Locksley is in position to ride the next wave

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Locksley

By John Benson

The group recently re-released its 2007 album.

When examining the mainstream popularity of various genres, oftentimes the discussion is more about the ebb and flow of certain styles.

For example, interest in garage rock definitely peaked earlier this decade with the straightforward sounds of The White Stripes and The Strokes. Since then, it’s been a mixed bag of, for good or bad, groups such as Franz Ferdinand and The Hives. One person hoping a new, creative wave of interest is near with the general public is Locksley drummer Sam Bair.

“Everything in music is cyclical,” said Bair, calling from New York City. “It goes from a more natural raw sounding thing and then some new technology will come along and all of a sudden everything sounds polished for a while, but then people try to get back to their roots and you get more raw again. To me, garage [rock] kind of takes its peaks when people are looking for something a little bit more true and honest rather than going for the special effects of new technology.”

So with that in mind, where does Bair see Locksley, a Madison, Wis.-formed act that relocated to the Big Apple years ago, fitting in with its ’60s garage rock-influenced and ’70s New York punk-inspired sound?

“I think we’re getting close to the next [wave] coming,” Bair said. “When The Strokes first came out was the same time The White Stripes kind of hit it big and that was the last kind of garage explosion. And then came Fall Out Boy and the more polished sounding bands. So I think we’re coming back around to the garage sounding bands.”

Having recently re-released its 2007 studio effort “Don’t Make Me Wait” to bridge the gap before a new album is released next spring, Locksley is already road testing new songs such as “Love You Too” and “Darling, It’s True.” Bair describes the latter as a cross between dance-rock act The Rapture and ’30s swing.

“It’s very dance-y, sing-sing-sing kind of stuff, just toe tapping,” Bair said. “We’re still very much a garage rock band, but we’re taking hints and influences from a lot of places. We’ve also been listening to a lot more Stax [Records] stuff. I got the Stax singles box set and that’s kind of all we listen to now, that or old Motown stuff.”

Just to confirm, the recent addition of dance-y related material has nothing to do with smash hit reality television show “Dancing With the Stars?”

“No,” Bair laughed.” Although I did hear some crazy Lance Bass stuff is happening lately.”

What’s happening now for Locksley is a high-profile gig on MTV’s “Choose or Lose Tour,” which plays Youngstown Wednesday at Cedars. Though the quartet is politically minded, Bair said the group is focusing its pre-Election Day talk on the importance of voting. However, he’s not shy about making promises about Locksley’s upcoming return to Northeast Ohio.

“We’re going to play a longer, better, more rocking set this time,” Bair said.

Hmm, sounds just like another politician in the year of an election?

“Yes, yes, yes,” Bair laughed. “We will change the way you think about rock ’n’ roll.”