Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010

Aquarium goes Americana

In an interview that took place about a year before he died, Myrtle Beach's Minister of Music, Jeff Roberts, told me "Americana music is "...music that is too rock to be called country, and too country to be called rock." It's a description that could fit plenty of artists who've found their niche in the growing Americana genre, and it's a place that Raleigh N.C.- based B.J. (Bradley Justin) Barham and his band American Aquarium feel at home.

Making its third consecutive New Year's Eve show Friday at the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach on Friday, the five-year-old American Aquarium will once again support headliner and pal Corey Smith. Barham's band is touring in support of its latest indie release "Small Town Hymns," and has found a home of sorts along the Grand Strand having performed at the House of Blues, and the Oceanfront Merchant's Association's street party events. The band has played a stripped-down show at the Ocean Front Bar & Grill, also near downtown Myrtle Beach.

Front man Barham will lead his band through familiar territory at the House of Blues, a venue he knows well. "At the base we're Americana," he said, "I'm a singer/songwriter with a really big band, kind of the Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty [model]." Joining Barham on stage; a bassist, pedal steel player, drummer, lead guitarist, and Hammond B3 organist.

Barham's music runs the gamut from upbeat country punk songs, to gut-wrenching rock 'n' roll heartbreak, to lowdown bluesy tunes about Louisiana beauty queens. In a live video of his tune "I Hope He Breaks Your Heart" Barahm tells the true tale of an old flame who cheated on him with a guy from South Carolina. With crossed fingers he playfully jabs the Palmetto State; "I hope he's a Meth addict," he says to the crowd before the tune starts. "Come on South Carolina. For once I hope the backwoods South Carolina stereotype is true." Whether or not Barham feels any actual superiority about his North Carolinian roots, he's spent many days and nights in Myrtle Beach throughout his life, and says he "feels at home here."

From Dive Bars to Music Halls

"My parents own a time share in Myrtle Beach," said Barham, "and I've spent many, many summers there. As a kid I would walk by a shitty dive bar and say 'One day I'm going to get cheap-beer-drunk in this shitty dive bar.'" His band tours relentlessly, performing an average of 250 shows per year the last three years. While still not a household name, AA has managed to move a rung up the music business ladder. "We're finally in the 200-300 person music hall - a step between the shitty dive bar and a theater," said Barham. While any musician would rather be pampered at the House of Blues than run through the ringer at an ill-equipped dive bar, the classic shitty dive bar, according to Barham, does have its appeal. "There's something really, really cool about [great] shitty dive bars," he said. "It takes something special to be a really shitty dive bar, which I respect, but it has to be over-the-top shitty to earn a place in my heart."

With heavy touring and a strong work ethic, Barham's plan is falling into place. "We're trying to put in a lot of work early [in our careers] so we can take time off later," he said. He's recently engaged and lives with his fiancé and a cat in a Raleigh apartment. He says most of his Raleigh music scene peers live in the shadow of Ryan Adams, a Raleigh hometown boy who hit big with his alt-country band Whiskeytown in the mid 1990s. "We've been compared to Whiskeytown," said Barham, who would like to see his band achieve the same level of success, but is cognizant of staying true to its own sound. "Americana fans can see right through bullshit," said Barham, "everybody's trying to sound like Whiskeytown. We're punk rock kids trying to play country music."

A new record is in the works with producer Jason Isbell (former Drive By Truckers), and Barham's 2011 schedule is as busy as in previous years. "We've seen exponential growth in the last three years," he said. "The size of the venues, the crowds we're playing in front of, our own headlining shows, everything keeps getting bigger and better. We're watching those seeds flourish - it's been so much fun."

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