Coming off a couple of consecutive East Coast tours, the dudes in Jacobs Ladder -- Oren, Sammy, and Brian -- were totally tired. After more than a half-thousand shows and countless hours of midnight driving, the road had finally worn them down to cold, hard bone.
"We've been doing this for so long now, like, the last eight years," says bass player Sammy Gonzalez. "And we've been touring DIY for three and a half years, you know? We just feel like it's finally our time to make it and be the next band."
So they packed all that exhaustion and optimism into ten lines of emo lyrics ("That pirate ship is going down/We'll burn it to the ground") and 250 seconds of poppy prog rock. The end result was a surgingly earnest ode to rebirth, a new song titled "Back to Life." If nothing else, it's proof that even though the Jacobs Ladder dudes might have been burned out, they'll never really be beat.
And another vital sign: "Right now we're demoing a lot. We just did 10 songs and we're gonna do, like, 10 more," Gonzalez reveals. "The plan is a new album next year." Plus, this Friday's show kicks off another one of those evil East Coast tours, which means that the bone is no longer exposed. Oren, Sammy, and Brian are all healed and ready to eat some blacktop.
With Arboles Libres, Thieves of Crayons, Dirty Hooligans, Addax, and Danse Macabre. Friday, October 1. Churchill's, 5501 NE Second Ave., Miami. Tickets cost $8 in advance via myspace.com/jacobsladder or $10 at the door. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Call 305-757-1807 or visit churchillspub.com.
