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The air is thick with cigarette smoke as three members of Black Church Service jam together, preparing for their January 21st EP release at 7th Street Entry — their set list ready, a mix of new material and arrangements recorded in-studio. For now though, sandwiched into their carpet-walled practice space with Hendrix and girly pictures on the wall, Tyler Cochran, Adam Zahller and Joe Soderquist are completely absorbed, lost in the conversation between drums and guitars.
Once bassist Matt Dornfield joins in, their sound further unfolds. Elements of blues, definitely, but also in the mix is the earnestness of honky-tonk, the drive of rock, and the edginess of punk. With each contributing his own musical perspective, the collaborative music of Black Church Service is somehow familiar yet completely refreshing.
As they break from playing, Chuck Berry continues playing quietly in the background; Cochran pauses, then describes the group as, “a band that hears rhythm in the wheels of a bus. — To us, it’s not about chicks and beer.”
Combined with their ability to turn heads, and the punk desire to create a bit of discomfort, there’s earnestness to their sound and their perspective. “What we do, it comes from a place of respect. We have nothing to prove. We just want to share our love of music,” Zahller explains.
Minneapolis-based, Black Church Service is not new to performance in the Cities or to music. Cochran, Dornfield and Soderquest have been playing together for years; Zahller joined them in October after returning to continue studying music composition at the U. Despite their experience and presence, they’ve been working hard to build recognition and find fans as passionate about their music as they are about creating and performing it. The EP is just the next step in their quest to “chase the dragon,” to collaborate, refine and share their music.
Black Church Service will continue their work to create, record and perform, “putting soul into something that words can’t express,” and writing the kind of music “that gets babies made.”
The Black Church Service CD release show is on January 21, 2012 at the 7th Street Entry, where they will be joined by L’Assassins and Poverty Hash. Doors at 9 pm.
~ http://mplsmusic.com/events/Black-Church-Service-CD-Release-6984/
For More Info
~ http://mplsmusic.com/Black-Church-Service/