SAM LLANAS EXPLORES “THE HOUR OF TRUTH” ON 4 A.M.

by Jeff Boule in Editorials, Musician Reviews, New Releases

New solo album out October 25, 2011

Sam Llanas (pronounced yanas), formerly of the BoDeans, takes listeners deep into the night on his new release, 4 A.M., arriving Oct. 25 on Inner Knot Records. The intimate, mostly acoustic collection, produced by longtime collaborator Gary Tanin, features 10 new Llanas originals and a dazzling cover of Cyndi Lauper’s hit “All Through the Night.”

Llanas says of his latest work, “I do a lot of work late at night. It’s a night record, a nocturnal record, thematically about things that happen in the night. That covers a lot of ground. It could be the simple things — being in love, being with somebody — or about the loneliness that the night can bring.”

The album is markedly different from Llanas’ 1998 solo bow A Good Day to Die, which was a powerful eulogy for Llanas’s brother recorded under the group rubric Absinthe.

“The Absinthe record was kind of bombastic and very intense,” Llanas says. “I wanted to do something that was lighter, as light as I can get. I wanted it to be completely different. That’s why 4 A.M. is pretty much an acoustic record.”

Work on 4 A.M. began nearly four years ago. He recalls, “I had time on my hands, and I had some songs I wanted to record. I started working with Terry Vittone — I just said, ‘Hey, let’s make some recordings.’ There was no real thought that it was going to be an album or anything like that. It just sort of escalated from there.”

Sessions for the embryonic project commenced at guitarist Vittone’s house. “I would record the songs in the afternoon,” Llanas says, “and get them to a point where I liked them. Then the next day I’d go back, and Terry would say, ‘Sam, I want you to hear some ideas I threw down on the track.’ And Terry was willing to take really strong direction from me, because I didn’t want a guitar player who was playing all over the song. Terry was really good at putting in the nuances that were needed. He played very little, and that seemed to work very well.”

With the majority of the material in the can, a protracted layoff from recording ensued. After almost two years, Llanas began completing 4 A.M. at Daystorm Music in Milwaukee with producer-musician Tanin, who had also worked on A Good Day To Die and supplied the strings on the new recording.Llanas decided to preserve the original recording’s spare quality, and added a couple of new tracks that were left untouched. “I wanted to keep it simple. ‘The Way Home’ and ‘Janey’ seemed to work really well just the way they were.”

However, he adds, “I thought the other songs needed a bit more dressing up. Some I thought would work better if we put a little bit more on them.” Thus, accordionist Bukka Allen was called in to play accordion, while Milwaukee musicians Matt Turner and Ryan Schiedermayer contributed bass and percussion, respectively.

Nestling seamlessly with Llanas’ own cycle of before-dawn melodies is his hushed cover of Lauper’s 1983 perennial “All Through the Night,” penned by Jules Shear. “It’s a beautiful song,” Llanas says, “but when they recorded it, in the early ’80s, the sound that they got on it was so harsh . The keyboards always ruined the song for me. I really wanted a version of that song that was just beautiful. That’s what I tried to do — honor that song, and give it what it deserved.”

Llanas’ new solo opus offers a new dimension to his music — one that actually dates back to the sunrise of his professional career.

“Before I ever had a band, I was a solo performer in Waukesha,” he remembers. “I would go and play at these open mic shows, and I learned my craft and honed my stage skills that way. I think this record really reflects that part of my career, that part of my personality. It goes back to before I ever performed with a band. It was just me — one man and one guitar.”

Sam Llanas

Primary Genre: Singer/Songwriter Secondary Genre: Americana

Sam Llanas Solo CD 4 A.M. (The Way Home) out on Inner Knot Records

Artist Information/Biography:

Sam Llanas (born in 1961) is a singer, acoustic guitarist, and songwriter in several rock and roots rock bands active from the 1980s to the 2000s, including the BoDeans and Absinthe. Sam is known for his unusual and distinctive voice.

Career:

Llanas was one of the founding members of the roots rock band the BoDeans, which he formed with high school friend Kurt Neumann in Waukesha, Wisconsin. In 1985, after adding Guy Hoffman (drums) in 1984 and Bob Griffin (bass), the quartet signed a contract with Slash/Warner Records and shortened their name to the BoDeans.

Under the guidance of producer T-Bone Burnett, they entered Hollywood’s Sunset Sound Factory in October to record their first album. The critically acclaimed debut Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams was released in 1986. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band had several singles in the top 40 “mainstream rock” charts. In the mid-1990s, the band had two top 10 songs in the “Adult contemporary” charts.

The BoDeans took some time off in the late 1990s so Neumann and Llanas could record solo albums. Llanas founded Absinthe, with the help of Milwaukee musicians Jim Eannelli (guitars and bass) and Guy Hoffman (formerly of Oil Tasters and Violent Femmes, currently of Radio Romeo). They have released one album, 1998′s A Good Day To Die. In 2011 Sam Llanas released 4 A.M. (The Way Home) and left the BoDeans to pursue his solo career.

Instrumentation Discography/Studio Albums:

Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (1986) US #115

Outside Looking In (1987) US #86

Home (1989) US #94

Black and White (1991) US #105

Go Slow Down (1993) US #127

Blend (1996) US #132

Resolution (2004) US #196

Still (2008)

Mr. Sad Clown (2010) U.S. #172

4 A.M. (The Way Home) (2011)

Live albums/compilations:

Joe Dirt Car (1995) (2 CD live set) US #161

Slash and Burn (2001) (Best of)

The Leftovers (2003) (Rarities collection)

Homebrewed: Live from the Pabst (2005) (2 CD live set)

Videography:

Homebrewed: Live from the Pabst (2005) (DVD)

Music videos:

“She’s a Runaway” (1986)

“Fadeaway” (1986)

“Only Love” (1987)

“Dreams” (1988)

“Good Work” (1989)

“You Don’t Get Much” (1989)

“Good Things” (1991)

“Black White & Blood Red” (1991)

“Closer to Free” (1993)

Links:

http://www.samllanas.com

http://www.facebook.com/samllanas