Politically-charged trio promises 'high energy'

By: JOHN BARRETT

Posted: 7/3/08

Beneath the celebrity-crazed world of Los Angeles, alternative rock band Glass Fence insists their hometown's music scene "isn't what it's cracked up to be."

"The Los Angeles music scene itself, at least locally, is kind of dead," drummer Daniel Rodriguez said. "Every show out there usually has five or ten people at it and it's all local bands that are trying to start up right away."

GLASS FENCE

When: 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 8
Where: Caledonia Lounge
Price: $6/21+, $7/18-20

Finding more excitement on the open road, the group will pay a visit to Athens' very own Caledonia Lounge on Tuesday.

Essentially a power trio, Glass Fence began as the mutual brainchild of Rodriguez and guitarist/singer Shane Sweet. The two were eventually rounded out by the addition of bassist Derek Brown.

"Daniel and I have been playing together for about two years, and we had a revolving door of bass players up until Derek joined," Sweet said. "He's the first solid bassist to join the band, and he's been with us now for about four months."

The band's name holds a lot meaning. "The idea behind Glass Fence is basically the representation of an invisible wall between us and who's really in charge," Rodriguez said.

"It's based on the idea that physical representations of things, over the course of time, really become meaningless or useless," Sweet said.

With such significance behind the band's name, it's no surprise Glass Fence packs more meaning into its music than your typical rock outfit.

"A lot of our lyrics are fairly political, but not on a grandiose scale," Sweet said. "Our song 'Your Eyes' is about World War II, but you'd never guess it because it's written at a human level - it's about things that people go through as individuals as a result of the world that we're in right now."

Rodriguez said the band's individual and varying interpretations of their music stem from the different backgrounds. Sweet, the primary lyricist for the group, expressed his political views more clearly.

"(America's) political system is not a system set up for success at this point. We spend more money on elections, news (and) media coverage than we do on things like welfare programs or social systems programs," Sweet said. "We're the only westernized nation without socialized health care or any sort of free global universal health care."

Aside from the weighty lyrical subject matter, each member of Glass Fence draws from eclectic rock influences such as Paul McCartney and Nirvana.

Glass Fence's latest LP, "New Order of the Ages," couples the group's unique rock style with politically charged lyrics and three-part vocal harmonies.

"We all contribute vocals, both live and on CD, which makes our sound more rich by using three different voices," Brown said.

"We wanted to make something sort of up-tempo and hopefully catchy," Sweet said. "There's nothing on the record that we don't do live, as far as harmonies and performance."

Following this stripped-down recording approach, Glass Fence promises to deliver a raw, high-energy live performance.

"Our goal is to go up there and make it seem like we're having more fun than you," Rodriguez said. "And as far as shows are concerned, we usually get the crowd going even if they're not there to see us."