The Danger Zone: Six Nights Alone

by Alex Danger Stewart

What: Six Nights Alone EP Review

Where: The band is from Rockford, IL. I’m writing this on a Compaq notebook.

Why? They asked us for coverage and I agreed because I support local music.

Keep Explaining: And that was a really long time ago because I forgot because I’m pretty flaky, then Chip reminded me today and I felt bad so I’m reviewing it now.

I usually have a pretty deliberate process when I review new music. Assuming that it’s a digital release (Vinyl has extra steps) I load it onto my Ipod and listen to it alone in my apartment (usually while eating a sandwich or Annie Chun Noodle Bowl™) not really thinking, just listening. Then I let my reactions percolate for a couple of days before finding a free evening and hoping on the train (usually the Brown Line cause it seems to take longer to get places), headphones in tow, to test out the dichotomy between listening to it in a noisy anonymous environment and also doing so in the near solitude of walking through a residential neighborhood in Lincoln Park or Ravenswood. Then I often come home and write the first couple hundred words of the review before getting distracted and doing other things (usually sleeping). Then, about a week later, I finally force myself to sit down and finish it and I usually play the key songs again while writing about them.

This review is pretty much ignoring those methods.

Why?

Well, for a couple of reasons. First, because the band solicited coverage from Sock Monkey Sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when bands give me free music in exchange for press. It’s happened like 3 times so far and it makes me feel like a professional. But I do have some integrity and I’m pretty unlikely to have any built in sentimentality for a band that I’ve never heard of just because they’re local so I’m not as motivated to care about being super thorough, or about holding back some of the harsher criticisms I might think up. Plus I think all of these songs are on the band’s Myspace page (how am I supposed to feel elitist if everyone can hear them for free?). The second reason is that I’m coming into this review with somewhat low expectations.

Why?

There are, once again, a couple of reasons. One of the band members has a somewhat checkered history and I take a little bit of issue with the way they are promoting themselves. Singer/guitarist Aaron Whalen used to be in Killing Abraham (http://www.myspace.com/killingabraham) which was a band for which I held an unbridled hatred. I so vehemently disliked them that (like 4 years after the last time I even had the displeasure of seeing them play) I made an unflattering reference to one of their shitty songs in the Special Thanks section of my band Boys Like Jason’s (insert shameless plug (http://boyslikejason.bandcamp.com/) )self released debut EP last year. That’s quite petty, but I can’t help it. They were that bad. You, the reader, have to ask, “Isn’t that unfair to prejudge a band based on one member’s past creative efforts?” No because he is listing himself as a former member of Killing Abraham on Six Nights Alone’s Myspace page so he’s actively asking us to draw comparisons to those past efforts. That leads to my second cause for some suspicion that this band might suck. Their Myspace page lists their influences as “Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and people who aren’t afraid to do something different.” Waylon, Willy, and Johnny are ALWAYS the influence that bands list when they want to cover up the fact that their main influence is Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt’s first album and that at least 2 members really enjoy the Johnny Cash American releases. Bands who list those influences never ever ever sound anything like Waylon, Willy, or Johnny.

Here’s why this band might not suck, though: I love Uncle Tupelo and SNA has a ton of shows booked over the summer in diverse venues across the Midwest and Eastern part of the country. Plus they have an old guy playing pedal steel. I fucking love pedal steel guitar and old guys are usually really good steel players. So……….After too long of a prologue, I’ve sat down with two beers (beer makes me less discerning) and it’s time to listen to/write about the songs.

This band totally sounds like Uncle Tupelo’s first two releases. I fucking knew it! “Don’t Care,” could easily have been a demo that didn’t make the cut from the No Depression sessions. Whalen’s voice is clearly not as good as Jay Farrar’s but that’s a totally unreasonable thing to criticize. Apart from a very misplaced breakdown at 2:30, I’m totally jamming to this. The pedal steel is good enough to almost carry the end of the song through some rough patches. Good job Mark Oberfoell.

Every Alt Country band has a song about drinking your life away that rings slightly untrue (mostly because Alt Country band members are usually too young to have developed a really strong drinking problem). “Ode to Zeus,” is that song for Six Nights Alone. Pushed along by a nice train beat, this has the makings of a pretty solid song along. I’m noticing a trend though. At about the halfway point of every song, they divert from the loud country style that was totally working and start sticking in pop punk elements. This does not work. I wish they would stop.

“Shout! Wont Take Out Makers,” has my favorite lyric so far. “Well I spent two weeks sober and I didn’t even know her. Help me drown my pain away.” That’s really good. The title is actually pretty clever, referring to the detergent’s inability to wash out stains from my favorite bourbon. This song is working for me.

I don’t have much to say about, “Stealin Your Heart.” This song mostly works except, once again, there’s a damn half time break down 2 ½ minutes into the song. Stop that!

Finally, a song in 12/8. “Sunset Blvd,” brings some much needed head bobbing and a bit of doom. Mark Oberfoell is fucking owning this song with his pedal steel. And there are no break downs! I might listen to this song again just for the hell of it.

Complaints that I have overall: The production feels too contemporary for such a bartastic band. I don’t feel like they’re playing together in a smelly, beer stained room, which is always the aesthetic that you want when a band mixes loud and twang. In a similar vein, the meter is way too straight. I’d like to hear drummer Paul Metz loosen up and let things swing a little. Also I really wanted a guitar solo somewhere in the EP. If they had replaced every breakdown with a twangy solo, I’d be a happy man.

Final Verdict: I don’t know that I enjoyed these songs enough to recommend them outright, but if you walk into a bar and find this band playing, stick around for a little while. There are some definite positive points in every song. The best parts were those that ignored the band’s pop punk instincts. That should be obvious, though.

Check out Six Nights Alone at http://www.myspace.com/6nightsalone