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SXSW preview: Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights
Jonathan Tyler marvels at just how much smarter Epic Records scout Pete Giberga has gotten in the past seven years. In 2003, Tyler figured Giberga didn’t know his expense account from his elbow. After all, regional Epic reps had been all ga-ga over the Dallas-based Tyler, sort of a combination of Steve Perry and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. But when the big man from New York came down, he wasn’t impressed. Giberga told Tyler and the band that they’weren’t there yet’ and that Tyler, then 18, had to do some more living to have more to write about.
‘I took that really hard,’ recalls Tyler.’I think I overcompensated after that to prove him wrong. I wrote songs that I thought might be successful.’ Songs that proved Giberga right, Tyler admits.
He and the band weren’t as good as they thought they were. Wow. Odds?
Now 25, Tyler and his Northern Lights have just recorded an album for Atlantic Records that makes them leading lights in the new Southern rock scene.’Pardon Me’ could make JTNL this generation’s Black Crowes.
But four years ago, a bitter Tyler was burnt out on the biz and bathed his self-doubt in a cascade of drugs and alcohol. When Superman crashed to Earth after a meth high, he hated his music, hated his life. When his roommate died of an overdose, Tyler saw that he was heading the same way. And he wanted to live. He decided to get the band back together with a renewed sense of purpose.
‘I just realized that life is too short to be stuck doing something you don’t want to,’ says Tyler, who has lived in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville since he was 13.’We stopped worrying about what the labels wanted to hear and got back to what we wanted to play.’ Bassist Nick Jay, drummer Jordan Cain and guitarist Brandon Pinckard became Northern Lights, named after a particularly powerful herb.
Before the reformed quartet ever played a gig, they went into the studio and recorded’Hot Trottin’,’ an album Tyler says he can’t listen to.’I didn’t know what I was doing,’ says Tyler, who produced the album.’But I was happy with the songwriting. I was writing about real things.’
Two of the songs from that debut have been re-recorded on’Pardon Me,’ which comes out April 27. Produced by Jay Joyce, whose credits range from Patty Griffin to Iggy Pop, the new album bottles the band’s massive live energy on’Young and Free’ and’Devil’s Basement’ (which nicks Led Zep like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant ripped off old bluesmen), but also presents a sensitive/schmaltzy side on’She Wears a Smile.’
Atlantic will no doubt push the ballads, but it’s the gutbucket rockers that push the band.
The bottom produced by Oklahoma natives Jay and Cain will make your chinos dance. And then there’s the twin guitar attack of Tyler and Pinckard, more prone to meaty chords than flashy fretwork. Off to the side you’ve got the wail of Mo Brown, who Tyler found singing jazz on Lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas.
Amidst the glorious rumble you can’t take your eyes off Tyler, who moves like electricity is flowing through him. He’s Savoy Brown meets James Brown. The frontman’s shining moment came in the rain of ACL Fest in October, when a crowd of about 150 grew to a few thousand when field-crossers where drawn in by the Southern rock stomp. Tyler was soaking wet at the end, but so was the crowd.
‘We were kinda bummed out before we went on,’ says Tyler.’I mean, it wasn’t just raining, it was pouring buckets.’ When the band started playing, the crowd wasn’t just clapping and cheering, they were going nuts.
Whether it’s in front of thousands at Zilker or a few dozen at an unofficial SXSW showcase, JTNL will shake down inhibitions. The band was signed by Atlantic at SXSW 2008, not at some high profile venue, but at the Whiskey Bar, which booked its own bands.
Less than a year later, they opened for AC/DC, one of their all-time faves. When the regular opening act dropped out at the last minute, JT&NL were on a plane to El Paso.
‘To me, that’s what we’re aiming for,’ says Tyler, who is a sponge for music old and new.’To be like Angus Young, who’s been doing it a long time, but still does what he does better than anyone else.’
That was the best gig; the worst was probably the second night of a Kid Rock cruise last summer, when a badly hungover Tyler played with sunglasses to hide a black eye.’Nick decked me,’ he says with a laugh.’One punch. Out. I don’t remember a thing.’ As a welcome gift, Kid Rock had sent over a case of Jim Beam whiskey and after the first show, the band, crew and hangers-on drank seven bottles.’I was drunk and I guess I was running my mouth,’ Tyler says of the incident. Jay remains his closest mate.
‘We’re all in this together,’ Tyler says of the three friends in his band he’s known since he was 16. When not on the road, the members live together in Lewisville. They’re close as brothers, which means they don’t hold back.
Onstage, that’s a mighty powerful thing.
Midnight Thursday, Maggie Mae’s, 323 E. Sixth. St.
9 p.m. Saturday, the Galaxy Room Backyard, 508 E. Sixth St.
If you like Jonathan Tyler, check out:
1. Dead Confederate
2. Carolyn Wonderland
3. J. Roddy Walston and the Business
4. Michael Monroe
5. Morehead & Arbuckle
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Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: SXSW 2010
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By JT
March 16, 2010 5:02 PM | Link to this
this band blows. saw them at ACL and they were the worst thing at the fest. look they were on the KID ROCK Cruise. enuf said.