...and guppies eat their young formed in 1998 and have put out 10 records since their debut, to a loyal, if not dismal fan following. Now, before you send in letters to my editor about starting a sentence with ellipses and lower case, blame the band. Yes, that's how guppies spells its name, and they are Best Americana nominees of the 2004 New Times Music Showcase.
The winners are still unannounced, but the band and listeners who know their sound are stumped on how the guppies fell into the Americana category.
It can be said guppies' music bears a darkly beautiful sound that resonates with the listener. Like the sad but undeniable truth revealed in their namesake, guppies create enigmatically layered and atmospheric songs, which make poetically simple observations. But this hardly sounds like the way you'd describe what is supposed to be the folky and acoustic sound of "Americana."
The guppies are Ron Marschall (drums), Roland Daum (guitar), Sonny Coccera (bass) and Brock Ruggles (voice, guitar). Their current release, The Lost Aesthetic, is not Americana, but it doesn't fit into any other genre either.
Ruggles, 29-year-old frontman and guitarist, agrees that the Americana label is a bit misleading, but says it's as good a category as any.
"Well, we are from America," Ruggles says. "Does that make us Americana?"
With musical categories ranging from Blues/Jazz to Electronica and Club DJ, it's likely the New Times had to pick a category out of a hat when considering the guppies' genre. But even the band couldn't really tell you how to label its sound. "It's never a good idea to label yourself," Ruggles says. And why get caught up in categorizing when the music you play may just be too novel to fit into any existing category?
The dark, calm sound that guppies pull off has an already accepted niche with artists like Radiohead or even Pink Floyd. The work done on The Lost Aesthetic has managed to make listeners stare off in deep thought, just as effectively as any of the above mentioned bands.
But it also wouldn't be fair to label guppies' psychedelic rock or alternative either. There might not be any fair way to label guppies with a genre, but if Phish, Neil Young, Pink Floyd and legendary Spaghetti Western composer Ennio Morricone had an orgy, ...and guppies eat their young would be their love child.
The music of the guppies is an experiment in mixing genres. The group blends rock and folk elements with unconventional sounds and unlikely instruments. Guppies play and sing "outside the lines," and with or without a genre, the band plays on.
Next, the guppies will be releasing their 11th album with the addition of a fifth member, guitarist Jason DiGiacomo. The group will continue to experiment with things like a toy piano and mysterious sound effects, over solid guitar and percussion work. The album is waiting for a new label with wider distribution, but in the meantime, there is a back catalog of 10 albums to enjoy.
Whether the group will be crowned Best Americana by New Times, or not, guppies has already won in creating a distinct sound and maybe even a new musical genre.
Reach the reporter at saman.mehrazar@asu.edu.
