All Mighty Senators Checkered Past, New Tomorrow: Essential AMS (“Checkered Past”) provides a retrospective of two decades of All Mighty Senators (“AMS”) music.  This compilation reflects the evolving musical line-up and sound that has kept audiences coming out in droves to see this band for almost 20 years.  

I found myself listening to Checkered Past about 5 times before I could fully digest all that this CD has to offer.   I first saw AMS in 1988, when the band was fronted by both Landis McCord and Mitchell Valliant.  AMS shows in this era were more about the freak-show experience than the music.  In the early days AMS live shows came equipped with dual video projectors showing a variety of eclectic images, large puppets dancing in the crowd, and occasional fire breathing and nudity on the part of Mitchell Valliant.   This early sound is feature on track 9 of Checkered Past,  “TNRS”, which features the bands original guitarist Dave Davis, and longtime bassist Brett Sharbaugh. Sharbaugh was also responsible for writing many of the bands early classic riffs.  This haunting, quasi-reggae track captures a less-funky, more psychedelic sound found in the band’s early incarnations.

My favorite AMS sound is found in the era reflected on the tracks lifted from the band’s 1996 release, Flow.   The standout track from this era is “Feeder,” a more straight- forward rock tune, where the band deviates from its typical tongue and cheek approach to lyrical expression and presents a more serious side of Landis McCord.  The song is always great live but the studio version still manages to capture the songs raw energy.

Checkered Past also feature two lives recordings gleaned from the band’s 2003 tour with the Pretenders.  “Rock and Soul” and a cover of the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, showcase the bands ability to rock even crowds unfamiliar with the AMS experience.  These tracks feature the guitar work of Warren Boes, who has been with band since 1990.  Except for founding front man Landis McCord, Boes has been with AMS the longest.  Many of today’s AMS fans don’t even realize that Boes was not an original member.  Bassist Jack Denning is also featured on these tracks.  Denning replaced the original long-time bassist, Brett Sharbaugh in 1998. 

After listening to All Mighty Senators Checkered Past, New Tomorrow: Essential AMS, over and over again, and analyzing it perhaps a little too much, I had the chance to chat with guitarist, Warren Boes concerning his thoughts on the retrospective CD and the band in general.

Andy Belt:  You are originally from Virginia, how did you end up in Baltimore playing with AMS?

Warren Boes:  I met former AMS member Mitchell Valliant in Boston while I was at Berklee. Mitchell was hanging out in Boston for a while and convinced myself and some other musicians I had been playing with to follow him back to Baltimore to form the band False Face Society.  It was through Mitchell that I started sitting in with the AMS.  At that time, Ben Watson was the AMS guitarist.

AB:  Do you ever think about the fact that although the band has been playing for almost 20 years, Landis is the only remaining original member?

WB:  Yeah, sometimes I do, but when you think about it, I’ve been in the band for almost 18 years and that is longer than any of the original members except for Landis.  Jack has been in the band for almost 10 years.   I think although the name of the band has always been All Mighty Senators, it has really been many different bands over the years.

AB:  Who is the band’s primary songwriter these days?

WB:  Landis is always responsible for all the lyrics.  A lot of the band’s early tunes came from riffs written by Brett Sharbaugh.  These days, I would have to say that I am responsible for coming up with a majority of the song ideas.  Jack brings a lot of new ideas for songs as well.  Landis, being the artist that he is, doesn’t like to be confined by the parameters of a finished composition.  He likes to take pieces of the music we come up with and write lyrics to the parts that he likes.

AB: How do you describe the evolution of AMS music over the past 20 years?

WB:  The early three ring circus performances of the band were great, but that just couldn’t last.  The time came when the band had to write music “listenable” outside the live performance.  The tracks on Music Is Big Business best reflects musically where the band is now.  It also reflects the sound of the band since bassist Jack Denning joined.  We came up with the “Rock and Soul” answer to the often-asked question of how we define our sound.  I think it works.

AB:  I was really impressed with Landis’ falsetto.  How did that come about?

WB:  I came to band practice with music for what would eventually be “Booty Fresh”.  I told Landis that I had this cool Smokey Robinson groove, and he just kicked out the falsetto.

AB:  The current line-up of AMS has managed to have some pretty impressive success over the past several years. How did your tour with the Pretenders come about?

WB:  It was the cover of Music Is Big Business that caught Chrissie Hynde’s attention.  She thought that if a band that was that ugly could put their picture on their CD cover, they must have something pretty good going on musically. . .

            All Mighty Senators Checkered Past, New Tomorrow: Essential AMS,  is available on Severn Records and is an essential addition to your CD collection whether you are a long-time AMS fan, or just getting to know the AMS experience.  After 20 years, All Mighty Senators are still mighty good.

Back in the day of analog recording, the price of tape and studio time alone made creating a decent demo tape cost prohibitive for many fledging bands.  Now, for a reasonable price, Sound Locker can have bands in and out in a day.   Sound Locker has everything ready to go for their clients when they come in to record.  Equipped with their own drum set, pianos and a variety of guitar amps, bands merely have to plug in to what has already been pre-set on the studio’s Pro Tool equipped sound board.

     When the old Towson Movie Theatre reopened as a pool hall in 1996, I couldn’t help but to imagine seeing bands there.  Evidently, a musician friend of owner Brian Recher had the same idea and nagged him often to let his band try out the venue.  Once Brian gave in, the idea caught on and live music is still going strong today at Towson’s Recher Theater.

     Brothers Brian and Scott Recher have built the Recher Theatre into the premier Baltimore County venue for national, regional, and local acts.   With the help of booking agent Paul Manna, The Recher Theatre has been able to attract well-known national acts, while still providing a venue for some of the more successful local bands as well.

      The Recher is a very large room with a great stage and decent sound system.  As a result of the smoking ban, the Recher is now even a more pleasant place to see a concert.   While the Recher is a great gig for a band that can fill the large room, less established bands without out a substantial following would have trouble getting a date.  Thus, the need for a smaller Towson music venue still exists for bands just starting out or for smaller musical projects that would be better appreciated in a smaller, more intimate setting.  

       In short, the Recher Theatre is a great asset of the Baltimore local music scene and hopefully its success will spawn the addition of even more smaller venues where local music can be enjoyed in Baltimore County. 

    Welcome to my first foray into the world of blogging.  As a veteran amateur local musician, I intend to use this blog as a forum to discuss the local Baltimore Music Scene, past, present, and future. 

     Playing in area clubs since the early 1980’s, I’ve see many bands and musicians come and go, some on to bigger and better things, some on to obscurity, some on to marriage and parenthood, and some on to the grave.   Music venues have opened and closed, and the sound of the music has changed as well.  What hasn’t changed is local musicians’ dedication and desire to have their music heard and appreciated. 

     This blog will attempt to highlight who did what in the local music scene of yesterday and who is doing what today.  I hope you will share your thoughts as well.