http://www.thedailyaztec.com/local_bands/sayvinyl

Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008


Say Vinyl


In this day and age, being famous is the Holy Grail for musicians.

And there are so many rules for getting from lowly, little A to highbrow B.
You have to be young, have music that entices the masses — especially the under-25 crowd — and more importantly, you must be talented at creating and updating the sound and beats to appeal to generation NOW hipsters.

Sayvinyl, in all truthfulness, is the embodiment of this recipe for success.
Only playing about four songs at its recent performance at The Belly Up, it was completely enjoyable to see a band so polished and plain ole good at such a small, informal venue.

Most of the time when a band is on the bottom of the opener's roster you tend to think, "Well, this is gonna be a waste of time."

But Sayvinyl proved the crowd waiting for headliners Stripes and Lines wrong.
With the crowd leaking in at a slow pace, lead singer, Dan Reed, cracks a joke to the crowd saying, "Yeah, we're super famous … " and then immediately breaks into song. Not only does Reed sing, but he plays piano / keyboards and sometimes plays guitar.

With a classic Emo look and attitude, Sayvinyl got the crowd going and continued its sarcastic remarks, such as when Reed said smirking, "This song is actually about suicide," after hurtling into the wildly popular "What You Pay For."

This particular song is made for the radio. As its MySpace profile states: "Sayvinyl is all wrapped up in a neat little package and ready to ship to your clients, who will marvel at their understated skill, perfectly crafted song arrangements, and impeccably coiffed hair."

Yes, they do have perfect hair, but it's the music that really stands out.
Its debut album, "God Forbid" is quite the collection of palatable pop, but doesn't skirt into the territory of boring or repetitive music. Not once do you feel as a listener, "Now where have I heard this rift before?"

In fact, as the band's Web site bio aptly claims, "Sayvinyl makes music that manages to bring to mind David Bowie, Queen, or the Beatles without approaching imitation. That's not to say that there's anything 'retro' about Sayvinyl, though. The songs are creative and contemporary, drawing occasional comparisons to artists like the Shins, or Cursive."

True dat.

This band is certainly movin' on up and even though they have only been a band for a year and half, Sayvinyl has all the right moves to be a San Diego Cinderella story.

For more information regarding Sayvinyl upcoming tour dates go its Web site at www.sadbrownsweater.com or visit its MySpace page.