The Wandering Sons aren’t shy about singing about politics. One of their songs, “Black Flags,” is an Iraq War protest song. Other songs by the band touch on other social issues. (by Dan Krueger of the Advance Titan) 
The Wandering Sons aren’t shy about singing about politics. One of their songs, “Black Flags,” is an Iraq War protest song. Other songs by the band touch on other social issues. (Submitted) |
Bush or Kerry? It’s a question that is on almost every American citizen’s mind, but the Wandering Sons, an Appleton-based alt-country band, had to answer that question almost a month early. Following an odd string of events, the band was asked to perform at both George W. Bush’s rally in Oshkosh and John Kerry’s rally in Appleton Friday.
“I feel like their desire (the organizers of the events) was to get at us because we’re Americana music, everyday people music,” lead singer and guitarist Cory Chisel said.
The decision of which rally to play was not a difficult one for the band. In fact, they had turned down the Republican offer, which included a $4,000 paycheck, before the Democrats even called them because of political differences in opinion.
“In no way do I support President Bush’s policies, and I think it would be a terrible thing for him to win the election,” Chisel said.
Instead the Wandering Sons played for Kerry’s event.
“I thought it went great,” lead guitarist Dan McMahon said. “There was a lot of energy. I don’t think I could have had a better time.”
The band asked the organizers not to pay them. Though all the band members support Kerry, they don’t want any paid political associations.
“I can only trust politicians as far as I can throw them, you know?” McMahon said adding that the money could be used to help the Kerry campaign instead.
For a band that needs to pinch every penny they can, for every-day band costs and making a living, a few thousand dollars can go a long way, but McMahon and Chisel said they never thought about taking the money.
“Maybe not having the money is what we’re supposed to do,” Chisel said. “We had an understanding from the beginning that if we were going to do it, we were going to do it for free. I don’t think that makes us some kind of heroes.”
Fittingly, The Wandering Sons aren’t shy about singing about politics. One of their songs, “Black Flags,” is an Iraq War protest song. Other songs by the band touch on other social issues.
“It’s definitely not a conscious effort to be political,” Chisel said. He said that social issues come up in songs because he writes about everyday issues, and war, poverty and other social problems affect everybody’s lives.
McMahon agreed.
“I would never say we’re a politically-charged band at all,” McMahon said.
Politics aren’t the only thing keeping the Wandering Sons members’ lives interesting. The band was called Breathing Machine until early this summer when line-up changes and changes in sound convinced the members to change their name. The band started when Chisel was in middle school and he is the only original member, though bassist Rick Setser joined shortly after the band started.
“We’ve been unhappy with the name Breathing Machine,” 23-year-old Chisel said. “It was really hard for us to grow up and have the name that we had since we were 14.”
Chisel added that it was confusing for people who had heard the band years ago because the band has gone through a lot of changes over the better part of a decade. McMahon joined the band in 2001 as the drummer. After the lead guitarist quit and the band could not find a good replacement despite auditions, they moved McMahon to guitar and their long-time friend and roadie Paul Mannone to drums.
Mannone left the band this summer, and the Wandering Sons are currently without a full-time drummer, but have been playing with two different drummers. They’re in no hurry to fill the position permanently because they want to make sure the new member fits in with the band as a musician and a friend.
“We’re not putting a deadline on it,” McMahon said.
So far, the band couldn’t be happier with the results of their changes.
“We finally have the confidence to just go with what we really like,” Chisel said. “It’s hard to whittle everything down and find what’s really you.”
The Wandering Sons took their old rock ‘n’ roll style and infused early country, early blues and folk music into it to create a unique alt-country or Americana sound.
“It’s kind of a conglomeration of a lot of styles and themes,” McMahon said. “It makes a cohesive sound within our band, but it’s kind of eclectically pieced together genre-wise.”
The Wandering Sons’ biggest influences come from early Rolling Stones, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, but a lot of other influences sneak in, too. Listeners at the Kerry rally compared the band to Tom Petty and John Cougar Mellencamp. Chisel was not surprised to hear that because he said the Wandering Sons draw from many of the same influences as Petty and Mellencamp, and they both have a very Midwest sound.
The Wandering Sons’ first album under the new name came out early this summer and is called “Again From the Beginning.” The bare-bones style of recording the band used emphasizes the gritty, real-life nature of their music and kept the music similar to what they sound like live.
The Wandering Sons are already making plans for their next album. They have four new songs written and Chisel said he expects to be in the studio within the next six months.
To listen to the band’s songs or check for tour dates, the Wandering Sons’ Web site can be accessed at http://www.thewanderingsons.com.
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