Can you ever find the “rock” section in a music store? Sure, there are “pop rock,” “alternative rock,” “70s/80s/90s rock,” and endless other variations, but you may find yourself thinking: Doesn’t anyone just plain ROCK anymore? Jeremiah Freed is out to let you know that someone does. And they do it with a passion.
If you’re not from Maine, you may not know about our local boys from York. Since their sophomore year in high school, Joe Smith, Nick Goodale, Jake Roche, Matt Cosby and Kerry Ryan have committed themselves to making music as Jeremiah Freed, playing music inspired by classic rock bands like The Who, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
They quickly gained popularity in Maine and were embraced by local radio station WCYY. National attention soon followed. They all graduated high school in 2000, and within two years they had signed with a major label and started touring the U.S. This past August they released their second album, “Slowburn.”
Jeremiah Freed is one of those bands that just plain rock. Listening to their impassioned music, you can imagine the warning label it could have come with: “DANGER! When listening to this album, you may have an uncontrollable urge to headbang and wail on air guitar, even if you happen to be eating Easy Mac in your underwear at the time.”
“Slowburn” contains the very staples of rock and roll: wailing guitar solos, infectious riffs and talented musicians. Nick Goodale and Jake Roche can play the kind of guitar you hear on classic rock stations and ’80s cassette tapes, and they prove it with their dueling solos in “Peace and War.” It makes you want to turn the volume on your speakers up so loud that it blasts you back to a time before boy bands and Britney Spears.
Jeremiah Freed, like their rock and roll influences, play songs that are actually about something. Their songs are wrought with youthful rebellion. The opening track, “Ride On,” is about leaving behind small-town roots and making a name for yourself (“My advice to you is ride on / suggest you leave your town / before it drags you down”). The title track is another song about moving on.
Jeremiah Freed is impassioned about their music because they have lived everything that comes out of their amps. The album is not all rebellion-fueled hard rock, however. “Reflect Your Light” is laced with bluesy licks. “Off the Bottle” starts as a bass-driven funkier song before morphing into a wailing electric guitar showcase. “Feed Me Well” and “Do My Best” are expressive quieter songs featuring Goodale and Smith that show off their songwriting ability and voices.
The album is not perfect. In some places the band seems to rely too much on distortion and production to produce a sound that you could never hear live, and after enough time Freed’s rock and roll formula could become repetitive. Is this enough to keep you from buying the album? No.
Of course, if you don’t like rock and roll music, this album is an exercise in futility. “Slowburn” is plain and simple rock, an hour’s worth of straight-ahead three- to five-minute rock anthems. But if you do like rock, then drop your books, loved one or cat, and buy this album right now. You won’t be sorry.
Jake Christie can be contacted at [email protected]