In a city rich with incredible music, it’s difficult to point to a harder working band than Louisville electro-pop quartet The Pass. Shortly after arriving on the scene as Zanzabar’s resident dance party darlings, the band got right to business, releasing their 2010 debut EP, “Colors,” and following it up that same year with the LP “Burst.” They played wherever they could, whenever they could, hitting the road to take their high-energy set from town to town, from noisy college town dive bars here in the Midwest to well-established music halls in New York City and Los Angeles. Slowly but surely, they built a loud and loyal following.
They played festivals, signed with a local label, and announced that sound engineer Alex Aldi, fresh off of his collaboration with Passion Pit, would be mixing their follow-up to “Burst.” The Pass’ hard work was paying off.
But momentum means little if it isn’t sustained. Production on the new record was slower and more tedious than those involved had hoped. With nothing to release in 2011, things felt quiet by The Pass’ standards. The band itched to keep that momentum going, to take that elusive next big step, to see their hard work continue to pay off. So they stayed the course, splitting their time between the studio and an ever-grueling tour schedule, keeping the faith that, with a little patience, their hard work wouldn’t be for nothing.
Now, with their sophomore LP, “Melt,” set for a November 6 Election Day release on SonaBLAST! Records, it appears that their faith was justified. Frontman Kyle Peters couldn’t be happier.
“I’m excited for people to finally hear it,” said Peters. “It’s very different – much more entertaining and dynamic. There’s more focus on the lyrics, more of a story from song to song, almost a plot, where at any point there’s something interesting, but also easy to grasp, going on.”
This new emphasis on momentum is evident from the very beginning of the album, when the up-tempo lead single, “Without Warning,” rockets out of the gate with an explosion of echoing guitar, shimmering synths, thumping bass and drums, and a primal howl from Peters. It’s the band’s answer to their quiet year – a pent-up, insistent outburst from the cocoon. Upon hearing it, you can’t help but wonder if the delays in production were really a blessing in disguise, giving the band the time they needed to mature.
“We wrote almost 50 songs [for “Melt”] and had to narrow it down to 11,” said Peters. “We had the worst time in the world trying to pick. They’re all strong in different ways. But now I think having two albums under our belt gives us a little bit of confidence. There’s more freedom to explore, less pressure to define ourselves.”
It’s a confidence that The Pass has been putting out on full display at their recent concerts, with “Melt” gems such as “Without Warning,” “Psycho,” and the especially powerful “Alone Again” already cementing themselves as set list staples and fan favorites. Upcoming single “The Rapture” has even become a regular and worthy show opener for the band, as they demonstrated at a September concert at Zanzabar when its pulsing, energetic rhythm and infectious synth line kicked things off like a shot of adrenaline straight to the crowd’s collective heart. Later in the show, the band was happy to put this energy to good use, leading the audience on a left turn into a raucous, impressive, and, ultimately, delightful cover of A-ha’s ‘80s masterpiece “Take on Me,” anchored by the precise keyboard work of Brian Healey on synths.
This energy isn’t just happening on stage either. With production wrapped on “Melt,” the band looked to local filmmakers and the team at Visual Space Media to collaborate on a music video for “Without Warning.” They even called on their fan base to lend their eyeballs for a series of rapidly cut extreme close-ups shot using a special lens. These images make up the bulk of the trippy video. After countless, painstaking hours of editing, the band hopes to have a distinct and dynamic visual release for the blogosphere to feast upon in concurrence with the album.
“It’s something that we’re really proud of and excited for people to see,” said Peters. “We wanted to make a statement, to do something fun and artistic and different.”
For The Pass, “fun and artistic and different” is all par for the course at this point. However, without looking back, it’s easy to forget just how far they’ve come.
“When we first started, we were dressing stupid, wearing sweatbands almost like DJs, and playing just so people would have something to dance to,” said Peters. “But then crowds started paying attention to us.”
Now, with three major tours behind them and high hopes for the long-anticipated release of “Melt,” the band is already enthusiastically looking ahead to the future. As Peters pointed out, with as much time as The Pass has had to work on their sophomore LP, they’ve also had plenty of time to plan ahead for the band’s next chapter and for how best to utilize this new burst of momentum in search of the next big step.
So, aside from all of the hard work, what’s The Pass’ secret? Peters isn’t exactly sure that they have one.
“One of the things I’m proud of is that we’re real,” said Peters. “I don’t know if that sounds dumb, but we just enjoy what we do. We do it because we like it, you know? It’s that simple.”
In other words, hard work isn’t quite so hard if you’re having fun doing it.
-Ryan Crist
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