The Wayback Machine

Greetings once again you who are about to Time-Trip, we salute!

Today's guest, strapping in and setting sail backwards through the portals of eternity, is yet another of those rarest of creative types: the one-man band.
A Tuscon, Arizona, resident who knows the power and effects of the desert Southwest on the psyche, as do I. Sprawling, surreal sunsets; coal-black nights aided by cool temperatures and abetted by damnably hot days. These can and do have an effect on you. Add to that a clear love of harmonic rock and psychedelia's "color outside the lines, please!" strictures and we've the admixture in place for some outstanding music.(Plus, he's taken me on an underwater adventure so he'll have no problem with this voyage!) Trippers: attention! We have Matt Rendon of the Resonars!



1997 saw a self-titled release and of it, Becky Byrkit of AMG, said:
"...It's still impossible to believe that Tucson's Matt Rendon is the Resonars, all the Resonars, sounding for all he's worth on this exhilarating record like there are at least half a dozen guys expressing themselves on vocal harmonies alone...It is, as Matt says himself, the strength of "harmony as the lead" that really makes this sound splash and swoop in the youthful and reassuring tradition of Peanut Butter Conspiracy and the Beach Boys."

Two years later and Matt signed on with Get Hip, who would release his next three abums. 1999's Bright And Dark; Bryan Thomas of AMG said:
"...The mod-psych influence of early Who (especially Rendon's manic Keith Moon-style drumming) and Rubber Soul to Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles is also evident here, due in no small part to Rendon's fascination with soaring multiple harmonies, or, as one writer accurately described it at the time: "Picture The Notorious Byrd Brothers combined with Hollies harmonies and "Rain"-era Beatles psychedelic touches." (Editor's Note: slurp!)



2002's Lunar Kit contains, as Bryan Thomas-once again, states:
"..."Under Garden" sounds like it may have been inspired by the Hollies circa Butterfly. Another Hollies-inspired track, the harmony-drenched "She's in Love With Her," shows up midway, along with its flip side of the Star Time single from 2000, the freakbeat romp "Floor Lamp Eyes," while an even older track, "Funny Old World," features a great freakout on the drums. The jangle-riffic title track, a Byrds-ian folk-rock "Lunar Kit," is positively swimming in echo and highlighted by early Who-style drumming, towering multi-tracked harmonies, and a twangy guitar."

Finally, last year's Nonethless Blue,reviewed here by Mark Deming of AMG:
"...Nonetheless Blue doesn't re-invent the wheel within the garage revival universe, but it rolls smooth and fast and gets there in style; folks with a taste for the British branch of mid-'60s rock will eat this right up." While Aaron over at Powerpopaholic says:
"This is easily the strongest Resonars album, as the song writing has gotten stronger and the musicianship is perfect. Every song is under three minutes and catchy as hell, no fillers here either. It’s very hard to highlight a single song here, but “Sinking is Slow” mixes the right amount of rock, harmonies similar to The Choir (a proto version of the Raspberries). Great stuff here, as the other songs on the albums second half (“No Problem At All” and “Soar Snippet”) gets more garage sound, and owe more to The Kinks/Pretty Things than the “Sgt. Pepper-isms” present in The Pillbugs CD I reviewed last week. Things get downright acid on “Three Times Around” and if you’re like me, you’ll get this album and turn on the lava lamp."

All three albums are available via the (mighty) Get Hip website. You need 'em.

So, where does our desert-dwelling Psych-meister want to go?

You've been given a one-time opportunity to use The Wayback Machine; what band would you like to see, in what year, and what song would you most want to see them play?

Matt: I would set the Wayback Machine for July 1966 so I could see the Byrds play around the time of 5D. To see them at the peak of their most creative and experimental period would be a mindblower! I've read they could be pretty erratic, so hopefully I'd catch a good show.

The song I would most like to see them play is 'I See You'.

As an aside, I have the Another Dimension double 10" from Sundazed. We all know about McGuinn's stellar playing but Wowee!! Crosby was phenomenal on rhythm, always chunky and driving.

(Editor: Hmm, this song is unavailable on YouTube; we hope the following make up for that.)





The Resonars are preparing a new album, That Evil Drone, (I can already hear some of my friend drooling), on the Burger Records label, out of Anaheim, California. We'll keep readers informed upon its launch. Thank you Matt!