Search - Silver Scooter :: Blue Law

Scott Garred, frontman for Silver Scooter, is a geek in the best possible way. He's a four-eyed indie kid who quietly courts the spotlight because without it, clubs and bars would be too dark to read in. He's a songwriter who piles meaning upon meaning in lines like "I know you didn't mean nothing / And I know I didn't mean nothing, too," and a singer who challenges listeners to decipher the intentions behind his few vocal changes. On Silver Scooter's third full-length album, The Blue Law, slick, skilled production seamlessly blends his restrained vocals with emphatic rhythms, suggesting that New Order and Paul Simon can safely be numbered among the band's diverse influences. While Garred may be speaking for the foursome's conservative sound when he earnestly sings in the album's opening song, "I know I'm not original," he's also correct when he continues, "or even typical." Silver Scooter plays an almost purist brand of alternative rock, the kind that all but disappeared as whole networks of "alternarock" radio stations were built on the landscape flattened by Nirvana's Nevermind. Rather than redefining the musical terrain, The Blue Law floats above it, asserting that what's good matters, no matter how far it is from what's "in." --Sarah Sternau