By Paul Pavlich, Special to The Post and Courier Thursday, October 1, 2009
Death on Two Wheels will perform tonight at The Tin Roof in West Ashley. Death on Two Wheels is coming to the Tin Roof tonight, bringing their arena sound all the way from their hometown of Atlanta.
The band has been on the road since the release of its debut album, “Separation of Church and Fate,” on The Ghost Umbrella Records in late 2008.
“We’ve been touring on it and trying to see what kind of trouble we can stir up,” said frontman Trae Vedder (no relation to Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder).
The album is a display of DOTW’s versatility as musicians. The song “How Love is Made” is reminiscent of the crooner love ballads of the ’70s, but “Calling Us All Back Home” shreds dirty guitar riffs over Vedder’s powerful vocals, like something straight out of a biker bar.
The band was formed originally as a studio project, but slowly transitioned into the energized road show it is today.
“It took eight or nine months before we played a show,” Vedder said.
The band has played more than a hundred shows in 2009 alone, and wants to double that number next year.
Their diversity has allowed them to share the bill with different types of bands. The members of Death on Two Wheels pride themselves on this point, refusing to be categorized by one genre.
In an over-saturated music industry, Vedder says he sees this versatility as a strength that will help the band endure and overcome the rapid-fire changes in popular music.
“Our CD runs the gamut from beginning to end. We do a lot of things. Our main influences are ’70s rock, indie rock and southern rock,” Vedder said. “We’re mish-moshing all of those things into one big pile and seeing what happens. One big compost heap.”
The clean mixes on the album transition nicely into the band’s live performance, gaining both energy and intensity while retaining the musical integrity of the studio tracks.
The current drummer, Greg Neel, is also a difference. He joined the band after the record’s release, but has been touring with them ever since.
“(The live show) is a little more raw. All the big guitar is there, all the harmonies, all the organs.”
After finishing the tour in November, the band expects to return to Atlanta to relax and to make another trip to the studio. Vedder has an ambitious vision for the group’s sophomore album.
DOTW shares the stage with Josh Roberts & The Hinges, a quintet of southern rockers from Columbia.
Vedder showed enthusiasm about playing at The Tin Roof, and even more about the venue’s famous foot-long hotdogs.
“The Tin Roof always takes good care of us. We’ve always liked it there.”
