Something tells you upon first listening to Pine & Battery that
the San Francisco band has a good shot at a meteoric rise. They have a
sureness of foot and level of musicianship that other bands at similar
stages in the game just don’t. Not to mention that they also write
incredibly catchy and potentially marketable pop tunes.
Pine & Battery’s hit song “Southern,” from its 2006 self-titled
release, enjoyed heavy rotation on KFOG last summer, and still gets
requests today. Critics have compared the band to Jeff Buckley, among
others. Indeed, there are moments when it’s hard to miss the nods to
Buckley’s signature sound most popularized by “Last Goodbye.” If this
is intentional, the band has certainly set the bar high.
Their name is a play on words: the streets Pine and Battery
intersect in San Francisco’s financial district, where
singer-songwriter Jeff Campbell works his day job. However, Campbell
emphasizes different interpretations of their name, citing the
dictionary definitions on their web site: Pine: to yearn intensely
and persistently. Bat·tery: a group of two or more cells
connected together to furnish electric current. Campbell doesn’t
seem concerned with whether or not one sees this as a clever play on
words or a contrived afterthought. Even if it is coincidental, the name
reflects the subject matter of a lot of their songs as well as the
energy level generated when they play. In the studio the band forms a
tight circle, each member holding his own ground while Campbell rocks
back and forth, belting out his lyrics in inimitable fashion.
In 2005 Campbell moved to San Francisco from Philadelphia, drawn by
the invigorating music scene. He frequented Marin County’s Sweetwater
Saloon, which he describes as “a staple for singers and songwriters” in
the Bay Area. “They had a killer open mic,” he says. He was introduced
to guitarist Andy Weller, who studied music at UC Irvine. Weller and
Campbell came together and produced Pine & Battery’s 2006
self-titled release.
Hanging out with Pine & Battery, it’s clear that the band is
like a small tribe with a language all its own. At their twice-weekly
practice at Soundwave Studios in West Oakland, members trickle in and
set up their gear on top of crimson Persian rugs that overlap one
another across the floor, as banter fills the room. Topics range from
the musical legacy of the Bay Area to the innocuous jousting about the
minutiae of each member’s day-to-day life. Hanging over the collective
is an overwhelming (at least to an outsider) cloud of musical knowledge
that seems to keep them grounded, perhaps even humbled by what they are
trying to accomplish.
When asked what groups they admire or like, a barrage of names come
up: Rush, the Carpenters, 38 Special, and bands that came out of the
Seattle music scene in the ’90s. Despite the eclectic voices in the
room, everything comes together in a sound that is distinctively Pine
& Battery’s own. They’re careful not to become too specific about
their direct influences. The music should, and indeed does, speak for
itself.
If Pine & Battery’s first album was a collaborative project
between Weller and Campbell, then their next album will be a decidedly
different enterprise. Campbell says of their newer material: “In every
song I can hear something from someone in the band” and “everything’s
collaborative.” “I Know You Are,” from their forthcoming 2009 release,
reflects a movement away from the traditional verse-chorus-verse format
toward songs that have a series of parts or movements where “all the
parts are memorable,” as drummer Rick Munoz says. “Each of the members
brings his own unique musical tastes to the table,” says bassist A.J.
Leighton. “There’s some arcane knowledge coming out of this group.”
The band (wisely) avoids drawing parallels between its sound and
other bands’ and holds fast to a community of musicians in the Bay
Area. They’re members of the San Francisco Songwriter’s Coalition,
started by Jeff Symonds and Jerry Becker two years ago as a support
network for local musicians and which has turned into something of a
local brand name. Pine & Battery has certainly embedded itself in
the local music scene and, at the very least, recognizes the entire
pantheon of rock ‘n’ roll. It might be safe to say that any band that
can accomplish this much probably can carve out a lasting name for
itself.
