Thursday, March 15   10:30 p.m.
Redrum   (401 Sabine St)

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Coincidentally, it was the philosopher Socrates who said, �The unexamined life is not worth living.�

Socratic is five guys from the Garden State who realized the foul wind blown by shouting the loudest might sail them to shores where robot radio-execs might be inclined to include them in the simple plan to keep the clones coming, but it would never sit well in their souls.

Listen to what they say on �Alexandria As Our Lens:� �Hey all you screamo. What�s the deal when any talent that you lack is covered up by the fact that you can scream out really loud? Say things that were said before. Every lyric that you sing it sounds the same. I stay honest just enough to hate�

And the song doesn�t sound like frothing, stupid, three-chord hate, because Socratic�s music always weaves and wanders past the expected.

There�s more than a feeling in the songs, there�s a story. �Alexandria As Our Lens,� more than just rails against stagnant screamers; listen: �Alexandria drives a school bus as she stares back at empty seats it reminds her she will never have kids. She adopted a sickness when she was young and neglected her health so long she will never drive children of her own.�

Or take this signpost from the song B to E: �Let�s take a walk down back to that playground where we were just girls and boys, sand and toys, nothing ruined our days besides the rain. As we get older it rains more often. We become toys waiting for someone to pick us out of the sand. To hold our hearts and help us understand.�




Tom and Kevin started the group nearly ten years ago, and each member has come aboard quite organically adding a new element to the unique Socratic sound. They were, they admit, stuck aping their contemporaries back in the day, but they�ve grown, their fingers longing to do new and interesting things, and each new addition has helped them veer toward a road less traveled.

They walk and rock with the sure steps befitting a band that writes together and believes in earnest that this group they have is equally responsible for each song. If one person doesn�t add a whole lot of input to a particular song, the guys in Socratic understand that may well be because the next song is stirring in his head. Anyone starts a song, but everyone finishes it.

And you hear this togetherness. You feel this pushing at your back that comes from their urgency: from lyrics and music that found it�s way out after life had been examined, hard. �How about another ride around to treat a sickness where I leak out my dreams?� That�s one way they describe the experience on the song �I Don�t Wear A Coat.�

The piano doesn�t lead the tunes, but Vinny D�Amico, the newest addition to the band plays with a piercing presence on each track. Self-taught, and a huge fan of classic rock, D�Amico lends grace and sweetness to songs mellow or intense, while the rest of the band serves tunes that quiver in sweet calm waves (�U And Left Turns�) or zip and invigorate like the title track.

�I sit and wait for grass so green that there is no other side,� they sing on �We Burn Houses,� and they got something close to that ideal setting when they went to record Lunch For The Sky.

Produced by John Goodmanson (Hot Hot Heat, Sleater Kinney, The Blood Brothers) at Longview Farms Studio in rural Western Massachusetts, Socratic�s Drive Thru debut Lunch For The Sky was recorded while the band enjoyed acres of pastoral beauty. They had serenity to assist their art, peace to compliment their passion, and a proper setting to finish their examination.