Westside Daredevils don¹t fear the ³p² word: pop

By Tim Lee
As rock music genres go, you¹d be hard-pressed to find a more maligned form
than power pop. A style born of the early '70s, when artists such as Dwight
Twilley, the Flamin¹ Groovies, Big Star and the Raspberries thumbed their
noses at the Neanderthal arena rock of the era and embraced the melodic
sense of pop music¹s three Bs -- the Beatles, Beach Boys and Byrds -- giving
that tunefulness a sonic kick in the ass for good rockin¹ measure. Ringing
12-string guitars, three-part vocal harmonies and memorable hooks were
forged with power chords and Keith Moon drums to create a new style of music
that was equal parts aggression and beauty.
Power pop thrived during the '80s, watched over and cared for by clever
types such as the dBs, Let¹s Active, Tommy Keene and the Plimsouls, who took
the form to new levels. Unfortunately, the genre also suffered from the
overblown success of the Knack, which led to the subsequent signing, and
eventually dropping, of every half-assed band with a skinny tie the majors
could comb from the bushes.
By the '90s, despite the best efforts of the Posies, Matthew Sweet and
Teenage Fanclub, power pop was in decline. And here in the 21st Century,
power pop is pretty much on life support, considered by most to be a thing
of the past, best left to geeky record collectors and their ilk. The tag has
such negative connotations that some purveyors of the form have resorted to
calling their music "janglecore," a laughable term if there ever was one.
Still, the faithful continue. Bands such as Knoxville¹s own Westside
Daredevils carry on, waving their particular freak flag in the face of
fashion, knowing that trends come and go, but timeless music continues.
Although their sound is based on the original three Bs, the Daredevils¹
songs also encompass other elements, such as Elvis Costello and modern rock
icons the Pixies and Guided by Voices, melding their influences into an
original sound that is neither dated nor timely.
Chatting over drinks at Manhattan¹s with three of the five Daredevils --
Bret Cassidy, Jeff Caudill and Gray Comer -- the question has to be asked of
the chain-smoking trio: Why power pop?
"I just didn¹t want to make any other kind of music," said
guitarist/songwriter/ singer Cassidy. "This is the kind of music I listen
to; it¹s what I want to do."
Cassidy¹s fellow songwriter/singer/ guitarist Caudill piped in. "When we
first started, it was kind of a naive reaction to all this college rock and
math rock that was going on in town at the time. We got together and decided
to do this sort of bubblegummy-type stuff."
"Which we¹ve stuck with a little," added lead guitarist Comer, continuing
the thread. "But we¹ve rocked it up some since then."
True, the Westside Daredevils are much more wide-ranging in their sound than
most pop types. So don¹t be fooled into believing they are revivalist. Their
first release, "All Things Small Produce A Spark" on Lynn Point Records,
covers a lot of ground in its 11 songs -- from uptempo pop numbers such as
"London Forces" and "Andrea" through fuzzy rockers like "Camera Religion"
and "Strange You Haven¹t Fled" to beautiful mood pieces such as "Miner¹s
Shortwave" and "Mind¹s Cold Sweat."
And the emphasis is on songs, not form. "It¹s not like we¹re writing a style
of music," Cassidy said. "We¹re writing songs and creating a style from the
songs."
Among Cassidy¹s and Caudill¹s strengths as songwriters, besides the obvious
melodicism, is their unusual wordplay. These are pop sing-alongs that cover
more lyrical territory than your average "I love her, she loves me."
"I always try to come at things from a somewhat surreal angle," Caudill
said. "I just want to avoid writing really obvious songs ... I¹d rather be
kinda obtuse. We¹re just kinda nerdy, smartass guys, so I don¹t think we
could write straight ahead love songs without sounding like smartasses."
Cassidy agreed, adding: "There¹s a lot of fun you can have with the English
language. And the lyrics that usually interest me are a little bit more
oblique. Still, if you listen to the Zombies and Big Star and Teenage
Fanclub, it¹s really difficult to write a song that¹s really simple."
For all the thought that goes into the Daredevils¹ tunes, Caudill maintains
that the bottom line is make songs that come across. "It¹s kinda
psuedo-intellectual to try and show off how smart and quirky you are," he
said. "I just want to connect with people on that human rock n¹ roll level.
I have no interest in being over other people¹s heads."
The Daredevils, a quintet of twenty-something music fans (Brandon Smith
holds down the bass guitar duties, while original drummer Morrie Rothstein
recently left to finish his art degree), have all the proper elements of a
classic power pop band:  memorable tunes, great harmonies, a rocking rhythm
section and -- dig this -- three guitars!
Okay, so the three guitar thing is an aberration of sorts, a lineup more
often associated with rowdy Southern rockers like Molly Hatchet and the
Outlaws than "kinda nerdy smartass guys," as Caudill describes the band
members. So where¹d that come from? "It was me, all me!" Comer blurted out,
prompting a round of laughter from his cohorts.
"It was mainly Gray¹s idea," Caudill said. "Bret and Gray were in a band
called Beeswax ... and Brandon and I came to them with the idea of playing
this power pop thing together."
The original idea was for Comer to play drums, before he decided "I¹m a much
better guitar player than I am a drummer. So I thought what we were doing
was cool, but it would be even cooler if we got somebody who could actually
play drums."
Due to the taste and restraint displayed by the band members, the Daredevils
turn the three-guitar approach into a definitive plus. Each player
understands how to make their parts fit in with the other two, even to the
point of not playing when it¹s called for. "We try to do everything to
support the songs," Comer explained.
These are smart guys, who give plenty of thought to what they do. Of course,
one always runs the risk of being too analytical. Asked if they were more
likely to overthink song arrangements or to make decisions based more on gut
instinct, Cassidy asked dryly, "Is this assuming that our gut instinct isn¹t
to overthink things?"
"I don¹t think any of our songs come across to us as being [over thought],"
Cassidy continued after the laughter died down. "Because we¹re just
naturally going to move away from things that take away from the song."
These days, the Daredevils are working in a new drummer and sorting through
a wealth of new material for their sophomore release. The plan is to comb
through and come up with a cohesive batch of songs. "The first record is
kinda like, OHere¹s the best 11 songs we had at the time,¹" Cassidy said.
"We hope to have a little more cohesion on the next one."
"We¹re trying to get better at all aspects of this," Comer said. "At writing
songs, playing, singing, being a better live band, at the business end of
it. "You can¹t be something you¹re not. You¹ve just gotta do what comes
naturally."

Westside Daredevils perform with Big Fresh and Murder Beach at the Pilot
Light, 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31.