The Band Feel: The New Classic Rock
In 2017 Greta Van Fleet kicked off an arms race with the release of their debut album From the Fires. Since then, numerous other bands have followed Van Fleet's example, creating a new wave of classic rock. These groups have come and gone with varying success, most puffing out, never becoming more than one-hit wonders in a genre that had gone out of style by 2020. This modern take on 70s rock hasn’t held up for a simple reason; everyone is copying the same source material, and when everyone wants to be the new New Yardbirds, you end up with nothing but cheap imitations of timeless masterpieces. Most of these groups are so scared of straying from doing Zeppelin covers that they refuse to experiment with their songs, take inspiration from other bands, or even hire a singer who isn't doing a poor Robert Plant impression. Enter The Band Feel, a new outfit on the scene bringing in a desperately needed dose of originality.
The Band Feel has only been around since 2023, their first single “Find a Love” having dropped in August of that year. In that brief time, they’ve gone from playing the local circuit in their hometown of St. Louis to accompanying acts like Blackberry Smoke and Dirty Honey on tour. The Band Feel continued gaining momentum from there, headlining their first tour this year without even an entire album's worth of songs to play. The group has yet to release a full length studio album, only dropping a four track live album in 2023, and in 2024 releasing an EP.
The self-titled EP consists of 6 songs, each of which is on its way to becoming a genre staple. It starts off strong with “In the Garden,” a hard rock tune that would fit on a playlist beside “Hush” by Deep Purple and “The Rover” by Led Zeppelin. It continues in the same direction with “Call It What You Will,” which features pounding drums right off a Steppenwolf album. From there, it takes it down a step to something more akin to southern rock with “Goodbye Virginia” and, “B.C.” The EP wraps up with two slower songs, light on the rock but heavy on the roll, “A Song for Sam” and “Poem 59.” Had they been around in ‘75, The Band Feel would have been topping charts with this release. It has everything you could want from a classic rock EP; a perfect example of the foursome lineup that defined a generation of bands. The EP flows seamlessly between hard rock, southern rock, and classic rock; touching on each subgenre without ever diving so deep as to become redundant. There’s only so much you can do with a four piece act and at some point the songs about summer lovin’, feeling good, and raising hell all begin to sound the same. Still, The Band Feel took these old cliches and managed to make something fresh, something that fits right into the genre without coming off as a knockoff.
The Band Feel is the first entry in modern classic rock in years that hasn’t failed to deliver. Unfortunately, for those who have based their careers around it, the sound has been overplayed. The new classic rock wave was built entirely on top of a three-year run in Zeppelin's career. The bands headlining the genre refuse to move outside the influence of this time; they seem to be dead set on recreating Zeppelin 1 through 4 over and over until their audiences stop showing up. The Band Feel on the other hand has taken a different approach, giving us something new in an oversaturated genre. You can hear the influence in their songs; The Black Crowes, The Black Keys, The Allman Brothers, and even some early Rainbow can be heard throughout their EP. The Band Feel has created something familiar but still completely original.
Author and founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine David Dalton once said, “For a moment it seemed that rock’n’roll would inherit the earth,” however, as time would tell, we would move past rock for heavier genres. Even if the music scene hadn’t darkened, bringing on the advent of metal and punk, rock eventually would have been replaced by something else. You can’t listen to the same thing forever, no matter how good it is. Innovation is essential to stay relevant in the music business, and Feel has found a way to make something new out of old parts.
The Band Feel is the kind of release that exemplifies rock 'n’roll, bold and liberated but not directionless. It’s a concise sound that's easy to play but a nightmare to play well; power chords and a basic beat will get you far but the noodling that adds much needed flavor is seriously lacking from most modern rockers. Any group of musicians with basic knowledge of their instruments and a copy of any Lynyrd Skynyrd album can write a rock album, but so few have managed to do it well since the late 70s. If the EP is any indication of things to come, The Band Feel will be instrumental in the future of rock. The truth is, rock as a genre is in a slump; there hasn't been an exciting resurgence of the genre since the garage rock boom in the 2010s. Ten years is an eternity for a genre to spend losing cultural relevance. The new wave of classic rock could be exactly the thing to kick off rock's new era. If that is going to be the case, then The Band Feel is the baseline that all others will have to reach if they want to be taken seriously.
The Band Feel is far from the only group in the new classic rock scene, but they are rapidly approaching the forefront. While other bands have enjoyed mainstream success in the genre, they have been routinely doing worse and worse with each release as they put out recycled versions of the same music that become more tired with each iteration. The Band Feel has pushed back against the cover bands, galavanting as cutting-edge producers of today's hits. Up until the release of The Band Feel, it seemed new classic rock would disappear just as quickly as it came into the spotlight. They may not be reinventing rock ‘n roll, but they are pushing forward a genre that has been stuck in place for the better part of a decade.
If you’re out there still spinning vinyl pressed fifty years ago, you’ll dig what The Band Feel has for you. Running a brief 23 minutes, there’s no excuse not to at least give this one a try. With hooks, jams, and riffs that are sure to earn the songs a place on your playlists, this release isn’t one to be missed. If you like what you hear, you can catch them on tour now, though if you’re living somewhere west of the Mississippi, you’ll have scant chances to do so. Of course, after you hear the EP, you may just be convinced to take a trip to hear them play in person.