Who Loves The Sun?	by Mark Norris

MTV’s days as a vehicle for breaking new artists are over. It is doubtful that statement will come as a shock to anyone. While seeing a video on the channel at all might come as something of a surprise, catching a clip from a band that you’ve never heard of before falls somewhere between the “highly unlikely” and “get the hell outta here” categories. Even the music conglomerate’s splinter stations –MTV2 et al– have largely stopped showing music videos in deference to reality TV programming about cars, dating and plastic surgery.

So what does an aspiring band have to do to get an audience for its videos these days? Mostly it has to eliminate the middleman, skip MTV and stations of its ilk altogether, post something on the web or add videos onto a CD release. One Columbus, Ohio-based band has taken that concept a step further.

Last week, The Sun released its debut full-length CD, Blame It On the Youth, on Warner Brothers Records as the first-ever DVD-only album. While the release resembles a conventional CD in its packaging and design, the disc itself is a DVD containing 14 videos and audio files allowing the purchaser to rip a CD version or transfer songs to iPod or PC’s music libraries. This new format is earning both thankful praise for its innovation and mild shock from some in the music industry who have spent the better part of a decade trying to cope with changing consumer tastes and ever-evolving technologies.

On Saturday (Oct. 8), The Sun performs with Apollo Sunshine, Bare Flames and Sub Rosa at the Mohawk Place at 10pm.

The Sun’s ascent to the world of major label releases came relatively quickly. A demo of lead singer/songwriter Chris Burney’s pop-flavored rock songs earned interest from Warner’s A&R reps before the group’s line-up had fully formed much less played live together. However, its debut CD has been slow to see the light of day (excuse the pun). While two EPs have been released since the band’s signing, most of the songs on Blame It... have been ready for release for nearly a year. However, the ground-breaking nature of this DVD release required that the band (comprised of Burney, guitarists Bryan Arendt and Brad Caulkins, bass player Brad Forsblom and drummer Sam Brown) sit on the sidelines and wait a bit.

“Had we been on an independent label, and not be held to such a high standard on everything, we probably would have just released the first session that we did and mixed it in a week,” says guitarist Bryan Arendt in a recent telephone interview. “But it wouldn’t have been the record that it is now and, I don’t think, wouldn’t have been as good. But we maybe would be releasing our second record by now”.

Of course, if The Sun was on an indie label, you could bet your knapsack and Trouser Press Guides on the fact that the band’s first full-length outing would not be a collection of 14 videos. Which brings us to the question that is on several critics lips: Is this an innovative new release from a major band in the waiting, or is it simply an industry ploy to help sway back CD buyers with an added value purchase?

It is unclear at this point as to exactly who had the idea for the DVD-only approach in the first place. Some have insisted that the concept was the band’s intention from the start while others speculate that the invention is simply a marketing scheme.

While Arendt’s thoughts on the subject don’t exactly help to clarify the matter, they do seem sincere.

“We started doing videos in between touring and we did two or three of them for our first EP,” says the guitarist. “All the videos we did went really quick and smoothly...We enjoyed doing the videos and (the label) asked us to keep doing what we were doing.”

In the end, the label ended up coughing up enough dough to allow the band to complete videos for each of Blame It’s... 14 songs. Of course, whereas most major-label videos have a budget that rivals that of some full-length films, the price tag for The Sun’s production was relatively small.

That production includes videos that run the gamut from big-budget looking pieces (complete with standard rock video visual storytelling where the band goofs around with guitars, girls and assorted scenery), to animated shorts and home video-quality efforts. As a viewing experience, the DVD provides some varied and engaging watching. But does it make Blame It... a better album? The short answer is “sorta.” With the DVD format, some excellent songs are marred by less than spectacular videos. Conversely, some songs that might not receive many repeated plays in album form are suddenly raised to a new level.

Take the video for the song “Romantic Death,” for example. The song itself is fairly contagious in and of itself. Singer Chris Burney languidly vocalizes over a slow-groove beat and reaches a memorable chorus that could easily stick in your head for a few days after an initial listen. But you won’t think about any of that after watching the video.

Over the course of the song’s three-minute running period, a series of quick-cut shots show a wide assortment of men and women from the shoulders up as they presumably masturbate to the climax of the song (I say “presumably” because who really knows what they’re doing for sure. Suffice to say, they all make “the face”). For sure, that sort of visual entertainment isn’t going to get a lot of play on any mainstream video network. Yet by creating their own visual statement, The Sun have potentially escaped the familiar trappings of artistic independence and commercial standing.

On the other hand, the hype that is surrounding this DVD-only release may end up overshadowing the band’s musical efforts.

For their part, The Sun have recorded a collection of finely crafted rock songs. Blame It... boasts catchy choruses and hooks and exhibits the influence of bands as varied as The Fountains of Wayne and DEVO. Songs like “Waiting On High,” “Pavement Jive” and “Justice” are ready made for blasting on boom boxes and stereos at parties. Unfortunately, the nature of the disc requires you to do a little technological surgery before you can do so. The band’s music is fast and immediate. Sadly, being able to hear that music on its own (without simultaneously watching the videos or burning a disc first) is not.

Adding to the fuss is the fact that some music retailers have insisted on placing Blame It... in the DVD section of their stores, as opposed to directly into the CD bins, while others are crying foul at the notion of encouraging record buyers to burn CDs at all.

Locally, New World Record owner Govindan Kartha suggests that any such retail flap may be overblown. “To my mind, everything is content driven. So if it’s good content then that will sell it. I think it’s a good value for the DVD. People are burning CDs anyway. That’s just a reality and I can’t get too bent out of shape about it at this point because that Pandora’s Box has long since opened. The idea and the strategy that they seem to be presenting is that they’re selling something with an added value because of the video content and that seems legitimate to me.”

When MTV first-aired in the 1980s, any band with a half-interesting, semi-iconic or simply amusing video was virtually guaranteed their fifteen minutes of fame. Back then, everyone from rockabilly revivalists The Stray Cats to electro-unit M benefitted from the new format. Even established music stars like David Bowie and The Clash saw a spike in popularity thanks to frequent video exposure. Indeed, The Clash may have been “the only band that mattered” in the late ’70s but it wasn’t until the band released its “Rock the Casbah” video in the early ’80s that middle-America at large sat up and took notice. Of course, those days are now ancient history.

Whether The Sun’s DVD album catches on with fans remains to be seen. If nothing else, the group has earned its footnote in rock history for its innovative release. As to whether the music industry will take on the format as a standard for new albums can also only be speculated at this point. What is here and in the present is the fact that The Sun has created a product that allows you to watch the group’s videos immediately and without having to wade through a four-hour block of “Pimp My Ride” to do so.