Statewide Emergency

Statewide Emergency brings a big rock sound and youthful exuberance to the stage

:: Statewide Emergency ::

:: “Rockin’ in a Winter Wonderland”  exhibit ::

:: George’s Food and Drink @ Boulder Theater ::  December 10 ::

:: Bluebird Theater :: December 23 ::

By Joe Kovack

After all of the tragedy this summer in Boulder County it’s great to know that at least one Statewide Emergency is set to bring fun, rather than destruction.

Hailing from the Boulder area, Statewide Emergency is an up-and-coming band with the chops of seasoned veterans. Though just in their first few years of college, the band embodies a knowledge and understanding of music that places them above and beyond the average emerging rock band.

Lead by Matt Paradis on vocals and guitar,  Statewide Emergency plays with the tightness of a band beyond their years and brings with it an exuberance that can only come from the ambition of youth. Their sound is rock and roll to its core, drawing influence from rock legends and pulling inspiration from stripped-down modern rock bands like Queens of the Stone Age.

In a recent interview with The Marquee, Paradis spoke of how rock music, old and new, has helped to shape their own individual sound. “We’re definitely a rock and roll band that believes that rock and roll is more of an attitude of confidence and progressiveness,” Paradis said. “So I think recently our sound is less Zeppelin-esque and more like newer rock bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Radiohead — especially with the newer material we’ve been writing. But we’re not trying to sound like those bands either; we’re trying to sound like ourselves. Those guys, along with Zeppelin, have just inspired that feeling in us that we try to express through our music.”

On the first listen to this band, one wouldn’t realize that the oldest member of the group is only 20 years old and in his second year at C.U. Denver. But youth doesn’t always equate to a lack of musical prowess. The members understand what they want and how to produce quality rock that has been lacking in the mainstream.

Paradis’ vocals fit the bill perfectly, never over-polished, yet with a quality that befits their reinvention of classic rock. Keith Slack’s percussion and Caleb Kronen’s bass are both intricate and explosive at once, giving the band the qualities of those twice their age. Somewhere between Led Zeppelin and Them Crooked Vultures, with a slice of post-punk sprinkled throughout, Statewide Emergency shows they can rock as well, if not better, than their contemporaries.

Releasing their second album Carnivorous Carnival this past May, the self-produced band will be playing their next show unplugged, adding their flare to Lisa Siciliano’s 5th Annual “Rockin’ in a Winter Wonderland” photo show at George’s Food and Drink, next to the Boulder Theater. The art show, which features Siciliano’s signature rock and roll photography, will prove to be an amalgamation of rock in all its forms.

Siciliano’s photos are a rare glimpse into the heart of live music. Specializing in black and white photos, Siciliano has the uncanny ability to capture the emotions and intensity of a live rock and roll show that many fail to see.

:: Statewide Emergency ::

:: “Rockin’ in a Winter Wonderland” exhibit ::

:: George’s Food and Drink @ Boulder Theater :: December 10 ::

:: Bluebird Theater :: December 23 ::

Recommended if you Like:

• Queens of the Stone Age

• Them Crooked Vultures

• The Raconteurs