SAVING ABEL
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Sturgis Rally rock fans have demonstrated time and again that they appreciate a solid, blues-based southern rock band. And Saving Abel is fast becoming the prime example of a new generation of southern rockers.
Jared Weeks and Jason Null formed Saving Abel in their small hometown of Corinth, Mississippi in 2004. They met when Weeks, who was in a band, was playing guitar at his best friend's house, when Null, who was in a rival local group, walked in to rehearse with his band. Within days of that meeting, Null and Weeks were writing and honing the intimate writing style that now defines the band.
In early 2005, the pair's songs caught the ear of noted producer Skidd Mills (12 Stones, Saliva, Submersed), who took the band into his 747 Studios in Memphis. Mills notes, "It was '18 Days' that hooked me. The first time I heard it I was like, 'these guys are the real deal; they'll be doing this for a long time.' Jason and Jared (like Buffalo Chip bike week music fans) have always understood that the most important part of the music business is having great songs."
Saving Abel gradually came together in the final electric lineup of guitarist Scott Bartlett, bassist Eric Taylor, and drummer Blake Dixon, and the band paid its dues both onstage and off.
The working-class Sturgis Rally audience will appreciate the band’s work ethic. Weeks would toss Saving Abel demos onto the stage when bigger bands played in town, and between playing gigs, working day jobs, and Weeks and Null constantly driving from Mississippi to Memphis to record their self-titled EP with Mills, it was a busy and prolific couple years. Weeks remembers; "I used to work at a hospital. I'd have to be there at 4:30 in the morning drawing blood. I'd wake people up and stick a needle in their arm. I'd be walking around the hospital, singing 'Addicted' in my head, writing down the lyrics on patients' clipboards and doctor script pads."
Null and Weeks bring in different songwriting influences, giving the band a complex, sophisticated sound. Null had a musical family, and recalls bluegrass dances at the community center as a child. "We didn't miss it, ever! We'd hoot and holler, as we used to say,” he said. (Like most of the campers at the Buffalo Chip during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Country and Rock are influential.) “My brother traded my bike for a guitar for me when I was 6, and I learned 'Johnny B. Goode' that night! I go back to Willie and Waylon, but as a kid of the '80s, I also love Metallica. Also, Angus Young is one of my main influences, as well as the guitar sound and solos of Seattle bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains."
Weeks played basketball and went to the state’s tennis championships twice before discovering his passion for music. His love of the blues and Southern Rock influence what he calls a more "literal" songwriting approach. "If something is really bothering me, or how I'm feeling at that moment, I'll write about it.”
Saving Abel, the Virgin debut, features mostly brand-new tunes, plus a few favorites from an indie EP, including the poignant, perfectly crafted "18 Days," "Running From You," and "Drowning Face Down." Null explains "18 Days" was lyrically inspired by sheriff Buford Pusser of 'Walking Tall' fame, while laughingly admitting the rowdy road trip in "New Tattoo" ("The blue is for the bruise you left in my heart / and the red is for the color we're about to paint this town") is "based on a true story." (Does that sound like a Buffalo Chip Sturgis Rally moment?)
"Our goals are always to concentrate on the song, not just one cool part to make a kid bop his head. Every person I talk to loves a different song of ours," Null said.
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