I love and it's a semi-religious experience. You're up there and people are egging you on and you're the class clown. You just really get into the moment and it just happens on it's own. But I don't preplan anything and I try to keep it original. I just like to have fun up there.
(To the rest of the band) What is going through your minds when Mike goes off?
Diego: The one night at the Velvet Lounge he went all the way downstairs, and I looked up and didn't even know where he went.
Thomas: He hit me with the microphone once...
Diego: ...and stepped on my pedalboard.
Medlock: These guys are cool with my antics so it gives me a lot of freedom to be as crazy as I want to be.
Do you eventually hope to make a push to be signed to a record label?
Medlock: I don't want to be a desk monkey the rest of my life. Even if I have to, as long as I'm signed to a label that lets us play music then that's great. I absolutely intend to have us start playing Philly and New York. I want us to branch out of D.C. when we're ready which I think is pretty soon.
Diego: That's our goal -- to start playing outside of D.C.
How has MySpace helped the band?
Medlock: It's been tremendous. None of us know how to program a website, so we just don't keep up the website. I maintain the MySpace page because it's ridiculously easy, it really is a Do-It-Yourself band website. Bands from out of town will email us and say 'we like your stuff' and try to set up shows.
Thomas: Every once in a while a random person will come up to us and say they heard us on MySpace.
What's the future looking like for the band?
Medlock: When it stops being fun, then what's the point? We're not the Rolling Stones, we're not making $50 million going on tour. So it's gotta be fun or there's no point doing it. It's either a benefit or a bad side effect. We do it for us and our friends.