Reading rock biographies is as much an addiction as the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll that constitute their middle chapters.
And while they all share a loose story arc – consider it a more thoughtful, studied “Behind the Music” – each band has a unique back story that helps explain the kind of music they ended up making.
Meese’s rock biographer won’t ever run short of material. The band’s keyboards-fronted, guitar-heavy pop music doesn’t lead you to flashbacks of singer Patrick Meese’s tumultuous past – his early penchant for marijuana that led to acid and ecstasy binges in his hometown of Cleveland. The music doesn’t reflect his family’s intervention or the multiple rehab programs Patrick completed, either.
The music evokes something else – a sunny reawakening, perhaps, or a meditative fete.
The songs, which he co-writes with his brother Nate, are bright, infectious and hopeful. Patrick handles all the lyrics, and they’re about redemption and responsibility. Religion is in there too: It’s central to Patrick’s recovery and current life, which finds him newly married in Capitol Hill.
“We don’t want to be a Christian band, because that’s a market and not a genre,” Patrick said defiantly. “Christianity is all about relationships, so I’m also not going to shout my beliefs at people I don’t know. I don’t want to have a one-way conversation from the stage. If anyone ever wanted to know about my faith, I’ll sit down with them and tell them.
“There will always be a hint of my spirituality in every lyric I write. You can’t help but put the meaning of your life in your performance.”
But his lyrics also are about love and patience and being in a band with natural potential for breaking out – with quiet references to times that weren’t so solid.
“It wasn’t a physical addiction,” Patrick said recently, sipping on a Starbucks coffee. “It was a mental, self-destructive addiction, which in ways is just as bad. Luckily I caught it before coke and heroin.”
Patrick, 23, and Nate, 21, hardly look a day over 16. But they’ve endured more trauma than many people twice their age. It shows in the music they write – a smart blend of Radiohead’s meandering musical sensibilities, Sufjan Stevens’ lyrical complexity and the endearing subtlety of Ben Gibbard on a day when he can’t decide if he’s penning a song for Death Cab or Postal Service.
Meese writes songs that are easy to like. They’re bouncy and fun-loving but not afraid to be serious and contemplative. They’re never pretentious and they’re always contagious. The tracks showcase Patrick’s deep love of pop melody that’s central to his band’s music. And his words are born via the Frank Black school of lyricism: Sounding good is more important than making sense.
“I always write the music first,” Patrick said, “and then I’ll think of a melody and mumble to it some vowel sounds I like. I’ll see if any words come to mind, and then I’ll see if those words spark an idea for a song.
“It’s a natural process. It’s like, when I heard Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ for the first time. For me, that music had such an independent beautiful quality to it. With my music, I need to know that that’s there first before I can start writing lyrics. That’s what’s so incredible about a band like Sigur Ros. There are no lyrics, really, but what he’s saying still connects emotionally to the music.”
When Patrick isn’t working the band, spending time at home with his wife Tiffany or rocking out at his Starbucks day job, he’s writing.
“And I’ve been writing a lot lately,” he said. “Marriage has had a lot to do with that. Sometimes it flows out, and it’s been a waterfall lately.
“Some write when it’s dead and peaceful. But not me. I need things to be crazy to write.”
Meese – filled out by David Vanderhamm on bass, Ben Haley on drums and Mike Ayars on guitars and synths – released the invigorating “Our Album Year” in March, signaling the arrival of yet another important Denver band. The nuanced record brought together the thoughtful piano pop of the band’s earlier EP and the electronic experimentation that was becoming increasingly evident in their live shows.
It’s no wonder the group has caught on, breaking out of its all-ages reputation in the last year and finding fans amid the more discerning 21-plus indie-rock bar crowd. In September, Meese found itself playing Red Rocks at capacity, opening for their friends, The Fray.
“It was the last day of Red Rocks’ season, and it had snowed a few days before, but it was beautiful out that day,” Patrick remembered. “For me,it’s right up there with everything: Being born, getting married, playing Red Rocks.”
Patrick, who brings Meese to the Walnut Room on Saturday, landed in Colorado in 2001, a freshman English major at Colorado Christian University. He soon switched majors to music with an emphasis on percussion – he was originally a jazz drummer – and he started playing piano in the winter of ’02.
Before The Fray was a platinum-selling act, they opened for Patrick’s previous band. He heard them at the soundcheck and thought, “Man, these guys are better than the band I’m in.” Soon he started playing with a different band, under the name Patrick Meese. He and The Fray regularly shared stages.
“They believe in what we’re doing,” Patrick said. “They’ve taught us the wait-for-it mentality. That’s what they did. And that’s what we’re doing.”
But waiting is more difficult than it sounds. In the last couple months, Patrick has been in contact with multiple major record labels. EMI recently flew the band to Nashville for meetings and a showcase, but now the label group wants to hear more new music before going forward. Patrick was flown to New York City a couple of weeks ago to meet with another music executive, but that conversation too, is in a holding pattern. It’s easy to grow restless, especially in a game where the major players (labels) are experts at giving hope and taking it away in the same breath.
“Most of us are married,” Patrick said, “but we’re sleeping on the floor and riding in a van six months out of the year, and while that appeals to the boy in me, I want to be with my wife and provide and be stable.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Meese
PIANO POP|Walnut Room, 3131 Walnut St.; 8:30 p.m. Saturday with Aaron Espe, The View From Here and The Sights They Effect |$6|thewalnutroom.com, 303-292-1700
