:mattLandia:

Preface: I'm a guitar tone snob. It's one of the few things that's still left over from my days playing with Shimmerzine. Anyone can buy a Marshall stack and crank the volume. Few can pick the right Marshall speaker, the right Marshall head, and then match the rig to a guitar that emotes the beauty of it's original design. (Translation: Buying paint doesn't make you a painter).

Entry: Saturday night I went to see Soundtrack Of Our Lives (SOOL) play at Smith's Old Bar. I fully expected I would have to write an entry about how amazing they are, how much energy they ooze on stage, and how their lead singer looks like a Viking who's been hitting the nitrous oxide a bit too often. And well, SOOL was all those things. You should buy their record, and try to see them as soon as you can.

The real reason for writing this entry however, is to tell you how amazed I was with the first band of the evening, American Minor. I LOVE stumbling across a band that helps me validates my ongoing love affair with music. In short, here are 5 things you should know about American Minor.

1 - They KNOW classic guitar tone. I'm talking about that sultry buzz, that electric syrup, that siren call -- you know the sound. You heard it from Hendrix. Zepplin. Skynnard. Allman Brothers. Odds are if you grew up south of the Mason Dixon line, you got sweaty in the back seat of a car to this tone.

2 - They are the embodiment of what I thought rock bands would always would look like.. In a sea of indie-rock scenesters, all five band members look like members of the bands I'm sure they worshipped growing up. They are: Lanky. Long haired. Bearded. Young-ish. And into their thing.

3 - They are from nowhere West Virginia.

4 - Josh Gragg (guitarist) has a righteous mustache. And if you don't know how I feel about a mustache... well, you haven't been reading here long have you?

5 - "Buffalo Creek" is song that makes the southern music gods very, very happy. You can listen to their whole EP on their website - check it out.