AWmusic

Maker

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame came around when there were many who were already saying that Rock and Roll was dead. It coming out was like a couple that is having a tough time with the relationship that decides to get married. When they started bringing in rap, surely that was the sign that Rock and Roll were just words in the title and they don’t mean a thing. Rolling Stone Magazine does little for rock and roll. It has been more focused on Madonna/Britney pop and Eminem c*koff*rap.

But, there are a few out there who still perform rock and roll. The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, and Bob Dylan are all still putting out creative works. Sheryl Crow, though getting too close to her 50s for comfort, is young enough in the crowd of geriatric musicians to make her a poster child for the genre. About.com’s article, “Contemporary Rock Artists You Need To Hear” listed Velvet Revolver as a ‘super group.’ Truth is it made me want to puke. Tired old riffs alongside meaningless lyrics that all shout, “We’re following a formula!” Rock and roll zombies, that’s all they are. Their bodies are moving, they’re singing, but they’re all dead inside. All this rambling about rock and roll and its demise has only one purpose, to bring me about to the point of this article, which is a review of the band Pontiak and their new album, Maker.

Pontiak is a band out of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, which consists of three brothers: Van, Jennings, and Lain Carney. It’s down to the ultra basics: vocals, guitars, and drums. Digital synths have no place in this band. Does rock and roll really need anything else? This is not the puke scat music that Velvet Revolver put out in that tired old formula. Even the geriatric bands are in their formulas – but at least they invented their formulas and deserve worship status respect. Pontiak seems more interested in exploring its own take on rock and roll, experimenting with the formula, which is refreshing. In other words, it’s not puke scat music.

There’s no way it’s on the way to legendary status of those from the 70s. It’s just not that good. However, even in the 70s it could have competed and elbowed its way to the attention of a rock and roll epoch and into the fading baby boomer generation’s classic album sets. It punches out psychedelic riffs making for itself a unique sound, even if there is some semblance with Janis Joplin, that is still without question pure rock and roll. Not only are they doing it on record, but they’re bringing it on the road as well. I don’t hear a revival of the genre in Maker, but I do hear something worth listening to. What might make them really interesting is that they’re playing the live circuit really hard. For those of us who were barely out of diapers when Hendrix overdosed and aren’t really in the economic crowd that can fly out to make it to the rare Rolling Stones concert to witness a living museum exhibition, this is the chance to see what rock and roll is really like. Through them, we find that rock and roll has a pulse after all, even if it’s still on life support.

Defiant of the melancholy dirge of rock, this album pushes the limp corpse of rock away, burns it, emerges from its ashes, and it has life.

Tags: album

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