By Joseph Simek

Philly EDGE Correspondent

 

Artist: Jon Barthmus of The A-Sides

 

We’re all originally from various points in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but we’ve all been living in Philadelphia for quite a few years now.

 

Jon Barthmus: guitar and vocals

Mike Fleming A.K.A “Flem”: bass and vocals

Patrick Marsceill: drums and vocals

Charlie Cottone: guitar and vocals

Chris Doyle: keys, guitar and various percussion

 

Density in 10 cities.

 

I don’t know if we have a quintessential track. We’re an album band -- you need them all! However, in the meantime, one could go to www.myspace.com/theasides  and listen to a variety of potentially quintessential tracks.

The story, in short, is three roommates and a neighbor, all attending Drexel University, with a mutual desire to start a rock and roll band, started playing shows, made an album, replaced a guitar player, added a keyboard player, made a new album, signed to Vagrant, and here we are.

 

The new album is called Silver Storms and it will be released September 18 on Vagrant Records.

 

Interesting question. See, when we booked the thirtieth at JB’s we thought our record was coming out on August 28, but the release date got pushed back and it was too late to book a new show date. But because this is the record release, we’ve gone to great lengths to make sure the kind folks in attendance will be able to buy it. So, the deal is we won’t have the physical copies, but we will have limited edition silk-screened posters by Outlaw Print Co. that come with a code that will allow you to download the album digitally from Apollo Audio. We’ll also take your address and send you the real deal as soon as they’re available.

So, you do have immediate access to the music, almost three weeks before the rest of the world, and you get a nice poster too. Everybody wins!

 

I would definitely say that is a fair assessment. We definitely started the band with the ‘60s as our reference point but we knew then that we wanted this to be whatever it would become with no set restrictions. After recording Hello, Hello, we were ready to move on and just do what was natural. These songs have a bit more depth, I think, and they sound a lot more like us. The addition of Charlie and Doyle definitely helped this change as well.

 

We’ve done a few trips out to Chicago or Austin (for SXSW), but this is the first tour on a massive scale. We’re definitely excited to be hitting the road. A little nervous about leaving home for almost two months, but this is what we all want to do. We’re huge fans of Pinback and Ted Leo, so it’s great to be doing some dates with them. We’re a bit less familiar with Say Hi and The Velvet Teen, but we’re definitely looking forward to getting to know them.

 

Brian is a genius. He’s just got a great set of ears and produces really classic sounding recordings. Since this was our second time with him we just locked right into a rhythm and didn’t stop for a month. When we’re in his studio he really becomes another member of the band, playing the studio like we play instruments. He’s also a taskmaster with rigorous schedules of what to do each day to stay within time constraints. I should mention also that Amy Morrissey is pretty brilliant as well as second in command.

 

The story with Vagrant is possibly the most boring signing story of all time. Our manager sent the record out to a bunch of record labels and they were the ones that really fell in love with it. They wanted it exactly as it was and we were just excited to start working with someone who was that excited about it.

 

Ha, well, the easy answer is that we’d all like to do this full-time. Other possible answers could be that we want a lifetime supply of free pizza or individual helicopters.

The A-Sides w/ Bitter Bitter Weeks and The Capitol Years
Johnny Brenda’s
1201 N. Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia,
Thurs. Aug.30, 9 p.m.
215.739.9684