Where: The Blue Note
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Tickets: $6
As the age of electronic music bears its clenching fists upon rock ’n’ roll’s place in mainstream music, few bands have the capability to dig deep into the roots of rock ’n’ roll and shape a sound that both incorporates classic rock and the growing age of indie rock acts.
The Weeks is a definite example of how a band can use this style, so apparently unique in our day and age of mainstream pop, to achieve a fanbase that appreciates the effort to reinvigorate a genre that goes back to the rock magnitude seen from classic bands like The Allman Brothers Band and monumental blues acts like Buddy Guy.
“We grew up listening pretty excessively to classic Southern rock, like The Allman Brothers among other things,” guitarist Sam Williams says. ”Bruce Springsteen, Thin Lizzy — all those bands made a solid collection of music we’ve enjoyed in our lives.”
A group that grew up together in Mississippi, The Weeks has been together since the days of garage shows in which many teens found haven. First performing together as 15 year olds, the group had been well-acquainted with each other before becoming a band — especially twins Cyle and Cain Barnes.
Lead singer Cyle Barnes and drummer Cain Barnes happen to hold spots as founding members of the band, bringing to their group the twist of family members who work together. The rest of the band members have known each other for the majority of their lives.
With that connection, the band found it simply natural to find a groove and develop a creative sound while never straying from the music they worshipped as kids.
The band is based in Nashville and has signed to Kings of Leon’s label, Serpents and Snakes Records. It has found that even with the change in environment, its music has maintained its consistent style of southern rock with elements of indie-based rock.
With aggressive drum beats backing a guitar (a style best related to sound found at garage shows stationed next to a backyard jam session of Southern folk ballads), The Weeks drives home a range of melodic scrappiness consistent with a move toward more modern folk bands. Think an instrumental session combining the styles of Dawes, Jack White and Gregg Allman with the voice of a more rugged John McCauley (Deer Tick).
“We’ve always changed our goals on a day-to-day basis,” Williams says. “We don’t really see too far into the future. Being on the road with Kings of Leon has definitely shown us the realm of possibility for us. To see a band doing what we do coming from the same background is always great.”
For fans of this style of music, so often neglected in our day and age, The Weeks hears your wishes for a reinvigoration of a sound. Come Friday, the band will show evidence for the remains of music performed without a laptop.
The Weeks speaks to the timeless proclamation of rock ‘n’ roll never dying, and more importantly, it can show it.
