Sun Bones

A few weeks back, I saw a performance by Denver folk punks Blind Man Deaf Boy at the late, great Tucson Live Music Space, and gave it a less than stellar (but certainly not scathing) review. Their reaction was a very public and embarrassing meltdown, which brings us to Tucson-based Sun Bones.

Last summer, I criticized aspects of a Sun Bones show at Solar Culture in a Live review, and while the band's response was mute in comparison to Blind Man Deaf Boy, their fans were outraged. Whatever. Their music was great then but Sun Bones were on fire in this performance—somewhere along the way they've made a quantum leap forward. The older songs were tighter and more focused, with several of the slower pieces mesmerizing as the band's controlled dynamics exploded at exactly the right moment. Sun Bones also played four new ones, two from their just-released single and two yet to be recorded. These also were fine examples of artistic growth.

The theatrical elements Sun Bones employ regularly at their concerts—jumping offstage and engaging in displays of performance art-inspired visual depictions of the music—was my point of contention last summer. Have Sun Bones changed or have I changed? I don't know. The band members toned this down, for sure. But on the occasions when they did get physical, it seemed fun and natural, not rehearsed or pretentious. More important, it seems Sun Bones have found the middle ground where the performance art and the music can exist side by side, where the visuals make sense and add an extra dimension to the sound rather than being a distraction.

Bogan Via, a synth-pop duo from Phoenix, were also stellar, albeit in a completely different way. Madeleine Miller (vocals, keyboards, percussion) and Bret Bender (vocals, keyboards, guitar) possessed traces of the minimal drones of Suicide and the more friendly—and less scary—emotional impact and melodicism of Depeche Mode. Bogan Via managed to update this into a contemporary and distinctive style, which is to say, they sound modern without sounding like Icona Pop. Miller and Bender have equally great voices, and when they sang together, the percolating synths, drum machines and vocals meshed into complete pop euphoria. - Tucson Weekly

More than anything musically, it could be said that Sun Bones' primary influence is Newton's laws of motion. A continuum of momentum and velocity is everything to the Tucson-based, self described "chamber punk" band.
Establishing themselves immediately with their 2013 self released debut, Sentinel Peak, their relentless touring, songwriting and recording pace, and just a single minded pursuit of shattering limits -- self imposed or otherwise -- in all aspects of how they operate as a band find them in a state of perpetual and speedy growth. At this point, Sun Bones has already moved on by the time you can catch up with them.

Following a whirlwind first half of 2014 that saw the release of two limited edition seven-inch singles and a collaboration with a full choir, the band has been on a week long mini-tour with fellow Tucsonan Laura Kepner-Adney (who also performs with Silver Thread Trio and The Cordials in Tucson), serving as her backing musicians. For Sun Bones' set, Kepner-Adney returns the favor, adding keyboards and harmonies to the quartet's already intricate vocal arrangements.

"Laura is playing keyboards and singing with us for this tour," says bassist/vocalist Bob Hanshaw. "We're having a hell of a good time being her backing band. It's a new style for us -- it's Americana, but we're coloring some of it with that same kind of psychedelic flavor. But it's a real new and really cool experience to really cede the spotlight to someone else and just learn songs [without contributing] but adding to the orchestration. She's bringing a fullness to the songs. ... There's a band we played with in L.A. called Gárate that sort of inspired this."

"She's adding a fullness and texture to the songs and just her voice really adds something special," adds guitarist/singer Sam Golden. Whether, Kepner-Adney will end up as Sun Bones' fifth member (alongside drummer/vocalist Seth Vietti and multi-instrumentalist Evan Casler) remains to be seen, but this band has, to date, never turned down a chance to alter their definition of their aesthetic.

Recently, the group holed up in a cabin outside of Flagstaff for a few days, and in the isolation pushed themselves into new methods of songwriting, resulting in a batch of fresh material.

Golden explains that "the new songs are some of the most stylistically cohesive we've written yet, probably because we wrote them all in two days. They're more influenced by the '60s -- Beach Boys, Beatles, psychedelia -- more so than previous songs we've written."

If these songs come close to matching the quality of the band's recent single, "Moon Street" b/w "Earworm," they still promise to be nothing short of fantastic.

"Our whole game plan has been after Sentinel Peak has been to go into Wavelab [Studios in Tucson] once every couple of months and put down four or five songs and then pick two to release on limited edition seven-inches. We've done two so far and we'll probably do two more, and by then we'll have a bank of 15 or 20 songs to choose from to craft our next full length," Hanshaw says.

It's a wise decision to catch Sun Bones at every step, as this is a band with no endpoint, only movement. - Phoenix New Times

SAN ANTONIO — Tucson, Ariz., band has changed its name a few times, but it's the music that matters, and the music is excellent. The indie-rock quartet self-identifies as a “chamber punk” band. That might well be accurate, but doesn't go very far to describe the band's fusion of rock and electro-folk, cool harmony vocals and songs built on imaginative arrangements, tricky time signature changes and clever lyrics. Sun Bones is touring with the “Sentinel Peak” CD. Pay attention to the songs “Skeleton” and “Driving Song.”

Jim Beal Jr.


Doors open at 8 p.m. Thursday, Ten Eleven, 1011 Avenue B. 210-320-9080 - San Antonio Express-News