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Street Beat Spotlight Feature
STARTING TO FIRE ROUNDS INTO THE REGION
THE CANNONS
by Ernie Thomas
“We all got together after meeting at ‘jam night’,” said Munster guitarist Jeremy “Suds” Smolen of how he came to play rock ‘n’ roll with the other members of The Cannons. Their story is not uncommon for the region, as local jam nights are often the jump off point for many area bands.
What makes The Cannons –– bassist Jeni Keith, drummer Jim Eder, guitarist “Texas” Wes Walker and Smolen –– different is how their making music together has become almost a by-product of their friendship; rather than what makes them friends.
“There’s a real closeness between everyone,” Smolen noted. “We’re more like a group of drinking buddies who just all happen to play instruments, so we make music together.”
A former member of area band, The Plantaines, Smolen has long been a regular at the area’s many jam nights and currently co-hosts the Wednesday night “jam” at Soprano’s Lounge in Griffith.
“Last summer, I was sitting in with the guys from Pokerface at the Bookies jam night, when in came Jeni and her father to jam,” he recalled. “She was home for the summer from college. I liked the way she played bass and asked her to jam with me. Soon after, we put together the Cannons.”
“I’ve been playing bass since I was little. I got really serious with books and charts and all that in about sixth grade,” noted Keith, whose parents are region club musicians. “I’ve always played bass. Probably, because my mom plays bass and there was always one at the house. My dad plays guitar, so music was always a part of my life.”
A native of Schererville, Keith graduated this past May from college in Madison, Wisconsin, where she played in a club band called, Code Adam. Now back in the region to stay, The Cannons are working with an agent and booking shows more often and farther out from their Lake County turf.
Eder of Hammond is best known to area rock fans from his years with region recording act, Quarterturn.
Schererville’s Walker joined The Cannons five months ago after his group, Roscoe called it a day when their singer was deployed to the Middle East.
The four musicians are steadily writing and recording original songs at Triad Studio in Crown Point, that they hope to compile and release on CD by the holidays.
Their live show blends of 16 originals with an array of classic rock and blues covers by Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Phish and others.
“Other than Phish, I don’t think our play list has any songs written past 1985,” noted Smolen, who describes their original selections as pretty mainstream rock ‘n’ roll. “We like to jam, but we aren’t a ‘jam band’, we don’t do 15-minutes on one song,” he added.
“Our web site (www.thecannons.com) is still being constructed, so there is not too much up there just yet,” concluded Smolen. In the meantime, fans are advised to visit their booking agent’s site www.BrokenLevee.com for more bio information and The Cannons’ performance schedule.
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