The Next Generation Of

Rock & Rollers

Is Hitting Its Stride

By John Voket

I’m at that age now (middle age) where I can fondly recall discovering all those classic rock musicians who have laid the foundation for everything that has come through the tubes, transistors, speakers and iPod headphones since.

I remember marveling at epics like CSN&Y’s incomparable “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” from the Woodstock performance, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” Dylan’s “Hurricane,” and even “American Pie.” I pumped my fist to three different configurations of Black Sabbath; banged my head to the crunch and wailing of Quiet Riot on both coasts; even risked life and limb to trudge through a blizzard to see Styx on their first headline tour at the New Haven Coliseum, and a couple of years later, to witness U2 on a dismal stormy night as their first US tour hit the boards a few blocks away at Toad’s Place.

From the dinosaurs on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert to the newest crop of wannabes on FUSE, I’ve seen the best and worst that rock and roll has to offer. I’ve listened to more bootlegs than you could stuff into an aircraft carrier, and am still lovingly preserving a small library of vinyl albums along with crates of home-made cassettes, and even a few 8-tracks for no good reason.

As I teeter on this tightrope of time, looking back at what has come before, and casting a wary glance toward what will become of rock and roll in the future, I feel gratified to have witnessed two recent performances that bode well for the future of this popular but often misunderstood genre of music.

I was recently invited to cover the 2007 Alternative Press Tour on the eve of its wrap-up. The four-band bill at Hartford’s Webster Theater was especially exciting because it was the lesser-known acts that turned in the most impressive performances during their abbreviated sets.

Being relegated to listen to show openers, Envy on the Coast, from the backstage area coincidentally provided enough of a noise buffer so that I could actually hear how clean and well-rehearsed the material was. It’s been a long time since I was this impressed by a band too new to be known.

While maintaining a youthful energy, these five rockers from Long Island also revealed shades of classic acts and influences ranging from Nirvana to U2, from Queen to Aerosmith. Kudos to AP and the band for bringing it together on this showcase.

Don’t be surprised to hear Envy on the Coast’s indy single “You Won’t Hear This,” bumping up against hits from My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy on the radio as the summer progresses.

Not to be outdone by their Long Island neighbors, As Tall As Lions put out an equally impressive set incorporating punk, funk, arena rock and jam band eccentricities leaving the sweltering crowd at the Webster shouting out for more. The psychedelic crawl of their single “Love, Love, Love, Love,” the escalating energies of “Ghosts of York,” and the soothing Coldplay-like piano on “Maybe I’m Just Tired,” has brought me back to their MySpace page several times since the show to re-up my doses of As Tall as Lions.

Hailing from Philly, Circa Survive hit the stage with tons of promise, but the excessive, high pitched vocalist Anthony Green tried a bit too hard for my liking to emulate Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell. The irony is I wanted to like Circa Survive. Green even took a few moments to chat me up earlier in the evening, and I was really looking forward to the set. But his whining delivery just ended up detracting and distracting me from fully appreciating the band’s musicianship, which is tight and satisfying on their recorded offerings.

Stars of the show, Cute is What We Aim For, put the icing on the AP tour’s Webster stop with an hour long set of power pop featuring MTV2 staples “The Curse of Curves” and “There’s a Class for This.” Tall and handsome lead vocalist Shaant Hacikyan and lead guitarist Jeff Czum worked the crowd into a frenzy with cousins Fred Cimato and Tom Falcone kicking it admirably on bass and drums respectively.

All the 20-somethings populating these four regional acts clearly represent the next generation of arriving rock and roll stars. Each band displayed a distinct personality, while indirectly paying tribute to the many acts that have influenced them.

While my visit to the Webster was a lot of fun, a subsequent trip to the Symphony Space on the upper West Side of Manhattan a few nights later was downright inspiring. This trip provided a second, and much more exhilarating opportunity to see an even younger collection of musicians who are currently studying at, or have graduated from, Paul Green’s School of Rock.

The two dozen or so young artists included several who played an earlier show I saw on this tour, made most special because they were collectively taken under the wing of one of classic rock’s reigning royalty – Jon Anderson of Yes. In an interview with The Bee published during the winter, Mr Green stated that the rock musicians of tomorrow will best serve the genre by standing on the shoulders of the greats who have come before.

Based on recent performances of the incredibly complex material of Yes, with Jon Anderson coming on board to personally front the band, the expanding population of aging classic rock fans need not worry about losing tough with their roots.

Besides the spot-on recreations of the band’s most accessible material — “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “All Good People” and “Roundabout” — the crew from Paul Green’s academy took pains to perfect almost the entire Close to the Edge album. Both “And You and I,” and the 20-minute-plus title track put tears in my eyes and sent shivers up my spine.

While the first round of this Green-Anderson collaboration featured exclusively Yes material with students sharing the singing duties, this second leg expanded the repertoire to include other popular hits like Steely Dan’s “My Old School,” “Mustang Sally,” “Got To Get You Into My Life,” and even a Woodstock-era Joni Mitchell number, “California.”

Although a couple of the guitarists took the opportunity to inject some contemporary flash into both the classic covers and the Yes material, their loyalty to Steve Howe’s virtuoso guitar work remained intact, especially on his solo hits “Mood for a Day” and “The Clap.”

Anderson was in top form at the Symphony Space show, alternating from front man to conductor and even part of the ensemble, nurturing the group through just a few noticeable rough moments and delivering hugs and high-fives as the revolving cast of musicians circulated on and off the stage.

There is no doubt in my mind, from seeing the newly minted front line talents on the AP Tour, and the up-and-comers from Paul Green’s School of Rock, that I will be able to age gracefully with my “classic” inventory competing for my attention with a constantly re-generating crop of new acts positioning themselves admirably to become the next best thing in the world of rock and roll!