ALBANY — It’s a tale that’s indicative of the past 11 months. Band releases album before COVID-19. Band forced to quarantine and can’t promote the album. Band spends quarantine putting out new music instead of sitting and waiting.
Capital District musicians have truly made lemonade this year with the restrictions placed on them and Son of a Gun is no different. The three-piece unit, featuring Ben Sokol, Tyler Treacy and Rob Piccola, released its latest EP, Turn to Dust, earlier this month.
“Our release last year was really about wanting to put a full-length album out and create good work,” Sokol, Son of a Gun’s lead singer, said, “whereas this time we really wanted to dive into each individual song and work with people who are masters at mixing.”
Turn to Dust features four songs: “Cry All Night,” “Watch and Wait,” “Turn to Dust” and “Find the Seam.” The EP has a rooty rock feel to it and is the perfect length to keep you enthralled while wanting more. I found myself most attracted to “Cry All Night,” but also found each song to be pivotal to the EP’s experience and not be considered frivolous.
Son of a Gun is the king of not being frivolous; because there’s only three members, each member carries equal weight, bassist Treacy said. As the band’s literal bottom line, he finds his groove by formulating bass parts that give an edge while still complementing the song’s needs.
“Ben will upload an acoustic rendering to the group’s shared Google Drive and we will sit down as a team and put the song together,” Treacy said. “What makes the three of us work so well together is how we are able to scale each person’s part together.”
Son of a Gun also allows its members to let their hair down, something drummer Piccola appreciates. While he admits his drumming is more reserved in his other projects, he’s able to focus on technical playing here and create a more layered feel to his work.
“I wouldn’t say each song is meant to be connected in a story, but I find this EP to be more cohesive in that each song is up to par with the others to create a solid finished product,” Piccola said. “I love that we have a level of informality here that gives us the freedom to dig our heels into something.”
All Son of a Gun needs is an audience; all three men agreed they are ready to take the stage whenever it’s deemed safe. One thing is for sure: playing virtual shows only satiates the performing hunger for so long.
“We do this to play music with people and perform,” Piccola concluded. “We’re ready to touch up some last-minute things and then get on stage however we can.”
To purchase Turn to Dust, visit https://www.sonofagunband.com/.
