Posted: July 5th, 2008
Contributed By: Nick

	Purchase on MySpace via SnoCap
	Society Red is: Damien Starkey (Vocals) Paul Philips (Guitar) Dizi Devereux (Guitar) Brad Stewart (Bass) Brad Moxey (Drums)

Overview: For me personally, the year 2000 started with an exclamation point. The Jacksonville Jaguars steamrolled the Dolphins 62-7 in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, embarrassing Dan Marino in his final game for the porpoises from Miami. Oh yes, I began another Jacksonville, Florida band’s review with a Jaguar reference. Despite the Jags falling to Tennessee in the next round, Jacksonville returned and ended my year with an exclamation point. Around Christmas, I stumbled upon a nifty tune called “Youth Nation” by a band called Smakt Down. I was an MP3.com junkie, incessantly assembling playlists of unsigned band after unsigned band, but Smakt Down stood out from the rest, and from there on out I remained glued to their progress. I should have used duct tape, as that glue soon faded and I completely lost track of Smakt Down. One day in late 2001, I ran across a newsbit about a band called Burn Season who had just signed to Elektra; to my surprise, after poking around for information about the group, I discovered this was in fact Smakt Down. Needless to say, I relapsed on my undying interest with their music. From the time they inked their rumored “massive deal” with Elektra to the time they disbanded in 2007, Burn Season undeservedly found themselves one of the Jack Dawson’s of the rock music world, never managing to get Rose off that damn door which seemed to belong to them. In a nutshell, Burn Season saw their contract with Elektra fizzle out, recorded an entire record that was never released, underwent a line-up makeover, signed a new deal with Bieler Bros. Records who barely released their album, were bought out of a prime spot touring behind Sevendust by a band fronted by Sherman Klump’s first love interest, lost their van, equipment, and almost their lives in a nasty wreck in 2006, and watched their bassist walk prior to their farewell show. Whew. Despite all the sticky icky, Damien Starkey kept going, rounding up drummer Brad Moxey and guitarist Dizzi Devereux to begin Society Red. The boys wrote, recorded, and had demos streaming on their MySpace page no more than six months since Burn Season’s last round on stage. Buzz grew quickly, and with Operator on the fritz, Paul Phillips decided to get involved too. Just recently, former Shinedown bassist Brad Stewart jumped on board to complete Society Red’s current line-up.

The Good: For those of you thinking this is Burn Season II, turn your heads for a second and regroup. With the Society Red ‘EP’, Damien Starkey has taken some notes from his previous work and ventured down a more hooky, melody-driven route; failure off. This seven song exposition spreads its wings and jets down the runway with the gushing flow of “Vegas”, with only clear skies and a turbulent free ride ahead. “Vegas” wastes no time in pointing out the pure and natural progression of each member, namely Damien Starkey’s emigration from Burn Season. The bright lights of “Vegas” pass the torch on to “High Life”, a dashing, brisk track that tithes its predecessor. The guitar solo in the bridge of “Vegas” has a faint Southern rock slant that is easily missed, but the bridge of “High Life” is the ying to its yang, drawing a recognizable Confederate sway, yet still managing to stick to its original flight plan in the end. The Society Red ‘EP’ has arguably its real smash with bouncy and rollicking “Love and Hate”, whose chorus dresses catchy in the laciest, most mouth-watering outfit from Vicky’s; so duh, it won’t soon be leaving your dome once it registers in your brain. “Love and Hate” is twice complimented by Mr. Starkey’s scorching screams, reaching into the Burn Season honey jar to offer up some nostalgic bravado. Despondent yet sensitive, “So Unhappy” is up next, and despite being probably the most low-maintenance track on the ‘EP’, its straight-forward approach musically and lyrically allows it to breathe without assistance from an overhead mask of daunting metaphors. Society Red bring the “rebel yells” of “Vegas” and “High Life” to fruition with the sly “Chasing the Reason”, as Damien Starkey steers a sultry vocal delivery over a fluid pairing of haunting verses and peachy choruses that fans of everyone from Layne Stanley to Ulysses S. Grant will enjoy; just like “Vegas” and “High Life”, “Chasing the Reason” avoids crash landing in the Southern rock cliche sea, navigating away from any tangling trends. “Welcome to the Show” lives up to its billing, a sweeping punch of pyrotechnic-ready rock with an ethereal bridge to give it an extra pinch of panache. I don’t know what it is about the end of “Welcome to the Show”, but the final “YEAH!” belted out by Sir Damien makes you want to rent a wrecking ball and ruin something (please don’t call the nuthouse on me). The Society Red ‘EP’ makes its final descent and landing with “Everything”, which commences with a tranquil piano and ghostly vocals. The song is soon caught red handed hanging out with that wrecking ball, swinging into muscular, springy verses. His Royal Starkness saves his best for last, as you can hear his heart bleed throughout its chorus. “Everything” is the perfect tune to send you off to your connecting flight, baggage claim, customs agent cavity search, or whatever-its robust, its eclectic, and it leaves you feeling satiated. Society Red don’t serve up wuss peanuts on this flight; they go for the fruit and nut trail mix instead.

The Bad: Society Red’s ‘EP’ has some engine malfunctions, but none enough to send you reaching for your seat cushion flotation device for immediate escape. On the whole, this is no student of Harvard’s lyrics department, sometimes gripping a bit too tightly to a streamlined, gossamer assortment of call-outs and phrases. To sum up its flaws without cutting too deep, this ‘EP’ is just like any flight; you might start to get a little antsy after a few repeated times on board, needing some extra legroom and a chance to browse some products not found in Sky Mall.

Bottomline: For those of you who don’t know me closely, I worshipped Burn Season. I was at every show within 100 miles, I bought any merch they had (including the panties), and I made sure everyone heard this band called Burn Season. When I really think about it though, my passion for Burn Season centered around my fascination with its frontman, the Damien Starkey. I was mesmerized by his stage presence, juiced up by his fury, and many times humored by his personality. So it was no secret that I would soon begin earning my frequent flyer miles with Society Red. The premise of my interest might be owed almost completely to its singer, but Society Red’s ‘EP’ brings it just the way Burn Season did, sans most of the angry, “chip on its shoulder” feel of the former. But really though, if anyone deserves to have some fun making music and earn some recognition for it, it’s Damien Starkey (and, actually so do Bobby Amaru, Kevin Renwick, and Adam Silk of Burn Season fame). With Society Red and this ‘EP’, D and his arsenal are seamlessly piloting big jets filled with passengers of an ambitious future way ahead of schedule.

Rating: 9 out of 10