Aberdeen City launched into their set with a full head of steam, playing “Another Seven Years,” the opening song from the band’s second EP The Freezing Atlantic. Since I last saw the band in Dayton, Ohio, this past November, playing before a scarce audience, the band has picked up a great deal of momentum in the last seven months, highlighted by the re-release of the EP on Sony’s RED INK label.
As always, in any venue, in front of ten fans or 1,000 fans, Aberdeen City puts on a show like they are performing at a sold out Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. Friday night, before numerous people, the band did not hesitate to show off their consuming, addictive music.
Aberdeen City is Ryan Heller (guitar), Chris McLaughlin (guitar/vocals), Rob McCaffrey (drums), and Brad Parker (vocals/bass).
Brad, Ryan, and Rob, originally from Chicago, grew up in close proximity of one another but attended different schools. Ryan and Rob met in high school through a mutual friend. Soon they found themselves in a band together. After graduation, both Ryan and Rob went to Boston College, where they met Brad.
With their original bassist, they would occasionally get a gig at a bar and play a few songs, but being full time students, they could not put their full focus in the band. During their senior year, with a lot of written material in hand, the band decided to make an attempt to play music professionally. Soon, they met Chris, then a freshman at BC, after quickly fitting in with the other members, he joined the band.
In 2001-02, the group released their first EP, We Learned by Watching, and hit the road regionally. The band felt the more they played the better they would become. As AC took up more and more of the members’ time, the original bassist decided he did not want continue with the band. Ryan said the decision was “amicable.”
Without a bassist, the band was at a crossroad. After a few meetings, Brad, a trained violinist and guitar player, said he could give the bass a shot. While never formally playing the bass, Brad grew up around the instrument and always like it. Ryan, Rob, and Chris told Brad to learn all their songs and try it out at a couple of shows. Ryan said, with Brad at bass, “It just clicked, and the four of us meshed into one. It made us a stronger and better band.” After seeing the band perform live twice, it is easy to see that the quartet has clicked into a well-oiled machine.
Article comments
1 - Kelly
Great Article!!! I saw them the night before you did in Hartford. I think Ryan is absolutely gorgeous.
2 - burnhilde
Excellent article, Mr Sandwasher. Great analysis and detail. But don't you think the band is a bit too much under Radiohead's spell? In particular on Brighton and a couple of the other tracks?
3 - M.D. Sandwasher
burnhilde,
Thanks for the compliments.
A lot of critics have compared the band to the sounds of Radiohead and U2. I asked Ryan about this. He said, and I’m paraphrasing, that he is always honored to hear those comparisons. I personally don’t think they are a knockoff of Radiohead or any other band. Each of the member’s taste in music is so diverse, from Brad’s immense liking of classical music to Rob’s love of classic rock that I think many influences go into the sound that is Aberdeen City.