"I'll let you in on a little secret" whispers guitarist Chris Boosahda, "we didn't do any of these tracks live. We recorded everything in our loft in Brooklyn and just didn't have the space to all be playing together at the same time, so this record was essentially 'over-dub city.' But we captured the vibe and energy of a club performance because that's what happens when real good friends play together."
The Beasts of Eden (the name is "borrowed" from John Steinbeck's East of Eden, with a slight alteration by way of the band's homage to local public access television host Joe Hunt - an imposing 6' 8" firefighter /slam poet - who warned that a "beast" lurked in New York City's coolest borough) are singer/guitarist Chris V., Boosahda, bassist Jon Shaw, and drummer Carter McLean. Their debut EP, which nearly runs the length of a full album - six tracks, twenty some odd minutes, is the explosive, hook-laden End Times.
Of the title Chris V. notes "it's a bit of a dark take on the world being a little crazy right now…but we're not trying to get too literal with religious symbolism or anything. We definitely have more of a sense of humor to it, but there's also this idea of a relationship ending, which is where the song 'End Times' gets a lot of its meaning. So there's a duality to it."
End Times bears a remarkable resemblance to the band members' amalgamation of disparate influences, namely the Beatles, Doves, Jeff Buckley, Queens of the Stone Age, Steely Dan, and Mos Def. Reveals Boosahda "three of us are really soul-funk guys. That would be me, Jon and Carter. Chris V. is really the one rock dude!"
The band's debut is self-produced, self-recorded, and, according to Boosahda, a selfless collaboration in that every member adheres to the credo of what's good for the band is good for the individual. Though they're headquartered is Brooklyn, home of some of pop's hippest artists, they absolutely do not feel as if they're a part of any particular musical wave or movement as compared to Seattle grunge or the ubiquitous Summer of Love. "We have our ears open, and we're very up with the times, but we're not thinking that 'this is the sound of Brooklyn and we have to keep in line with that.'"
The most overt characteristic that separates The Beasts from the masses is their penchant for waxing pop rock tunes that could stand on their own as well as fit comfortably as an album track- whatever that means in an iTunes world wherein the line has been irrevocably blurred. "When we're working out a tune, every idea that comes up finds us thinking of it as a single," boasts Boosahda. "Each song has the potential to be a hit. It's not to say that we're purposely writing in a 'marketable' way. Every time we finish a track we're all in agreement that 'hey this could be on the radio!'"
--Tom Semioli
The Beasts of Eden's End Times is available now in digital format and will be out physically June 26, 2007 on Expansion Team Records.
http://www. myspace.com/thebeastsofeden
http://www.expansionteamrecords.com
