From left, Nathan Moore, David Bryne and Brendan Moore are Sport Fishing USA. (Photo by Megan Bachman)
BLOG: Catching up with Sport Fishing USA
- Published: September 4, 2011
Sport Fishing USA is angling for its share of the Yellow Springs music scene.
The local rock trio has a bluegrass bassist, a drummer named David Bryne (no relation to the Talking Heads) and a front man with the hair of Jim Morrison and, literally, the guitar of Kim Deal of Pixies and Breeders fame.
“You can feel the legend of rock coming through it,” said lead singer guitarist Nathan Moore, 22, of the Dayton rocker’s historic ax. On the hair: “It’s great rock ‘n’ roll hair, but it gets hot.”
Sport Fishing USA started backwards. Wanting to record a set of songs he’d written, Moore enlisted his younger brother, Brendan, 18, to play bass and drums on the tracks and back up his vocals. When he decided it was time to play live, Moore added Bryne, 20, “the best drummer I knew.”
Their sound takes notes from Moore’s father, Chris, a local roofer and jazz cornettist who poured on 20s and 30s jazz tunes in their childhood, the 60s and 70s rock they played for themselves as teens and the 80s do-it-yourself rock they must have absorbed from the zeitgeist and Bryne’s father, an 80s punk rocker whose band toured with Black Flag. Brendan Moore, who plays bluegrass versions of Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin songs with his other band Blue Moon Soup, adds that quintessential southern Ohio bluegrass sound.
Sport Fishing USA is Neil Young without the brooding and instead the sharp vocals the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, perky drums and a Korg keyboard.
The songwriting stands out with songs that are poppy and catchy with a touch of nostalgia. In one number, Moore falls in love with Mary Susan and in the next, out of love with Elenanor — “1, 2, 3, 4/I don’t love you anymore/Elenanor” — in the band’s strongest musical statement.
Eleanor – Sport Fishing USA (free download)
[soundcloud id=’22510497′]
Named after the literally-titled book by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Sport Fishing USA likes to have a little fun. In the song “Sport Fishing USA” the similarities between women and fish are explored.
“I don’t want to compare women to fish — but that’s what it sounds like in the song,” Nathan Moore said. The song is a summer anthem and brings back memories of the Moore brothers’ childhoods fishing on the Little Miami River.
Sport Fishing USA – Sport Fishing USA (free download)
[soundcloud id=’22512060′]
Neo-psychedelica can be heard on the reverb-rich bridge in “Living on the Underground,” a song about a shut-in; “Red White & Blue” has a distinctly 60s feel, and across seven all-electronic tracks Moore demonstrates an impressive understanding of electronica, as in Brian Eno and Aphex Twin.
5 Beat – Sport Fishing USA (free download)
[soundcloud id=’22512225′]
Sport Fishing USA plays The Werks music festival next weekend and is arranging fall dates at Canal Street Tavern in Dayton and the Clifton Opera House.
Their eponymous self-produced debut, with 17 original tracks, is available for free in its entirety from: http://sportfishingusa.bandcamp.com/
See an upcoming Village Vibes blog for a video of Sport Fishing USA.
8 Responses to “BLOG: Catching up with Sport Fishing USA”
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Sport Fishing USA: A combination of rock and melody
It feels great to know that Moore’s father, Chris, a local roofer and jazz cornettist, poured 20s and 30s jazz tunes in their songs. The lyrics of the songs stand out primarily because they have a sense of nostalgia attached to them. What I love about Sport Fishing USA is that their songs have a mix of folk rock tunes and emotional instrumental electro jams. This combination gives an edge to their songs that’s hardly found in any other. There is an amalgamation of sense and sensibility in their work. I would not mind listening to one of the fantastic songs of Sport Fishing USA while cruising through the waves on one of the luxurious deep sea fishing charters.
Lucius told me to tell you it could use more bass. (“And so could we”, his Uncle Esox threw in.) Somebody said it was, overall, pretty crappie, which got plenty of yuks until I said I thought you guys were good, which is more than I’d say about most of that mid-70’s junk that they should have memorized by now, having heard it 50,000 times; and the halibut is that they paid good money for it,while the SF-USA was free, which I think is really cool; so thanks.
Hi Dan – WordPress seems to occasionally filter some comments and not others, through some mystical algorithm we have yet to understand. Never fear; we always welcome comments from our readers!
A hook, for readers whose only interaction with popular music consists of some early Unpainted Huffhines, is not only the name of that sharply pointed instrument used by non-musicians who are, nevertheless, participants in Sport Fishing USA, but also a catchy guitar riff which potential CD buyers, if they’re at all like they used to be, might well be looking for.
I’m sorry, Dan. Do you mean your comment about “Take the Hook?” I thought I had approved that. It is up now. Or is there another comment?
I’m all in favor of moderation, but if my comment was, in some manner,less moderate than “Legendary ass guitar”, won’t somebody tell me what I said that was offensive?
Catchy title for upcoming CD: “TAKE THE HOOK”.
I saw them at Canal Street in Dayton and they were incredible! Legendary ass guitar