Ask any musician who's ever been in a band that's imploded what the cause of the bust-up was, and more often than not you'll get an answer — often peppered with profanity — of how somebody in the band was an (expletive).
Tight-knit Valley power-pop trio Let Go has discovered a way to avoid having that certain (expletive) in the group: They record extra tracks onto an iPod to flesh out their sound for live performances.
“The iPod is our cyber-(expletive),” frontman Jamie Woolford explains. “We call it Sammy, for sampling, so when we play live we can just tell the sound man to turn up Sammy.”
The members of Let Go are reluctant to dish on their unofficial fourth member for fear their use of an iPod will become a distracting novelty, but the band needn't worry — their self-titled debut album is awash in almost-perfect power-pop tunes full of crunching guitars, ringing pianos and organs, and a rock-solid rhythm section.
And, during Let Go's rousing live sets, the programmed tracks are minimal, offering backing keyboards that mesh into the texture of the band's sound.
“If it ever freezes or breaks, I'll just stop it,” explains drummer Scott Hessel, who runs the iPod from behind his drum kit.
“If something were to fail,” Woolford says, “you probably wouldn't even notice. It's just an additional thing.”
“It's not like when we're up there people can't tell we're a rock band,” says bassist Chris Serafini.
Enough about the cyber-(expletive).
EXPERIENCED LINEUP
Let Go is a pop supergroup of sorts, with Woolford being the former singer/songwriter for indie-rockers The Stereo, who released three terrific records on the Fueled by Ramen label from 1999 to 2002, when Woolford was based in Minneapolis.
Serafini played bass with Tempe-via-Pittsburgh pop/punks Pollen before joining The Stereo for the band's last record, “Rewind + Record.”
Hessel pounded the skins for the '90s Tempe pop band Spinning Jenny before joining Gloritone, and hooked up with Serafini when the bassist joined Gloritone after their original bassist left.
Woolford moved to the Valley two years ago and set up a recording studio, and when Gloritone disbanded, Serafini and Hessel joined up with the singer to flesh out Woolford's demos, and the band with the near-perfect pop pedigree was born.
“The way things ended with The Stereo was kind of ugly,” Woolford says. “So I was happy to just record other bands and not deal with the drama.”
“On the other hand, I was ecstatic to get back into the band drama,” Serafini says, laughing.
“Basically, Chris said, ‘What the (expletive), you're in my band now, and we're called Let Go,'” Woolford says.
Theories abound regarding how the band came to be known as Let Go — it is the title of a great Nada Surf album and a bad Avril Lavigne single. Or it could be a nod to The Stereo's great tune, “Just Let Go.”
Woolford sets the record straight.
“We needed a name that, when we switch around some letters for our funk project, Get Lo, people would get it,” Woolford explains. “Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays when we're on tour, we play as Get Lo at
Holiday Inns.”
“We wear wigs,” Hessel says. “Sparkly spandex.”
PHONIC PERFECTIONISM
Let Go began rehearsing just before Christmas 2004, played their first show together in January, and by early May the band was signed, sight unseen, to noted indie label The Militia Group (up-and-coming alt-rockers Rufio are also on the label) on the strength of their recordings.
The band recorded 16 songs in 16 days, with perfectionist Woolford mixing the record three times in five days.
“I'd mix it and everyone was like, ‘Great!' ” Woolford says. “Then I'd say, ‘It is great!' I'm doing it again. I still want to remix it.”
The band played a high-profile gig at CBGB in New York last month for the CMJ Music Marathon 2005, where they were finally able to play for the The Militia Group, nearly six months after the label inked a deal with them.
“Before they signed us we had told them, ‘Uh, yeah . . . we're great live,” Woolford says, laughing. “Nobody had seen us live until CMJ. I think everybody — the label, the distributor — was pretty stoked.”
With their label unequivocally in their corner, their first tour behind them and more tours looming, Let Go is primed to go to the head of the power-pop class — the positive reviews for the album are starting to roll in, including a write-up in skin mag Penthouse, which may cause some embarrassment for the boys when they go to Circle K and request the porn periodical from the clerk behind the counter.
“I'm gonna buy it for the review,” Woolford laughs, “but I'm gonna read it for the pics.”
CD REVIEW
Let Go
‘Let Go'
Good news for fans of indie-rockers The Stereo: The band's artistic force, Jamie Woolford, has surfaced in Tempe with Let Go, and the guitarist/singer has not lost his touch for crafting melodic power pop. Let Go is a heavier band than The Stereo, with drummer Scott Hessel and bassist Chris Serafini anchoring Woolford's vibrant guitar work.
But excellent musicianship aside, this record is all about the songs. And from the killer opening cut, “Illuminati,” the band's debut disc on The Militia Group label is filled with the kind of ear candy that fans of everyone from '70s pop gods The Raspberries and Badfinger to harder-rocking current bands like the Foo Fighters and Fall Out Boy will devour. Cuts such as “Bombs Away,” “Almost, Always Maybe” and “Somewhere” deliver choruses you can't get out your head with a crowbar, and there is not a clunker in the 12-song bunch. With the right publicity push, Let Go should be coming to a radio near you. A
Let Go CD release party
With: Necronauts, King Fish Fiasco, Blue James Band
When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Last Exit Bar and Grill, 1425 W. Southern Ave., Tempe
How much: $5
Info:
