Music is a passion that flows into every corner of Philadelphia. It’s no secret that the city is home to a huge amount of bands catering to all genres with many of them waiting to be discovered by the people who enjoy their brand music. However, some music genres are less common than others.
Village, a Philadelphia-born band, was inspired by different periods of time. They play music motivated by early 1920s blues, 60s revival, Appalachian music, and even tunes from the 70s. The group plays instrumental music, but relates to bands like Black Sabbath and Sir Lord Baltimore.
The band was originally started in 2012 by instrumentalists Pierson Roe and Owen Spoart, who had played music together often before the formation.
Aside from Roe and Spoart, the band is made up of two other members: keyboard artist Jack Oswald and bass guitarist Will Hersh. They are from Ardmore township, just outside Philadelphia, but plan on continuing as musicians elsewhere, hopefully gaining recognition in other states and cities and then throughout the nation.
Roe also said that the band’s name was originally going to be “Dead Hills,” but it didn’t catch on. He said that the name “Village” had no particular meaning, but had he had always thought it was a “cool name for a band.”
Their first digital album, “Live,” contains three songs that vary from blues to psychedelic rock. Each song is relatively long, the first track being an entire eight minutes and the last over four. “Heavy Friends,” “Cove to the Sea,” and a short version of “Herbaceous Pathway.”
Their song “Avaritia” is an instrumental that closely resembles beats often in psychedelic rock bands. However, “The Harbinger” instrumental hits notes that are less rock and more blues oriented. The third song that can be listened to on their website is “Herbaceous Pathway,” which is tagged under doom, rock, and blues. This song is also a longer version of the track previously composed in 2012 on the “Live” album.
Three more songs will be on their demo “The Harbinger,” which is set to be recorded as their first official demo in this fall. Their other two demos can be listened to online, and are a good fit for all blues, psychedelic rock and instrumental fans.
The band has an upcoming gig in mid-August at the Golden Tea House, a famous concert venue in the heart of Philadelphia. Their music can be downloaded at the Bandcamp, villageband.bandcamp.com.
Hend Salah can be reached at Hend.Salah@temple.edu.
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