| Wheels performing at this year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival (Photo: David Dupont/Sentinel-Tribune) |
Wheels, a group of teenage buskers from Yellow Springs, was right at home playing on
the acoustic stage at the September’s Black Swamp Arts Festival.
The band performed their joyous mix of American sounds on both the Main Stage where
they had plenty of room to roam as well as the acoustic stage in the bank atrium
on South Main Street with their audience crowded in to catch every note.
For a band that got started when its two original members guitarist Rory Papania and
mandolinist Sam Salazar jammed in front of the grocery store in Yellow Springs,
it was a familiar setting.
In the subsequent three years three more members – Jamie Scott, harmonica and
percussion, Sam Crawford, bass and multi-instrumentalist Conor Stratton – have
joined the fun.
Festival fans paid tribute to Wheels by buying their albums. Kelly Wicks, who chairs
the festival’s performance committee, said the band was one of the top CD
sellers at the event.
Wicks is bringing them back to town for a show at Saturday at 8 p.m. Grounds for
Thought, 174 S, Main St.
"Starting out playing in front of people on a busy street kind of shaped our
sound to be energetic," said Salazar in a recent telephone interview with
four members of the band. "And we’ve continued with that kind of
feel."
Stratton said that the band’s energy and adaptability were assets. "It was
appealing to people to have this school band that could set up anywhere and
deliver a full fledge show."
While the energy has been a constant, the band’s sound continues to evolve. They
started out playing alternative folk and bluegrass. Now they lean toward more
progressive sounds that mix the various interests of the band.
Asked each to name a musician or band they like the responses were wide ranging.
Stratton cited the indie folk band Bon Iver and Crawford said he was a
particular fan of genre-bending singer and composer Sufjan Stevens. Salazar said
he loved big band music, especially that of Count Basie. Scott cited electronic
composer Dan Deacon.
Stratton said that the "progressive" label is hard to pin down. It speaks
more to the band’s attitude than to any particular style.
"We try and constantly introduce new thing," he said.
"We do like to use as many instruments as possible," Stratton said.
"We’re still a vocally based band."
That vocal sound features rich, a little raucous and exuberantly delivered harmonies.
Their progress has been documented in two CDs so far, "Fields on Fire" and
"Big Feeling." Further changes are in the works as the band prepares
to record an EP with six to eight songs.
They’ll also take a month this summer to do their first tour, hitting spots around
Ohio.
Though college may put some miles between them, Salazar expects with the aid of
technology they’ll be able to keep rolling together.
