“INDIE ROCK IS slightly boring right now,” says Paul Sprangers,lead singer of the Philadelphia-based band Free Energy, “and we bring something new to the table.”
With the crowded market of poppy rock bands out there, this promises to be quite a feat, but with the blessing (and production) of DFA, the New York disco label that has propelled acts such as The Rapture, The Juan Maclean and Black Dice to stardom below-14th Street and beyond, the band stands a better chance than most. The group’s debut album, Stuck on Nothing, will be released on the DFA label later this year and on Friday the band is headlining a show at Mercury Lounge.
The band is made up of Sprangers, brothers Scott Wells on guitar and Evan Wells on bass, Geoff Bucknum on guitar and Nicholas Shuminsky on drums.The guys, who all sing on the record, have known each other for 10 years.They met either in college or while playing shows with each other’s old bands (Scott and Sprangers were in Hockey Night).When all found themselves without other projects, they united to form Free Energy. All of the guys moved to Philadelphia last fall and are currently shacked up together in a house where they dedicate themselves to a jam-packed schedule of rehearsal time with a little bit of down time for playing house shows and clubs.
Free Energy’s music has an electric, pop-rock sound.The band’s feeling, as Sprangers describes it, is that “you can do whatever you want—if you have something you want to do and you are scared about doing it, do it, ’cause life is very short.” This comes through in the band’s songs. “Dream City” kicks off with the line “Hey, we’re coming out/ Dancing downtown/ Free like whatever we dream about” and continues with vibrant imagery-filled lyrics about knowing who you are. The same kind of feel-good imagery is found in “Free Energy”: “This is all we got tonight/ We are young and still alive/ And now the time is on our side.”
So, how does the cheery Free Energy fit into the disco-heavy DFA lineup? For one thing, its members claim to have joined the label because, “James has an espresso maker in the office, and free espresso is a huge perk.” As far as the actual music is concerned, Sprangers says his band’s “dual harmonizing guitars, background ELO-type vocals, and big cheesy pop moves” made it a perfect fit. “A lot of the components of the music sound the same: the drums, the LCD and sounds that retain that ‘70s postpunk feel; we have similar ingredients but the ultimate product is different.”
And it’s likely to be a product that moves. Free Energy has a simple message: “You are always free to do what you want caption to do.” And the band takes that to heart: “This is all we do.We are pretty happy with what we are making, and whatever happens will be cool,” says Sprangers. “This record is really good—we have no expectations, but we think it could be a pretty big deal.”
> Free Energy
Aug. 7, Mercury Lounge 217 E. Houston St. (bets. Essex & Ludlow Sts.), 212-260-4700; 8, $10
