Album fuses music genres

Working with rock vet producer Don Dixon proved valuable.
By JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
It's taken a long time for Rosavelt's Christopher Allen to arrive at a satisfactory place creatively and personally.
More than four years passed since the Cleveland act released an album. During that period, Allen went through what he describes as a "really rough period." The band lost one member and then worked in another, plus several side projects took additional momentum away from Rosavelt's last studio effort, "Transistor Blues."
Allen's good mood during a recent phone interview is justified. Through the advice of producer Don Dixon, he's used songwriting as an outlet to march through the bad times. The result is Rosavelt's superb third CD, "The Story of Gasoline," which comes out Aug. 24.
Blending sounds
The new album replaces the rock with country flavors of the band's previous efforts with the rough-and-tumble influence of alt-rock legends the Replacements.
Discussing the change in sound, he said, "I think this is pretty gradual. If you look at our first record and our second record, "Transistor Blues," I think in a lot of ways the album we made now, we tried to make then.
"The more we played out, the stuff we always went back to and played the most was the rock stuff off the album. It just seemed to make sense to do a whole record of it."
Dixon, who has worked in the past on classic releases by R.E.M. and The Smithereens among others, saw Rosavelt play live when it opened for his own group.
Allen admitted that, because of Dixon's legendary history working with alternative rock acts, his band made the most of the opportunity by performing new songs.
"I had talked to him on the phone a couple of times. He knew who we were and had our other records. As soon as we got done, he said, 'I want to put this stuff on tape.'
"He became really interested in what we were doing. I talked to him for a couple hours at his house and realized that we came from the same place as far as what we liked about certain records and different approaches to recording. We just knew he was going to be perfect for us."
Feels like live
Dixon wanted to enhance the rawness he heard in concert. To accomplish that the quartet and Dixon set up in Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom for two intense days of recording sessions. One can sense the loose and energetic atmosphere running through the 12 songs, while Allen's frequently worn voice evokes the tattered emotions running through the material.
"Anytime anything got too neat or too pretty, he'd be like, 'This is a Stones record we're making, not an Eagles record.' He always guided us towards putting a bit more of an edge on it."
Touring before the release, the band is doing double duty each night by playing its own set and then backing good friend, Columbus musician Tim Easton, on stage.
It even performed at the Cleveland rally for the Democratic presidential ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards.
"They were great to us. There was like 12,000 people there. It was a blast. Got to take a picture with him and meet him. It was great. Definitely, big thrill for us. They both have our record."
The band and Easton are taking an active role this political year by encouraging concertgoers to vote. A voter registration table will be set up during the co-headliner's show Friday at Cedar Lounge in Youngstown. Those who bring nonperishable food items will also receive a discount on the admission price. The items will benefit Second Harvest Foodbanks.