Jeremiah Freed

(Universal)
by Scott Hefflon

These guys are young, but they’ve done their homework. Well, actually, they were “smart” enough to know that their homework was to study the great rock bands, not the schoolwork assigned to them that, uh, we all kinda wonder later what the point of it all was, other than learning how to be told what to do. Growing up in a small town in Maine, the five guys of Jeremiah Freed learned the tricks of their trade, studying the radio hits of Zeppelin and the Stones, Aerosmith and The Who as well as Creed and the “modern rock” bands most of us absolutely refuse to consider the current “equivalent.”

Maybe it’s a Maine thing, but Jeremiah Freed practically oozes “down-home honesty,” and in a world of preening peacocks, that’s refreshing. While some of the stuff is pretty obvious (like a local favorite bar band adding personality to well-worn classics, but man, you find yourself cheering cuz, unlike the rock star dicks out there, these guys remember to include you in the fun, ya know?), and other songs do kinda smell intentional (choose your stink: “this is our Stonesy song” or “this is our modern rock radio single” or “this is the heartfelt power ballad”), there’s something about “How They All Got Here” and “Alone” that got to so many people, the songs were number one and two on a local station, above Creed and Puddle of Mudd and other low points in rock history, and “Curtains” gets my head bobbing to the beat and I forget what a judgmental prick I am for just over three and a half minutes. And that’s no small feat, lemme tell ya…
(www.jeremiahfreed.com)