March BEAT

     Eat A Peach is a South Side band that has been beating the bushes for
quite some time and who have undergone a remarkable metamorphosis in sound
and image in the last two years.

    What began as an Allman Brothers tribute (and a damn good one at that!)
has come full circle, evolving into an original music project with two CDs to
its credit, invitations to perform at prestigious venues, and on the cusp of
their first-ever national tour.

    “It’s all really been happening pretty fast,” says guitarist/vocalist
Curt Sanders, one of the three original members still with the quintet.
“Especially in the last year or so, when we started getting all this
attention thrown at us, thanks to a lot of hard work by our management team
(Dawn Wendt and Gale Huguelet).”

    Their debut album, Turbulence & Thunder, has sold nearly two thousand
copies since it’s release just over a year ago. It’s gotten a fair share of
air time on college market stations, internet radio programs and even some
commercial radio outlets in various parts of the country.

    The radio play of their songs resulted in Eat A Peach being the subject
of several feature articles for a variety of print publications, including
one in France.
     It also got them invited to be included on the Earth Day 2000
compilation CD, a fundraising disc for environmental issues put out by
Limited Access, Inc. (in conjunction with the TBS cable network).

   “We’ve been selling Turbulence & Thunder mostly over the internet,” said
Sanders, “but we also seem to be selling a lot at local record stores like
Crow’s Nest and Discount Records.”   “Of course, we tend to move quite a few
copies at our shows too,” added drummer/percussionist, Mike Severence,
another original EAP member.
     While things have steadily progressed since they opted to shelve the
“tribute” schtick and pursue an original music direction, the move has been
both a fruitful and costly one for the band of longtime friends.

    “We knew that we had to start doing this (original music), because we all
had songs in our heads that needed to come out. We all wanted to show what
we could do as a band,” said Sanders. “We love the (Allman) Brothers and we
always had done their songs with our own style, but it was time to move on
from there.”

    While certainly satisfying their creative spirit, the decision to take
that next step and shift their focus, meant more demands on the individual
members. It meant more time with the band and less at home with their
families.

    “We jumped right into it and started writing like crazy and it got to be
a little too much for a couple of the guys who had families and jobs,” said
organ player/vocalist, Greg Schlietwiler, a co-founder of the band. “So as
hard as it was, for the sake of the band, we had to make some major changes.”

     Those changes were – Andy Ross and Rogers Anders – on guitar and bass,
respectively.

    As fate would have it, during the midst of the personnel shifts Eat A
Peach were asked to headline the Levi’s Stage at the World Music Theatre,
where they had the honor of opening for both Carlos Santana and Pink Floyd’s
Roger Waters.    “From what they tell me, we are the only unsigned band to
ever be asked to play at the World Theatre during regular major shows like
that,” said Sanders. “They told us that we drew a bigger crowd to the
Levi’s Stage than most national bands who have played there, which is why
they asked us to come back a second time. We’re supposed to play there again
this summer, but with the tour we are doing and with their (World) schedule
still coming together, I don’t have any details on that right now.”

     “It’s been like a rebirth,” said Schlietwiler. “That’s the only way I
can describe the way things feel since these guys have come into the band.”
Severence and Sanders both agree.

   “It’s been a pretty smooth transition actually and all in all, it’s been
a very productive change for the band,” said Severence, who co-wrote a track
called “Tracing Linda,” with Ross for the group’s soon-to-be released
sophomore CD.   That song has been reportedly been selected to be the theme
for the FOX-TV sports program, “Fox Sports Net,” with Norm Van Lear.

   “Andy is a really incredible songwriter,” adds Schlietwiler, who until a
few months ago had been the group’s primary songcrafter, along with Sanders.
“Andy’s writing all the time and his style fits our group very well, but at
the same time it’s a lot different than what Curt and I do.”

     Sanders is without a doubt the most Southern-fried member of the band.
His songs tend to reflect his South of the Mason/Dixon Line roots.
Schlietwiler, a classically trained pianist since he was a toddler, is more
rooted in American blues. The Southern blues of the Allman Brothers was a
common musical ground for the two musicians, which is why the group chose to
pursue the “tribute” route early on, when formed their first band together,
Brothers Of The Road.

   Severence has an affinity for “old school” progressive rock and likes his
sound to be “big” like his early inspirations – Rush, Yes and King Crimson.

    With the recent addition of their two new members, the band’s sound
encompasses a much greater scope and covers a much wider musical range. That
is crystal clear while listening to their second release, Bound To Shine.

    While not straying completely away from their Southern Rock roots –
(“That will always be a big part of our music, because it is where we came
from,” says Sanders) – the music on Bound To Shine finds the band heading in
a considerably more mainstream direction.

    Credit most of that change to Ross, who comes from a British Pub Rock
background. He cites the likes of Nick Lowe, Brinsley Schwartz and Elvis
Costello has his early influences and before hooking up with Eat A Peach,
spent a lot of time doing the coffee house circuit as a solo acoustic player.

    “I got tired of the bullshit of being in a band in 1996,” said Ross.
“You’d put all this time into writing songs and recording and booking shows,
only to have someone’s girlfriend cause a rift and the band would break up.
Or you’d have a couple of guys who’d never show up to practice or who where
into drugs or booze...   It just got very old.   I didn’t think I would ever
want to do the band thing again until these guys called me up.”

      Ross and the old Eat A Peach line-up had been friends for a number of
years and when an opening came up in the band, he was the first player they
contacted.   “The musicianship in this group is incredible and I couldn’t
believe they wanted me in this band,” said Ross. “But here I am and I’m
loving every minute of it!”

      Anders is a cousin of Sanders and an original member of the old
Brothers Of The Road band that banged around clubs more than a decade ago.

    “I hadn’t played at all in six years,” he laughed. “I sold my bass and
just stopped playing. Curt called and asked me to fill in for a few dates
when they were going through a transition and then they asked me to stay on
with them.   It feels great to be back out playing again. I’ve know all of
the guys for so long, that it’s been very easy to slip back into the
groove.”

         Sadly, at press time, the anchor date of the Eat A Peach tour was
cancelled. They were to be one of many bands from around the world to
perform the huge TBS-sponsored “Down To Earth Day” festival in Atlanta,
Georgia. The recent buyout of TBS by AOL and Time/Warner resulted in the
event’s funding being diverted, which resulted in the cancellation of the
concert. It was linked to the TBS environmental program for kids, “Captain
Planet.”

      Regardless, the month-long Eat A Peach U.S. tour, which was built
around that date will still go on as planned.

    “We’ll be driving all over the South from April 20 through July 7,” said
Sanders. “We have dates in Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and then we
route back up through the Midwest to Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and then
back to Indiana. We’re also supposed to be playing at Sturges this year and
at the “Taste Of Chicago” on the FOX-TV stage from what I’ve been told. So
it looks like it’s going to be a really busy summer for us.”

     “Above all else, we want to thank all of our fans for helping us get to
this point,” said Schlietwiler.