Friday, March 16   10:00 p.m.
The Parish   (214B E 6th St)

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Jam packed with brawny, spirited, hands-in-the-air rockers, stirring anthems and harrowing ventures exploring a culture sapped by hollow heroes and soul-killing, high-tech crapola, The Drams careen out of Texas with Jubilee Dive�a welcome jolt of rock n' roll that is fresh and vital even as it flaunts an effortless command of time-tested rock maneuvers.

Fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Brent Best, The Drams� lineup merges lead guitarist Jess Barr and drummer Tony Harper (from Best�s long-running, alt-everything mavericks, Slobberbone) with singer/keyboardist Chad Stockslager and singer/bassist Keith Killoren (both from Dallas� Budapest One), and while fans of Best�s previous work won�t be thrown completely for a loop, The Drams� soaring vocal harmonies, expanded instrumental range and ebullient, hook-laden rock�n�pop adventurousness have taken it all to a new, invigorating level.

Best readily acknowledges that Stockslager and Killoren�s vocal capabilities�along with the former�s sterling work on keys�have greatly extended his artist�s palette and enabled him to demonstrate finesse and subtlety in ways he�d previously only dreamed about.

�The real upside is having people who can sing our sound with me,� he states, �and just finally being able to touch upon all the things I�ve always wanted to touch upon, but never really had all the resources to make it happen.�

Produced by Matt Pence (Centro-Matic, South San Gabriel), Jubilee Dive is an ambitious, 14-song tour-de-force that jumps out of the gate with �The Truth Lies Low,� an outwardly up-beat, Trojan horse of a raver that aims a scathing diatribe at a society which has allowed its individuality and creativity to be co-opted by bells-and-whistles technology and lemming-like consumerism.

�I was trying, on the whole, to make this a lighter, more hopeful album,� Best confesses, laughing. �But to me, we live in a time when people have just gotten so used to bullsh*t on every level that you can spew utter bullsh*t�and be called on it!�and then just go, �well, here�s the next bullsh*t,� and somehow, that�s okay.� But bullsh*t doesn�t play here: The Drams are drilling for the jugular with no punches pulled.

Fueled by blistering guitars, a swirling organ figure and a killer tandem vocal track, the celebratory �Hummalong� counsels being true to one�s vision(s)�yet another recurring theme of Jubilee Dive.

�Holy Moses� is a gorgeous, languid prayer for redemption that conjures a dreamy Jayhawks/Band/Abbey Road collision; �Unhinged� is a Saturday night party cheerleader, and �Fireflies� is a cool border/tango hybrid reminder to appreciate life�s simple, yet life-affirming, pleasures.

Throughout, Best repeatedly addresses ennui, the pressure to surrender to senses-dulling routine and the need for regular stock-taking to keep track of one�s True Self amid a squirrel-cage existence.

The Jules Shear-meets-The Beatles �September�s High� is just such a wake-up call, as is the sunny, Sixties-era California psychedelic pop suite of �You Won�t Forget�.

Jubilee Dive�s nearly-70-minute length flies in the face of a trend for shorter albums, yet Best�s enormous accumulated backlog of top-shelf material awaiting a band capable of fully-realizing its multiple textures/possibilities simply over-ran prudence.

Add to that the uncanny, naturally-flowing tracking of this masterful song cycle, and it�s virtually impossible to find even one cut that not only doesn�t belong here, but that doesn�t belong exactly where it is.

�That was it, ya know?� Best reflects. �Everything still made sense, so we went with it. I knew we were pushing the time thing, but I really wanted to keep the arc of the story line.�

The astonishingly uplifting underdog anthem �Shortsighted� is a stone marvel�and might well have been the perfect closer for a lesser disc, but The Drams were still holding 20-plus minutes of powerhouse rock in their hands.

�Crudely Drawn� is a giddy, closing-time rave-up, �Make A Book� is a meaty, blue-collar populist rocker with a vintage, Thin Lizzy buzz, and �Des Moines� is a haunting, lonely, band-on-the-road heartbreaker.

Jubilee Dive rolls out with the quietly disturbing �Wonderous Life,� a blurry, biting, visceral stream-of-consciousness examination of alcoholic fog reeking of Bukowski/Burroughs horrors set in an ironically stately backdrop.

�My favorite songs are the ones that write themselves,� says Best. �I remember writing it and kind of waiting for the hook�you know, the thing that kept it from being too literal�and I don�t know that it ever came for me. But that�s kind of where, for me, this song has its power��

So there you have it�The Drams� Jubilee Dive. Crack it open, toss it on yer music box and be prepared to surrender to a band whose time has come�and not a moment too soon.
--Jim Musser, April 2006