"There's a fine line between stick-to-it-tiveness and self-delusion," quips Sunday's Best drummer/producer Tom Ackerman, "and right now I think we're happily confused as to where we stand." Seated next to Ackerman is singer/songwriter Edward Reyes, who smiles and occasionally chuckles at his band mate's pontifications. Ackerman continues in the tone usually reserved for the telling of embarrassing childhood anecdotes, "we have endured a seriously tough fifteen months: a horrible fall tour, the departure of a founding member, the loss of two booking agents, as well as my personal troubles of divorce and rehab. Most bands probably would have quit."
But Sunday's Best didn't quit. In fact, after a great deal of "Behind the Music" style antics in 2001, the Los Angeles-based quartet has reemerged with their strongest musical offering to date, "The Californian." "When everything was going crazy for us last year, I just got an acoustic guitar and started writing songs," interjects Reyes, "It was a great release because I had so little control over what was happening outside the band."
"The Californian," Sunday's Best's second full-length for the Champaign, Illinois based Polyvinyl Records, demonstrates a significant departure from the band's indie/emo rock beginnings. An aesthetic maturation away from sounds reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World and the Get Up Kids toward the singer-songwriter stylings of Elliott Smith, Pete Yorn or Ryan Adams can be heard on the record. With songs ranging from the new Americana sound of "Beethoven St." to the straight-forward rock "Our Left Coast Ambitions" to the shoegazy, AC leaning "Don't Let it Fade," no two songs sound alike. Yet, each incorporates the best of what Sunday's Best has to offer: Reyes' sultry vocals, Ackerman's succinct and powerful drumming, guitarist Ian Moreno's hook-laden riffs, and bassist James Tweedy's languid bass lines. Reyes interjects, "All of our favorite bands changed over time. We'd get extremely bored trying to write music that cashes in on the currently trendy ‘emo-core' fervor."
The lurid tale of Sunday's Best has somewhat typical beginnings. The band formed in 1997 when Reyes met guitarist (then drummer) Ian Moreno while working at KXLU, Los Angeles' seminal college radio station. "I met Ian at the station and introduced him to Pedro (Benito, former guitarist now playing with the Jealous Sound). We got together with another DJ and before you know it, we're playing shows," explains Reyes. "We met Tom when he recorded our first seven inch." A few months later, Ackerman joined the band when the other guy moved to Arizona and Ian switched to guitar. "I was supposed to be temporary," smiles Ackerman wryly, "guess who overstayed his welcome?"
With the solidified lineup, Sunday's Best switched into high gear, first signing with crank! records and releasing an EP "Where You Are Now". They then hit the road, touring with bands like Acrobat Down, Rainer Maria, Piebald, and Onelinedrawing. Their songs could also be heard frequently on MTV shows like Road Rules and the Real World. "Those early tours were great because we had no expectations. We were the little guys, opening the shows, selling lots of CDs and surprising folks," waxes Reyes romantically, "and the MTV stuff was even more good luck. Things always seem better in retrospect, don't they?"
In a surprising move, the band left crank! and chose Polyvinyl Records to release their debut full-length, "Poised To Break", a label that was home to such bands as Braid, Rainer Maria and Paris, TX. After a great run at college radio (#30 on the CMJ charts at one point) and some key high profile shows in New York with Rainer Maria and Bright Eyes, the band limped home from their six week fall tour and seemed to implode. Shortly after returning to Los Angeles, their first booking agent and the band parted ways, Ackerman checked in to rehab, and Benito, a primary songwriter and founding member, resigned. The days seemed pretty dark. "I thought I was going to be arrested any minute for forging prescriptions," explained Ackerman, "between rehab and the dissolve of my five year marriage, band matters seemed relatively distant in my perspective."
And yet, in the bleak months that followed, the true character of the band was revealed. Reyes took over the business aspects of the band and switched to guitar. He shortly emerged as the new primary songwriter. James Tweedy was added to play bass, and the band got back to doing what all good bands do: writing music. "'Poised to Break' continued to sell consistently throughout 2001 and has been licensed in Japan and Australia, where the songs "Saccharine" and "The Hardest Part" received a good deal of radio play," states Ackerman. "We even shot a video for ‘The Hardest Part.'"
Sunday's Best continued playing West Coast dates and then reunited with producer Tony Lash (Quasi, The Dandy Warhols, Elliott Smith) to record "The Californian." Again the experience was not easy. "We flew up to Portland, Oregon on December 26th to start recording at Supernatural Sound. After ten days, we still had only basics," Ackerman explains, "Edward and Ian flew up a couple of times to track more guitars and vocals but in the end, a great deal of the record had to be recorded in our practice space."
The end result appears to have justified their trials. Though "The Californian" is filled with lyrical images of defeat and redemption, the overall ambiance is one of love and hope as well as of young men earning their scars and emerging older and wiser. Reyes caps off the interview with his own thoughts of the band's resolve, "We just kind of stripped everything down and started having fun again. It's not really all that epic if you consider we just did what friends usually do when the shit hits the fan. We stuck together."
