NIGHT MARCHERS

John Reis' and his newness

By JOE BERNARDI

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It's been a solid four years since John Reis has been on the road. Reis, currently the guitarist/vocalist of the Night Marchers, has done time as the frontman of Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt and the Sultans, but after those projects ran their course he took some time off. I asked Reis if there had been anything he'd forgotten since he last attempted such a tour. "Nah," he said, "I'm a rock & roll professional. It would be really irresponsible of me if I'd forgotten my craft."

It's been even longer, though, since Reis has been on the road with a new project. "I still see a lot of familiar faces and we're playing a lot of places we've been to before," he said. "This is our first time out, with our first record, it's cool having an extended amount of time to jam and develop. That's the most exciting. The newness."

While the Night Marchers' pedigree consists primarily of Hot Snakes and like-minded Montreal group CPC Gangbangs, the band spurns the heavy, fast, sinister garage-punk sound of those bands in favor of something, oddly enough, a bit more mature and restrained. This isn't to say that Reis has gone James Taylor on us, though, it's just that, unlike most other Reis projects, this album makes me want to do things other than setting fire to my own house or crashing my car into a wall.

True to rock & roll-professional form, Reis hasn't given much thought to the Marchers' post-tour future. "This is exciting enough," he says. "We have a bunch of shows lined up between now and the end of the year." Reis adds that the band plans to "come back and write some songs," so there may yet be opportunities for crashing some cars.

Thanks in advance, Mr. Reis.

NIGHTMARCHERS

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