I’d love to define Train Company with a neat label that encompasses their sound, but it’s impossible. Blues rock, yes they are that. Indie rock, that too. Jazzy nightclub seduction, yes. Gritty rock, progressive rock, they are these too. They are a rhythm even non-dancers can’t resist, a contagious joy, with sex appeal that ranges from raw lust to sweet love. They might be who you want to see if you’re “lookin’ for some change.”
I had the lucky pleasure of seeing them live in a small, local venue recently. If I loved their studio sound on Remains of an Effort, my love doubled on seeing them live. This band meshes. Young and energetic and in it for love, they play like seasoned veterans having loads of fun. I was astounded. I was snared.
Train Company is a band that understands layers and the power of subtle nuance. They know just when to hold back and when to pull out all stops and crash together. They are five guys feeding off each other’s mood and direction in the intricate building of a song.
Keyboardist Sam Wyatt taps tempos and crescendos from elegant to joyfully wild, as saxophonist Mark Alletag blows svelte seduction or a playful bounce; bassist Mike DeWitt tantalizes with rhythms that fix in our stomachs, as drummer Rob Lejman controls us with his steady beating or, with expert elation, rolls everything out. The band builds tension as they hold the song together, and singer/guitarist John Zozzaro buoyed on it all, responds to what he feels, tickling up a melody, luring us around corners, seducing us with a bluesy lust, or pounding a dynamic rhythm that lifts us off our feet.
The music drives forward, until suddenly all those separate sounds coalesce. The instruments quicken, each raising the other, and suddenly a wash of sound envelops the room. Zozzaro wails with a voice of silken seduction, rich and smooth, and guttural when need be. You’ve no choice but to relinquish, to give in to the ecstasy of release.
In this tiny venue, Train Company played all my favorites (do I have any that aren’t favorites?), and I don’t even know how many times the band hit transcendence. Always in “City Down by the Shoreline,” which is a fine example of their building mesh of sound, and the live version of “Other Side” caused universes to whirl and crash together. In the bluesy, beautiful “Change,” from their EP, guitars and lyrics built to climactic release, as Zozzaro sang, “Doesn’t matter anyway, ’cause we’re going whether or not …” and the audience relinquished to his own beautiful succumbing to the life he depicts.
A magnetic performer, Zozzaro’s vocals sometimes bubble up inside us, making the audience smile. “Bannister” had the room dancing—the sweetest sexy song I’ve heard in a long time—while “Step to Me” brings out the low and dirty, a band at work together to create raw, sensuous need.
I hadn’t realized how hot and sexy Train Company’s music is because it’s also filled with light, boisterous living. I don’t dance, but hearing them live, my body couldn’t resist their rhythmic undulations. “Still Can Feel the Heat” and “Myself in Two” blended assertion and nonchalance with intriguing appeal. “Leavin’” felt like the aftermath of a final night of sex and the thrill of new adventure. “October” was a beautiful testament to the band’s fearless experimentation and talent. They play with the history of rock in their genes, yet know how to make it new.
When Train Company plays, you see their songs taking over, how their stances alter, pulling them higher, as if the music is coming up through the floor, transporting them. Witnessing that kind of art is the greatest pleasure: immersion, surrender, and release.
At one point in that tiny venue, I looked around at the audience. I saw people smiling, dancing, and jumping to the energy, and one woman in a long, loose dress swayed sensuously, her hands resting on her front thighs getting lost in the sensuality of Train Company’s sound. Playful, hard, and happy; seductive, sensual, and heated. There were times I couldn’t contain my smile and other times when the sensuality had me wanting to sway like her, biting my lip instead.
Was it the intimate setting? I don’t know, but it was getting hot in there.
You can hear Remains of an Effort on the Train Company website.
Upcoming shows include
SUN 16 FEBRUARY
Kiss The Sky Batavia, IL, US
with Beco
FRI 21 FEBRUARY
Radio Radio Indianapolis, IN, US
with Jon Strahl Band and Jeremy Vogt Band
SAT 22 MARCH
Metro Chicago, IL, US
with Zaramela
MON 24 MARCH
FooBAR Nashville, TN, US
with Year of October
TUE 25 MARCH
Bottletree Cafe Birmingham, AL, US
WED 26 MARCH
Awendaw Green Awendaw, SC, US
F
THU 27 MARCH
The Millroom Asheville, NC, US
FRI 28 MARCH
Tidballs Bowling Green, KY, US
with Fat Box
SAT 29 MARCH
Mousetrap Indianapolis, IN, US
with bleedingkeys
Life's Seductive Beauty 