Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Steel Train minus Scott?? Justin??

I hope things have been great for you 4 religious Track Nine readers... Things have been good in Atlanta, it's down to a brisk 60-65F on most days now, but that didn't stop me from going out last week to catch a pretty sweet concert. Two Track Nine favorites, Steel Train and Dear and the Headlights were playing at a small venue in downtown Atlanta for a crowd of about 40 or 50 loyal fans, haha.

Dear and the Headlights sounded good after the release of their 2 or 3 week old album Drunk Like Bible Times. The new disc brings a little more anguish, a little less foot-tappin, but a lot more crunch than their first release.

After they finished their set, Steel Train took the stage and what happened there marked the true end of an era. Scott or Justin or whoever the vocalist/pianist that I loved to listen play had apparently left the band (I asked the backup guitarist after the show and he confirmed my fear...). I say it's the end of an era because Steel Train has gone through so many transformations, and losing Justin means that there is really no way they will ever go back to or even play a lot of their old tunes. First, Steel Train was a fun-loving group of guys that played acoustic jams. They then turned into a jam-esque band that flowed freely into and out of songs with insane guitar solos followed by soft vocals backed by light instrumentation. Having now fully transitioned into a pop group, I don't think we'll ever see the old Steel Train ever again (not necessarily that it's a bad thing....Trampoline made my best of 2007 list!).

So...below I'm posting 3 tunes to remind me of the old Steel Train with Justin or Scott's (haha) super smooth voice caressing your ears. Enjoy!

Steel Train - Blown Away

Steel Train - Catch You On the Other Side

Steel Train - 1999

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey i came across your entry...lol justin is the new guy. SCOTT is the guy that left.
so sad though. he was my favorite. sigh

Anonymous said...

Wow. 1999 is amazing. I was really surprised that I found next to nothing when I looked it up on google... No tabs, basically no lyrics. Crazy that such a great song could have so little attention paid to it. Even if it was never on an non-demo album...

Kyle said...

Haha, oops...perhaps it is Scott that left. I was pretty sure that the guitar player said that 'Justin is off doing better things now', but I could have heard him wrong? Not sure.

Kimmy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kimmy said...

yeah, :/ personally, I'm way bummed out with their new sound. Scott knew what's up, I looved their jam band-esque style and now, to me, they're like every other Indie-pop band. I don't hate Trampoline, I just want more of their older stuff. I'm glad Scott left though hopefully he'll start something new of his own that'll bring back that Lee Baby Simms & Alley Cat sounds.