For Tallahassee, Florida rock band The Retrograde, touring life is full of odds, ends and all sorts of strange happenings. "Christ, forgive me for these gains," Carson Degner, drums, begs for forgiveness into a grainy 35mm film camera, followed by a divine side-chest that could bring Ronnie Coleman to tears. Josiah Pye, bass, dons his captain's hat and sunglasses at the helm of the band's trusty, dusty tour van, as Cade Pickering, guitar, massages out a knot in their brave captain's neck, while Joe Fox, guitar and vocals, fulfills the contractual obligations for the band's Jergens sponsorship. Every city is a mishap waiting to reveal itself, and every show is a new opportunity to spread the good word of godly gains (and look damn good doing it). It's a good thing someone always had the camera rolling.
"Closer to Somewhere," The Retrograde's second single off their debut album, That's The Spirit!, is a delightfully downtrodden piece of 70's-inspired soft rock, perfect for the modern day long-haired, flair-pant wearing dope head (the spirit of Red Foreman possessed me as I wrote this). Their latest track draws influence from every corner of the Sunshine State, and pay homage to the great sonic giants of the golden age of rock and roll, like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, and the gods themselves, Led Zeppelin.
It's melancholic yet sweet, swinging, whimsical melody is comedically juxtaposed by the music video's found-footage style collection of the band's tour bus antics and general shenaniganizing, capturing the intimate little in-between's that a band that takes itself too seriously would never allow fans to see. Tour van cuddle parties, green room nerves and pelvic thrusts, Joe totally not going to do coke in the bathrooms that explicitly state not to do coke in them; these little memories, seemingly innocuous on their own, come to together quite charmingly to form a collage of unwavering personality and individuality that can only be correctly described as 'retrogradian'.
Though The Retrograde is not the first band to find inspiration in the classics, they are without a doubt the first to do so with the level of respect and originality that they are speedily becoming synonymous with. While many of their contemporaries with a flair for vintage romantics and beat down tube amps find themselves falling into patterns of imitation rather than inspiration, our Tallahassee boys stay classic but never stale, vintage but never dusty. "Closer to Somewhere" is a fresh, first-class reminder that rock was never dead, it's just been following the warmer weather.
"Closer to Somewhere" is streaming everywhere. That'sThe Spirit! is available for pre-save before it's official release on June 21, 2024.
Rob Lucchesi
The Retrograde
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