Suede Brothers goes for a warmer sound

By John Benson

Soft and subtle like the leather its band is named after, Cleveland rock-blues act the Suede Brothers is hoping to craft something special on its sophomore album due out later this month.

It’s for this reason that singer-guitarist Dylan Francis said the group chose to record on analog tape over digital.

“At the studio we’re at, we had the option to do digital and Pro Tools, but this is the second time we’ve been at Suma [Recording Studio in Painesville] where the James Gang and Grand Funk Railroad recorded in the past. So we wanted to go with the analog sound that we enjoy.”

Similar to opinionated musicphiles, who for years have been championing analog over digital, Francis said his band’s decision was based in capturing a certain warmness often associated with the vinyl-listening music experience.

“It gives us a little bit more round and rich tones we want,” Francis said. “We’ve tried digital recording before but it was a little bit too crisp and clean and bright. Aesthetically, we want the warmer sound associated with tape, and so far, we just haven’t heard that in digital recordings. It’s a whole different art form when you’re recording.”

Formed a few years ago as a Led Zeppelin-inspired garage act, Suede Brothers — Francis, Kevin Naughton (bass) and Mick Varga (drums) — has become a popular regional band with regular minitours to Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Columbus and other cities. Stylistically, the band possesses a Black Sabbath-meets-The White Stripes mind-set, which is further expanded on its upcoming second album.

“On this album, the most obvious change for us is that it’s varied,” Francis said. “There are nine songs, and I’d say about half are heavy and more similar to the first album. But there are songs that have some different changes in there for us.”

Among the new songs in the band’s current live show are the early Radiohead-sounding “Charlotte Road” and the rocking “Base Tame.”

“It’s nice because we can hear everything moving along and progressing at a rate that we like,” Francis said. “We’re not stuck in the mud.”

Even though the Suede Brothers has only two other Youngstown gigs to their credit, Francis said the band views its Friday show at Cedars Lounge as a hometown show.

“Youngstown is a perfect area for us,” Francis said. “We always feel very at home with the audience. Everyone we’ve met from Youngstown, we seem to fit right in, and I hope that’s what the people feel, too. Youngstown feels like a lot like Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo to us. We call ourselves ‘Rust Belt rock’ and so when we’re in the Rust Belt, we feel at home.”