Vintage – Welcome To Earth

Article Category: Local CD Review

Vintage
Welcome To Earth
Self-released; 2009

Here’s a question: Is there anything more insidious than Amazon’s “If You Like” feature? You know, the one that suggests I buy Takin’ Care of Business: The Best of Bachmann-Turner Overdrive because I once purchased the Brandenburg Concertos? That same brilliant algorithm that assumes I’ll like Blink-156 because I bought The Story of The Clash many moons prior?

My own knowledge of contemporary music is by no means comprehensive, but it’s neither as slim as their recommendations imply. The folks at Amazon and other like-minded music purveyors would do well to plug the Merritt Island-based Vintage into their database as a reliable control group for anyone who likes good old-fashioned rock n’ roll. The popular quartet could also serve as the undeniable standard against which all crap should be judged. Do you like the Who? Do you like Led Zeppelin? Jimi Hendrix? Bruce Springsteen? Cream? The Rolling Stones or the Beatles? Do you like music? If you answered “Yes” to any of those queries, then you’ll fall head over heels for Vintage.

Their latest release, the Welcome to Earth, deserves your ear if only for the fact that the lads who recorded it don’t fall into any preconceived notions of what young bands are supposed to be into these days. Welcome to Earth’s timeless tunes and the quartet’s admiration for those who came well before them help renew your faith in music. Youthful and energetic without being angsty, James Spiva, Michael McCord and brothers A.J. and Sean Cummings, already enjoy a devoted local following; by the time people hear the six original tunes collected here, their fan base should increase several hundred-fold. From the confident plod of “1929″ to the CCR wig-out of “Runnin’ Low,” everything about Welcome to Earth is wise beyond its years.

Welcome to Earth is available through www.vintagetheband.com. Vintage play Thursday, November 5 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Rusty’s (628 Glen Cheek Dr.; Port Canaveral; 783-2033); Friday, November 6 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Dog N’ Bone (9 Stone St.; Cocoa Village; 636-2828); Friday November 20 from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. at Off The Traxx (918 E. New Haven Ave.; Downtown Melbourne; 327-2919); and Friday, November 27 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Normans Raw Bar & Grill (3 Forrest Ave.; Cocoa; 433-0872). Check their website for a more detailed gig schedule and for news on upcoming appearances. Hear song samples at www.myspace.com/vintagetheband4.