An Intersection of Florida Traditions

The 1990’s was an interesting time in rock music. Grunge, Britpop, industrial rock and alternative rock music dominated the scene and elements of hip hop and electronica creeped in from the fringes. The 1990’s is really when many styles started to meld into each other and the genres became so specialized, one almost had to make up new genres to explain some of the new sounds emanating from studios and basements all over the world. Now that we are a generation into it, we are seeing a number of bands influenced by this “melting pot” in American popular music. A New Way To Live Forever is one such band from Ft. Lauderdale Florida who is not afraid to cite these influences and give the casual listener a real sense of where they are coming from and what they are hoping to achieve. I mean, Let’s face it, The Beatles put their stamp on popular music forever but if I hear one more band telling me they sound like the Beatles I think I will scream. Nobody else sounds like The Beatles, or hasn’t since the mid-seventies. Let’s get real. ANWTLF cites their influences as Lenny Kravitz, Kings of Leon, Radiohead, and Prince and for the most part that is a pretty accurate description although Prince might be a little bit of a stretch.

What you can expect from their latest EP entitled “Rumoura” is a batch of well-crafted songs with driving guitar lines and enough hooks to keep you humming for hours. The band is led by songwriter and vocalist Russ Rogers and is rounded out by Daniel Dyer (Guitar), Steve Velez (Bass) and Phil Tucciarone (Drums). If you are familiar with the Florida rock scene, I think ANWTLF is an inevitable product of that scene and those influences. Florida has always been a bit progressive in terms of its rock music scene but still feels the influence of its native sons the Van Zandt’s, Tom Petty and later transplants the Allmans. In addition to that southern rock lineage, Florida has been the incubator for such later post punk and industrial rockers like Rev 7, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Against Me! and Less Than Jake. The intersection of the musical angst of these latter bands with the sensibilities of these former local heroes makes a band like ANWTLF almost a certainty. They have taken the best from both worlds and combined it into a style of music all their own.

The band is working on a new EP helmed by Candlebox’s Peter Klett. The new record called “Monument” is expected at any time and with the roll this band is on, their fans should expect another fine record in the near future.

Band website

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