Members: Donnie Hamby - vocals Troy McLawhorn - guitar Mike Froedge - drums Josh Sattler - bass
In an age dominated by angry, loud rock and tales of woe and abuse, it is refreshing to see a band break from the doldrums that bind their peers and revel in the pure redemptive power of rock n' roll. DoubleDrive's music is not based on false attitude and ego-driven bluster, rather it is substance unto itself possessing a sense of both edginess and melody. Their debut for Roadrunner Records, Blue In The Face, is a bold statement to that effect. "We've been holding our breath so long waiting for this to happen," says doubleDrive guitarist Troy McLawhorn, explaining the album's title. Vocalist/guitarist Donnie Hamby believes Blue in the Face accurately sums up the last three years of the band's life. "It's almost like a rite of passage," he explains. "It covers the ups and the downs, the sweet and the sour and the whole journey that it took to get here. It was a big learning process you've got to put a value on sacrifice but it really paid off." Bassist Josh Sattler agrees. "Everything happens for a reason, and we're in a much better place now, so it's worth the wait," he says. "This whole time, we've been in search of a situation that would put us on the road and let us play for people. To us, that's what it's all about." As for doubleDrive's own moniker, it could very well refer to the group's relentless determination to see the album released. While the Atlanta quartet was highly visible throughout 1999 and 2000, when the band toured with artists as diverse as Kid Rock, Stereo Mud and Sevendust, doubleDrive has spent much of the last two years under the radar.
But doubleDrive wasn't ready to ride off into the sunset just yet. Unhappy with its former record label (which released the group's first album, 1000 Yard Stare), doubleDrive returned to Atlanta determined to do things differently the second time around. In 2001, the band recorded 14 songs with producer John Philip Kurzweg (Creed and Puddle of Mud), piquing the interest of Roadrunner in the process. Soon after, a contract was signed, and the group returned to the studio in mid-2002 for a blitzkrieg 10-day session.
This time, doubleDrive teamed with famed producer/mixer Michael Barbiero, whose resume reads like a history of contemporary rock. (Three words: Appetite for Destruction.) With Barbiero, the band recorded four new tracks, along with revised renditions of two songs from the Kurzweg sessions Barbiero then remixed five additional tracks that the group originally recorded with Kurzweg. The end result, Blue in the Face, showcases organic, straightforward and bare bones rock sensibilities underscored with a modern edge. "It's not brain surgery - it's just rock 'n' roll," drummer Mike Froedge says. "We like to do everything pretty old-school, meaning we don't like to do a lot of editing and splicing. We figure, just push the red button and play."
Yet while the music flowed freely, the album's lyrical content is founded in quite the opposite, largely based upon the band's frustration with being delayed in bringing its music to the people. One notable exception is first single "Imprint," which Hamby co-wrote with a longtime friend of the band who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. While the rest of the group was overseeing the mixing process, Hamby took a day off to fly across the country to visit him. The two had often discussed writing a song together. "The next morning, an hour before I had to leave, I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper, and we just started writing out some of the things he said the night before." Hamby continued working on the song after returning home, but he soon heard that his friend had passed away. "It didn't hit me, because I was deep in the writing and it was like I was having this moment with him," he says. "It was like nothing I've ever experienced before." The end result is a song that lures the listener with tender lyrics of hope and redemption. Upon its completion, the band knew "Imprint" needed to be included on Blue in the Face. Although Hamby says he's proud of the song and believes it "has a great message," doubleDrive usually believes it "has a great message," doubleDrive usually prefers to let the music do the talking. "We don't like to over-explain the lyrics, or even try to explain them at all," Froedge says. "It doesn't matter what it means to us - it matters what it means to the listener. Whatever the subject of the song may be, we just try to convey the emotion, feeling and message in the way we perform it."
The band initially recorded an electric version of another track, "Big Shove," but the acoustic rendition featured on Blue in the Face made the final cut "just for the vibe of it," Hamby explains. While the original version of the song rocked with a pompous swagger, the album version tones down the testosterone and injects a hearty dose of raw emotion. Even in the studio, though, the stage is never far from anyone's mind. "We try to make the song the best song it can be," Froedge says, "and then we think, 'Is this going to be fun to play live?'" McLawhorn believes that feeling stems from the fact that the four members of doubleDrive have performed together first as MK Ultra for more than six years now, while he and Hamby have been jamming since they were teenagers. "We grew up onstage, and I think what made us love music was the live performance part of it," he says.
Hamby believes Blue in the Face proves that doubleDrive has evolved, but that, in effect, the song remains the same. "What hasn't changed is our love for what we do," he says. "We love to play music. It keeps you going it pumps you up and no matter how tired you are, you want to go do it again."
