(Photo courtesy of the Backyard Remedies.)Big bands have made it out of Tempe, such as the Gin Blossoms and Jimmy Eat World. However, Tempe is also home to the "baby" bands, the ones that have yet to emerge but hold promise in their talent, creativity and attitude toward music.
One of these "baby" bands is Tempe's own, six-month-old Backyard Remedies.
This threesome, which mixes punk with reggae, said they came together after a falling out with a band member. It was then that they decided to take a hiatus and ended up coming back stronger than ever with their new addition on bass, Nathan Flood.
Backyard Remedies has been working since February on writing, practicing and perfecting its songs for its "¡B.Y.R! Welcome Back Show!" on Saturday, Sept. 7.
The show will be at Sage Bar and Vietnamese Cuisine in Chandler, where Backyard Remedies says it will play three different set lists that are around 45 minutes each.
The group has also just finished recording a five-song EP at Mind’s Eye Digital Recording Studio, and guitarist and vocalist Daniel Brundage said there are plans for its release at the end of this month.
The sets at Sage will include the songs on the EP combined with a mix of cover songs.
“I think that’s an important thing for a band to have, is just knowing a ton of songs,” Christian Rodriguez, the band's drummer, said. “Think about how many songs Bradley knew by the end, probably hundreds.”
Rodriguez was referring to Bradley Nowell, the late lead singer and guitarist for the band Sublime, one of Backyard Remedies’s biggest influences.
Along with Sublime, the band also takes it's influence from NOFX, Mad Caddies, Streetlight Manifesto and Slightly Stoopid among many more, the band said.
Although the band wants to work up to having a wide variety of songs to play, Brundage said they are choosing quality over quantity.
“We want to clean our setlist," Brundage said. "We want it to sound as good as it can, so we aren’t going to keep adding songs and rather keep perfecting the ones we’ve got.”
When it comes to creating original songs, bassist Nathan Flood said they build off of one another.
“Most of the time, one of us will have a part, and we’ll bring it to the band," Flood said. "We’ll listen and come up with the other parts from there.”
When it comes to the perfect song, Rodriguez said that fluidity and making sure the instruments all sound like they belong is key.
“That, and the perfect combination of instruments with one perfect part, it’s about knowing whose part needs to stand out and how to do that.” Flood said.
When it comes to Backyard Remedies's new EP, all three agree on "Herbal Lessons" as the song for which to look out.
“It’s our most put-together song,” Rodriguez said.
Fans of up-beat and punk-rock and reggae fusion can listen to the band to decide if “Herbal Lessons” is their favorite too at Backyard Remedies's free show on Sept. 7 at 9 p.m.
Reach the reporter at tnguye39@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @teenyanguyen
