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Rose Hill Drive

Rose Hill Drive

“The fans have been doing all the talking. Everywhere I’ve gone in the past few months, music lovers heralded these kids as the hottest band going. But I wasn’t going to believe the hype – not until I saw the group for myself. This band deserves every bit of hyperbole that’s been spewed its way. Rose Hill Drive is the real deal.” – Westword’s Dave Herrera

It can be said that a true artist can only be judged by its live abilities. Rose Hill Drive took this maxim and put it to the test before ever releasing an album. The band built an enormous underground fan base with thrilling live shows, with lyrics that connect, and with a completely earnest approach. It’s a re-awakening of the spirit of music that motivates this band, and Rose Hill Drive’s spiritual connection with its congregation remains unparalleled. This organic and grass roots process has let the fans and then the music business come to them. It’s very important to the band that it happened in that order – music first, business later.

Combining rock and blues with modern touches and clever arrangements, Rose Hill Drive thrives off of high energy and remaining unpredictable. On stage you never know what the band is going to do next, and this attitude has been injected into its first album. You have well-crafted rock songs, yet very challenging and epic songwriting. It’s not uncommon for them to go from a driving 3-minute song to an epic 9-minute song. Written by all three band members, produced by Rose Hill Drive and Nick DiDia (who has worked with artists such as Rage Against The Machine and Pearl Jam) and recorded in January 2006 at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia, their self-titled debut effort was done the way the music should be done – no pro tools, no auto-tuning, no studio tricks, but just pure, raw energy straight to tape.

After forming in high school in Boulder, Colorado, Rose Hill Drive became one of the most sought-after live bands garnering respect from critics and reverence from its peers. And it’s no secret that this band has been the talk of some legendary musicians. Rose Hill Drive has done dates with The Black Crowes, Robert Randolph, Wilco, Queens Of The Stone Age, and also performed at Bonnaroo, Red Rocks, Austin City Limits, and the Warped Tour. Even Van Halen requested Rose Hill Drive to open for them. In 2006, the band has had the honor of playing the same stage as The Who at the Wireless Festival Leeds and the Hyde Park Calling Festival in London, and has been announced as sole support for select dates this fall.

Rose Hill Drive consists of brothers Jake and Daniel Sproul and friend Nathan Barnes.

THE MUSIC…

Rose Hill Drive’s debut is a breathtaking song cycle that captures the themes of our time, all cradled in beautiful melodies and heavy riffs. Singer and southpaw Jake Sproul comments on the themes and nature of the songs:

“Showdown” and “Cold Enough” open up the album as almost brute themes from
a dog eat dog world. They are filled with the uncertainty of mindless reaction.

“Showdown” is a throwback to the old western gunfight. It is the fantasy of being in the shoes of someone with a quick draw and a lot of power. “Cold Enough” is a cold-blooded love affair. It’s what you would say if you could. It’s struggling with the power to want the woman, but not the compromise.

”Cool Cody” is the same, a cry for help. “Cool Cody” is a report back from the darkness the mind can venture into. It’s the darkness of having nowhere to run and releasing that frustration through both the grotesque and the delicate outlets. In these first three songs, the struggles are for survival and the reaction to the unrest of the soul is primal.

When “The Guru” comes in, it makes us look outside ourselves. It rubs against the mysterious, omniscient holy figures that float in and out of the western culture and speaks the tale of a true guru. It becomes the search for someone to help us – “The Guru.”

The acoustic medley is a story about a struggle that finds light at the end of the tunnel. It is about how the deepest truths are found within oneself. ”In The Beginning” is a feeling of unrest clarified by “Brain Novocaine” as internal issues masked in chemical dependence. “Declaration Of Independence” uses the realization of the prior problem and takes action so as not to fall into the darkness again. “It’s Simple” is filled with love, the healing power of the light.

“Raise Your Hands” is a declaration of this knowledge as well as an invitation to relate. It is the power to relate to one another about internal battles (the acoustic number) and worldly struggles.

“Man On Fire” is the sister song to “Showdown,” but it’s a battle that exists on
a spiritual plane, not an old western gunfight. I like the way there are two fight songs, but through the prior songs,“Man On Fire” becomes an unavoidable invitation to fight the “good fight”. It revisits the feeling of a battlefield like that of “Showdown,” but this time it is on a spiritual plane and the battle is between good and evil.

“Reptilian Blues” is giving up the responsibility of knowing this battle of good and evil exists and returning to old habits. Kind of like “take me back to the way things were.” This song is the life of a rebel on the run. It is being on the run from the law or the clutches of tyranny and in which one can only survive on the dreams of a future that may never be.

”Cross The Line” is the perfect end song to me because it not only fades out naturally, leaving it wide open, but it surrenders to the “muck” with “I just believe it’s not because of me.” In “Cross The Line” we believe the truth deep inside of ourselves and therefore the outside grip never touches us. Rome is falling but we are not to blame because by nature we were meant for good.

The songs have taken on different meanings for the different people that listen to them. I don’t think any interpretation is wrong. I think if one of these songs strikes a chord in someone for any particular reason, then that is the meaning for them. This has become my interpretation of the album as a whole through the recording and arranging. As a whole, they come together and support each other. I think the theme for me is realizing who I am.

Jake