Evolution

The Longest Day of the Year finally sounds like The Longest Day of the Year

0

When local band The Longest Day of the Year got their start playing at breweries in Boulder and Fort Collins, “bluegrass-brewery bands” were kind of a thing in the area. Being from Boulder and being a brewery band, naturally, people assumed the band was another bluegrass act.

“It was a common confusion, especially because our first iteration of the band had a mandolin,” explains the group’s lead singer Sean Lamborne.

However, Lamborne is adamant that the five-member band plays rock and roll, though he says it’s their own version, rooted in gritty folk with elements of alternative-country and Americana. But there was a problem: Bands in the Boulder area have to cater to their venues, and starting out as a brewery band in a bluegrass scene became an obstacle to the true sound that The Longest Day of the Year wanted to cultivate.

“One of the tough things about playing in Boulder and some of the venues in the Denver area is that you really have to have a few hours of music before you can play in a bar or bigger venue, because you have to play all night long,” says Lamborne. “There’s very few split-bills for the local bars. So the first few years, we really had to push to have as much music as we could, rehearse as much as we could and also had to stretch out the songs a little bit more.”

The group quickly adapted to play three-hour shows to fill their awarded slots. They upped the jam element, adding improvisation to their style that sometimes landed them mention in the jam-band category, even further from where they wanted to be. Musicianship allowed The Longest Day of the Year to adapt, and they kept trucking along the Front Range, playing to full houses and adoring fans, but still not quite being able to come across as the alt-rock, folk band that they always had in them. But finally, after putting in the work, they are getting the chance to do what they really want.

“To play more straightforward rock songs,” Lanborne tells Boulder Weekly. “To be less of a jam band, just play three-minute songs. It’s really been an evolution of our ability to become who we wanted to be over time and be able to focus on playing rock music. We still have to fill three hours often enough, but now we have six hours of music because we’ve been together for a long time. So it’s been an interesting transition and it’s been great, and we’ve gotten a lot of great responses over the years, a lot of people who have been following us for a long time.”

That sound The Longest Day of the Year has been chasing for years now is chronicled on the band’s latest CD, Carapace, which will be released at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 30.

“The first song on the new album is called ‘Live Wire,’” says Lamborne. “It’s about the beginning of relationships specifically with my wife and son, about my son being born and meeting my wife so many years ago. That song means a lot to me. I really tried to dig a little deeper on the lyrics on this album.”

In his early career as a solo artist, Lamborne was an alt-rock guy, but transitioned to a more folk, country style when everyone else started being altrock guys.

“Now I’ve kind of fallen back more on the alt-rock again,” he says, “but still with that folk drive behind it. It has a lot of the feel of the music I grew up with, like Pearl Jam and a lot of other ’90s rock.”

While The Longest Day of the Year is ready to show audiences who they really are with new, original music and well-deserved headlining shows, they haven’t forgotten where they came from. To add to the festivities at the CD release party, the group has teamed up with their old friend Upslope Brewing Co., one of the breweries where they started out playing regularly. At the CD release party, they will be serving a special-edition, limited-release beer designed in a joint-effort by the band and Upslope.

“That was really cool that they wanted to do that with us, just another cool thing about being in the community,” comments Lamborne.

So the group who once was mistaken for a bluegrass jam band is coming out with their new CD of heartfelt alternative-rock music, with a strong foundation in folk and country, that will leave no more room for misinterpretation. Boulder will get the first taste of their true sound, and beer, at the Fox Theatre on Nov. 30.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com