I first heard about Eastern Block via a game of cricket - I actually met guitar player Jon Shearer last summer while playing darts, and when I mentioned I was involved in the music scene, he told me he had recently started a band. A while later I got an email directing me to their myspace page so I could hear a few demos, but after that I didn't hear a peep about Eastern Block until I noticed they started popping up on bills around town - and on the lineup for Next Big Nashville.
With an EP out and a growing presence around town, Eastern Block is one of the newer bands you should definitely check out during this year's festival. The fact that they're playing one of the best showcases of the festival - with Eureka Gold, And the Relatives, All We Seabees, The Hannah Barbarians and Altered Statesmen on Thursday at the Rutledge - doesn't hurt. Let's get to know Eastern Block a little bit better.
Let's start with a little background on Eastern Block - who is in the band and how long have you been playing together?
Eastern Block is:
Aaron Ahlstrom- vocals/guitar
Jon Shearer- guitar
Sean Savacool- bass
Johnathan Williams- drums
Jon and I started the band last year and spent most of 2007 looking for
the right guys for bass and drums. When we went into the studio to
start recording the now available EP I called a friend of mine,
Johnathan Williams, to help us out on drums. We all had such a good
time he joined the band soon after. About a month later Johnathan
brought Sean out and after two practices he was in. In November we were
"A Band" and in January of this year we played our first show.
Please describe your music in five words or less.
This has been really hard to answer. I guess: "Morricone meets honest
indie-rock." You see? That sounds ridiculous but it's too hard to answer
that kind of stuff.
What's the significance of the name "Eastern Block"?
Jon and I had decided on another name in honor of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
but after sitting on it we went with Eastern Block. We both enjoy
reading history and especially cold war history and Eastern Block was
very cold war-ish. I would love to say there's a deeper origin but we
just liked the name and added a "k". Eastern Bloc(k)
I understand you recently released your first EP - what can you tell us about it, and are you planning a full-length release?
Yeah we had our cd release at Mercy Lounge August 1st. We're excited
that it's available but mostly we are proud of the growing we did
making it. You can buy it direct or on our myspace; and on iTunes
shortly.
Our first LP is due it out early next year! We are VERY excited about
this project. It looks like it will be ten tracks (a majority of which
we are playing at Next Big Nashville) and possibly 2 B-sides available
online around the time of the album release.
For those of us who haven't seen you play live yet, what can we expect from your show at Next Big Nashville?
I think the general opinion of our live shows is that we are genuine
which I assure you is NOT true; I mean Sean has a master's in douchery.
Whatever the case, we aim to put on a good show whether it's an
energetic set or singing through the rest of the night with a broken
guitar (The Basement/ June 5th) and having a laugh.
What do you think is the best thing about the Nashville music scene?
The sheer number of great bands in this town. That being said, I think
the write up on Radiohead in the scene a while back was spot on... we
(in Nashville) are spoiled with all of this good music. It's wonderful.
Eastern Block will be playing Next Big Nashville on Thursday, September 11 at 9:30 p.m. at The Rutledge. Visit http://nbn08.sched.org to view the full festival schedule, or create an account to plan and share your own schedule.
Check out more of Out the Other's Guide to Next Big Nashville 2008.
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