Well it was only a matter of time, but a lot of people (mostly from Maine, like me) are really really happy about this.

(Dave Gutter’s (left) signature megaphone performance during “Smoke”. Spencer – right – in awe.)

Rustic Overtones are back, and more importantly, they are going to rock a show in Ithaca at the Haunt (4/4/08).

I last saw these guys perform a half-hearted set at Cornell many years ago. Minus 1/3 of the original members. I left disappointed to say the least. This came about a year after they performed at The Haunt in one of the best sounding, worst attended Rustic shows I’ve been to. Which came a year or so after I left Maine for the college life at IC, and missed a ton of awesomeness with the band I grew up idolizing. ripple dissolve to...

Part of my attachment comes from 8th grade when I transitioned from playing classical piano (about 7 years of lessons) to bass and acoustic guitar. The first entire album I learn on the bass is the Rustic album Long Division (which is getting re-released soon). I start high school (the same high school that some of the Rustic guys went to, just 5 or 6 years ahead of me) and form my first ever band and jam on RO songs for hours. Then we go into the “big city” (Portland, which is big by Maine standards) and catch their sold out shows, packed shoulder to shoulder with sweaty teenagers and 20 somethings, and sing every word. We beg for an encore, and half the time they come out and rock another of their songs and one from either Peter Gabriel or Huey Lewis and the News. Life was good.

Fast forward a few years and instead of watching shows, I’m in a different band, opening for Rustic. Some of the RO guys learn my name (some don’t). We jam together on occasion, playing each others songs or just noodling. Sometimes this is 1am on a Tuesday, a school night for me, the 18 year old (just another dollar draft night at Stone Coast for the 21+ers). Sometimes this is at a college in Massachusetts, or New Hampshire, or Maine. Life is really, really good.

And then college happens. I watch from 400 miles away as New England praises the record deal that Rustic lands with Arista. Then we mourn the failed deal (but got some super-awesome new songs and recordings out of it, featuring David Bowie, Imogen Heap and Funkmaster Flex ) – more on their label/band history here. Needless to say I feel distant, barely connected to the Maine music scene, and my former hometown heroes.

The band slowly dissolves, some members staying, some members going. The show at Cornell I mentioned above, that was during this time. Side projects spring up, a final farewell show is announced (which I do not attend) and Rustic is done.

Now the offshoot bands (Rocktopus/As Fast As, Paranoid Social Club to name the two big ones) are alright, but definitely not the same. I listen to my old Rustic albums, but I stop paying attention.

* * *

So Rustic Overtones aren’t exactly new to the office. I’ve been blasting Viva Nueva and Rooms By The Hour since I started working here, and have taught Casey and Chip some songs to jam on. Then something weird happens. Casey comes in to work one day with a newspaper advertisement for the Farewell Show (check it out here, with the note). He had unearthed it, pre-framed, from the local Salvo. Symbolic?

A few days later I read that Rustic is getting together to play a show, and release an album they’ve been working on. I order it from the old music store in Portland that I spent half my summer nights in. And the new album is glorious. Almost all of the songs are tunes that Rustic had perfected when they were still going strong. But in my headphones they sound even tighter, raw, and full of energy. I blast it for a week straight over the office speakers until I force myself to put the headphones back on again.

And that was about 8 or 9 months ago. Rustic has been rocking shows across New England since then, and I’m finally going to get another chance to see, hear, and share something that I thought was lost. My sister (who was childhood buddies with the bassist’s sister) sent me a great little article from our old paper, which instantly brought back the waves of nostalgia that inspired this post. So if you’re in Ithaca, or less than three hours away by car, you’ll see us at the show. You’ll probably leave singing your new favorite song. And if we’re lucky, there will be more albums, and shows, for years and years to come.