The experimental sound of tomatoband is a refreshing alternative to the usual beach rock
By Lorne Chambers | Editor
Although you may just be hearing of the quartet known as tomatoband, it actually has a longer history than one might think. Guitarist Charlie Mitchell and Keyboardist Alex Irwin grew up together in Richmond, Vir. “I would go over to Charlie’s grandmother’s and hang out most nights, and she didn’t have cable, so we hung out in her basement and jammed,” recalls Irwin. “I didn’t play an instrument at the time, but we put some songs together with him on guitar, and I started learning the piano.”
Fast forward to 2017. Irwin, now living in Charleston, met bassist Alan Stern and Jake Acheson jamming on Folly Beach one night. Suddenly he had what he describes as an “awesome and weird rhythm section.” The three convinced Irwin’s childhood friend Mitchell to move to Charleston. tomatoband was born.
“tomatoband is like an inside joke that we refused to stop telling and roped other people into. A joke that we take way too seriously,” says Irwin. “We try to balance the fact that we don’t want to seem like we are trying too hard with the fact that we really care about how it sounds.”
The band just recorded their debut album Disc Uncertain at Wappoo Cut Records, and will be playing two shows in conjunction with the album’s release. The first will be on Thursday, Aug. 3 at The Pour House on James Island and then on Friday, Aug. 4 on Folly Beach at Chico Feo. Disc Uncertain can be purchased at the shows or through the band’s website www.tomatobandmusic.com.
“We are very proud of Disc Uncertain, which is meant to be totally weird, but in a put-together kind of way,” says Irwin. “It’s meant to be listened to from start to finish, and each song sort of feeds into the next, resembling our live routine.” The album was recorded at Wappoo Cuts Studio, with the mixing and mastering done by their friend Justin Kessler, who has worked with Bob Dylan and the Black Crowes, among others.
So what is tomatoband exactly? It’s a little hard to describe. It’s a little jazzy, a little funky, yet they rock out with a good dose of improvisation. It’s clear that all four members are confident in their abilities and each instrument gets a chance to standout without dominating the others. tomatoband’s sound is pretty experimental and doesn’t fit into any particular genre. Some of their songs are slightly funky, and some of them rock with a lot of ambience thrown in there.
“Our main thing is using songs to launch into wild and jaunting improvisational sections,” says Irwin. “This is where we really excel, because we all get along so well, and I think that helps us on stage. We listen to each other remarkably well and react to each other. There are very few solos. Everyone sort of drives the train together.”
Irwin says the main goal is to just sound interesting and to avoid too much “strumming and chord banging.” He says tomatoband isn’t trying to be too deep and lyrically isn’t trying to get any particular message across. “We just want our lyrics to sound cool and go along with our instruments more than we really want them to change the way you think,” he says. “If you are going to come to a tomatoband show and really listen and really get into the music, it’s the complete sound that we want you to walk away with.”
