Album Notes

"5thirty5 are the new alt.rock heroes."
"That was so awesome it made my bones shiver!"

That's what fans are saying about indie rockers/power popsters 5thirty5. Drawing from a variety of influences, this trio from Reno, Nevada believes not in fusion so much as function: everything must serve the good of the song. "The songs are overdriven power-pop rock songs, whatever that means," says drummer Don Morrison. To the ear it means that the band likes to play rock'n'roll songs--verses and choruses with complementing chords, drum builds, bass fills, and guitar solos--that have great melodies and really interesting lyrics and textures.

The band really prides itself on excellent songwriting and arrangement. While singer-guitarist Neil Greene writes most of the tunes, the band works togther to find ways to construct songs where each part fulfills its purpose without just taking up space for its own sake. "We've been doing this for a while now," says bassist Keith Roberts, "and I think each of us has really learned how to listen to what's going on in a song rather than just try to play the coolest thing we can think of, like we might have done ten years ago."

Having played with a wide variety of acts and musicians over the last ten years, ranging from heavy rock to folk, blues to bluegrass, rockabilly to hillbilly jam, the musicians in 5thiryt5 have learned a lot about how a really good song works, and they feel that their knowledge informs the tunes on this record.