Southeast Engine chugs through America with new label, new record
By Jen Kessler, Entertainment Staff Writer
October 15, 2007 | 12:06 a.m.
Southeast Engine has a gleaming new set of wheels, and they’re ready to roll. Athens’ hardworking, hard-rocking, harmonic, hometown heroes have signed with Misra Records and have just plunged headfirst into a month-long tour to support their new record, A Wheel Within A Wheel, which drops Tuesday, Oct. 16.
Speakeasy had the opportunity to speak with lead vocalist Adam Remnant as the band sped east, on the road to kick off the tour at the DAM! Festival in Washington, D.C.
“[Signing with Misra is] giving us more opportunities, more tools to work with,” Remnant said. “We’ll potentially get some more press -- national press -- national distribution. The record is actually hooked up with a European label, too, so it’s going to be released internationally. It opens up a lot of doors.”
The Engine’s tour is taking them on quite a ride through the heartland of America, from Chicago to New York City and most everywhere in between. While the band has previously taken minor stints to various cities, the current month-long tour to support A Wheel Within A Wheel is the longest tour they’ve embarked on yet.
“It’s a little more difficult because it’s more time away from home, more time away from, like, actually earning money,” Remnant said, laughing. “So it’s definitely going to be more challenging to us in that way. More wear and tear on our 1995 van, which is a little nerve-wracking.”
Due to the undeniable responsibility that comes with leaping a step up and signing with a label, shifts within the band were inevitable. At first, the lineup behind A Wheel Within A Wheel consisted of Adam Remnant (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Leo DeLuca (percussion), Adam Torres (guitar, vocals), Michael Lachman (keyboard, piano), Matt Box (bass, vocals) and Josh Antonuccio (guitar, vocals). Southeast Engine’s current lineup boasts the original Remnant, DeLuca and Torres, in addition to Gaelan Mullins (of Athens band Silo Circuit) and Jesse Remnant (Adam’s younger brother).
“It definitely gets trickier because, with the band on a label, there’s a higher expectation of what we need to do, what we need to get done,” Remnant explained. “We need to be on tour, we need to be recording, stuff like that. So member changes occurred because there were three guys in the band that could really commit and really pull through, really get done what the band needs to do. The other guys had certain family and job obligations, things like that.”
A Wheel Within A Wheel, the band’s third LP, is a masterpiece. The title of the album is a quiet reference to the first Book of Ezekiel, wherein the prophet Ezekiel describes an encounter with God. In his apocalyptic vision, God appears as four creatures, each with four heads and four wings and each connected to a wheel within a wheel. This reference also makes its way into the marrow of the album, claiming the title of the 11th track, “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel.”
“[The album was inspired by] a few things. Musically, I think there’s somewhat of a Guided by Voices influence in terms of they’re kind of short songs with a lot of changes. Less verses and choruses and stuff like that and more, just more quirkiness, I guess, about the songs. Lyrically, I think it was influenced by…” Remnant broke off for a moment and laughed, “Leo is in the background saying it was influenced by Tina Turner…but I’d say it was influenced by…the idea of religious experience and things like that. Its actually got a sort of psychological flow about it. I was also studying the psychologist C.G. Jung, and he kind of played a factor in the ideas that were cast around in my mind.”
A Wheel Within A Wheel paints a beautiful and deeply human portrait of a muddled journey through existential confusion. Remnant peers into himself with heartfelt lyrics that shimmer with beatific grace, tenderly pondering aloud what it is to be alive, to be mortal and how exactly to go about it. The unadulterated humanity that lies coiled at the core of Remnant’s poetic musings is positively captivating.
The music that cradles these brilliant vocals is equally riveting, slinking between upbeat, pounding anthems and slower, passionately delicate tracks. The album begins with a 20-second sound clip of a wheel turning and slowly clicking to a stop, followed by a brief pause and a crashing onslaught of sound that absolutely demands attention. The remainder of the album follows through with parallel craftsmanship as catching, melodic guitar, tightly precise drumbeats and lilting piano accents all weave together in perfect rapport. The album is a masterful showcase of Southeast Engine’s unquestionable talent.
C.G. Jung once said, "As far as we can discern, the purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
A Wheel Within A Wheel does just that. Southeast Engine is warm and talented, inspiring as they are inspired. With a month-long tour ahead of them and Misra Records behind them, Southeast Engine is quickly rolling toward great things.
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Check out Southeast Engine at SoutheastEngine.com or the band's MySpace