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The quartet's music has been labeled everything from thinking man's punk to ska-meets-rockabilly and heavy-metal honky-tonk. Evans really doesn't care what his music is called. It's just rock 'n' roll to him.
John Evans -- vocals, guitar
Jake Campbell -- guitar, vocals
Mike Ferrara -- bass
Mike Lewis -- drums
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Diamonds Gold and Pretty Things
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Long Way Home
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Understanding Jane
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Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
Biggest Fool in Town, 2000
Out of Control, 2002
Circling the Drain, 2004
Ramblin' Boy, 2006
Lucky 13, 2007
Lollygaggin', 2009
John Evans’ eponymous band has all but exhausted descriptions. The popular quartet’s music has been labeled everything from thinking man’s punk to ska-meets-rockabilly and heavy-metal honky-tonk.
In truth, Evans really doesn’t care what his music is called. It’s just rock ’n’ roll to him.
"I want to write songs, and I want to sing. However it comes across, it comes across," Evans says.
"That’s pretty much what we’re doing. It’s progressively gotten heavier, soundwise, as far as the band goes. Vocally, I try to push myself, but I’m still just a crooner."
Ramblin’ Boy, the John Evans Band’s latest and most accomplished disc, both satisfies and shatters any previous characterizations. It’s a lushly produced, maddeningly catchy collection about lonely travelers, "caviar barflies" and torturous love. Joyous backing vocals and blistering guitar riffs perfectly frame Evans’ assured, often electric, vocal delivery.
The Virginia-born, Houstonbred Evans earned acclaim and a loyal following with his more country-centric material. Even 2004’s Circling the Drain, for all its punk sheen, was steeped in raucous rockabilly.
Ramblin’ Boy presented Evans with the opportunity to mix it up even more. He chose a surprising launching point.
"I think the Beatles’ recording techniques are . . . genius," Evans says. "We actually used a mic pre (amp) that’s duplicated from the one that they used at Abbey Road (Studios)"
"I like the simplicity that they have . . . but it’s big and still has a raw element."
Leadoff track Diamonds, Gold and Pretty Things, along with the jaunty Tumbling Down, mine Fab Four territory. At the same time, Love Conquers All seems tailormade for alt-radio airwaves, and fellow Houston musician Hayes Carll’s Long Way Home pulses with a pleading pop intensity. There’s even a sexy, sweaty, all but unrecognizable cover of Freddy Fender’s Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.
Credit some of that diversity to Evans’ bandmates. The current JEB incarnation has been together about a year and includes guitarist Jake Campbell and drummer Mike Lewis, who favor metal; and bassist Mikey Ferrara, who comes from a "pop-punk background."
"Before I met John, I was working up in Denver as a janitor for a nursing home. It wasn’t a hard decision to make, is what I’m trying to say," Campbell says. "I dig what John does. I feel
fresh to it."
There has been much cross country touring to hone the still evolving sound, but Evans and company don’t plan on leaving "the dirty South" anytime soon.
"There’s no reason why I can’t do what I’m doing based out of Houston," Evans says. "You can put us on tour with any rock band, anywhere, right now, and we can hold our own."
Besides, home is keeping Evans much too busy. He has two daughters and is building a studio. Evans works regularly with some of Houston’s best acts, including Glenna Bell and the UJoints, and he produced a recording of Feliz Navidad with legends Billy Joe Shaver and Flaco Jiménez.
As for his own sound, Evans simply hopes Ramblin’ Boy will help fans see a different side of his musical prowess.
"We’re getting a new fan base of people. I hope that we still pull some of those people that like my old stuff into the scene. It’s not that different. I’m still writing the songs, and I’m still singing the songs. It’s just a little heavier and a little more rockin’."
-- Joey Guerra | May 4, 2006
Joey Guerra
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