Cosmic Box by Sherry Rose
BIO
Fact: The Everyothers are one of the greatest rock n roll bands on earth. No shit.
Start from scratch: They played in bands before, but who cares? See, this New York City quartet John Melville, Joel B. Cannon, Ben Toro and Owen McCarthy whose self-titled debut album proved that you can make rock n roll in the grand, street-scamp glam sense of the 70s with mashed-in bits of frothy contemporary pop. But you cant call em back-dated. No way, Chief.
Dig this: Everyothers frontman-guitarist Owen McCarthy is sinewy and oddly graceful, his kohl-eyed lan is topped with gene-perfect locks and runway model cheekbones picture an English country gentlemen caught in some Warholian idea of perfected New York decadence. McCarthy is graced with celebrity skin and he should be a star. What else in life is there for him? Probably not much; so whats bad for McCarthy is good for us because the music is better when its creator has little else (all the greats taught us that one). It lifts straight from the bottom of his swollen little heart and shoots from the top of his huge, many-octave vox. Were talkin star, kids. The kind they dont make anymore, like Brian Ferry, like Ian Hunter; shit, like old David whats-his-name, even. Better, hes literate and his songs are peppered with verse and couplets that are flip and sensitive, so they hit on varying levels, they work the imagination. Dont believe us? Just listen.
Joel B. Cannons appropriate bored indifference on stage and his airy, almost relaxed harmony-fat chording pins him down as a guitar hero. And he is.
John Melville's the best rock n roll drummer in New York City. Everybody knows it. Thats cool, but what we like is that he looks like he just crawled out of some Cork City pub, a tome of Eliot tucked into his armpit, hair nowhere near perfect.
Bassist Ben Toro is quiet, of course. But his counterpoint-and-anchor bass runs and outscissored legs bookend nicely with Cannon and the Rock Star.
Kudos: Old Creem magazine writer Jeffrey Morgan often sites the Everyothers in his current writings as if its a given that the whole world knows who they are. Its a cheeky move, almost elitist, but Morgan knows whats what. He uses the Everyothers as a barometer, the standard by which other rock n roll groups are judged. No band ever comes close. Its good thinking and Morgan should know. And so should you. So whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?
Tunes: Pure hitsville, daddy-O. The new Kill Rocks Stars EP, Pink Sticky Lies, is rife with em. Heres whats weird: The songs couldve worked on an early Cheap Trick record and a mid-period Bowie album! So its easy to see that contemporaries like the Strokes aint got nothin on the Everyothers. In fact, if Too Far and Dive With You dont ping-pong between your ears for days than you might just be dead, because rock n roll aint. Not yet, anyway.
- Brian Smith - Music Journalist
Here are some bands the Everyothers have played with:
Patti Smith, Ian Hunter, Mos Def, The Dictators, The Detroit Cobras,The Gossip
The Stills, Sahara Hotnights, Kevin Kinney, Kill Hannah, Runner and the Thermodynamics
The Legendary Shack Shakers, Apollo Sunshine, Morningwood, The Blue Van
The Heartless Bastards, World Inferno Friendship Society, Ours, The Paybacks
The Proles, The Darkness, The Low Flying Owls, LP, The Makers, The 22's
The Bamboo Kids, The Luxury Pushers, The High Strung, The Carlsonics, The Paper Lions
The Bullys, The Rubber City Rebels, Film School, The Frogs, Army of Me, The M's
I Am the World Trade Center, Dirty On Purpose, The Smithereens, Pete Droge
Xiu Xiu, Bang! Bang!, Chrome Mali, Two Ton Boa, Electrajet, Mishka, Ness
The Sumerians, The Likelihoods, Bona Roba, Vanity Crash, Longwave, The Singles
The Dirty Americans, Electric Frankenstein, Knife Skills, Nethers
The A.K.A.'s, Rock & Roll Soldiers, Billy Talent, An Albatross, Spitafield, Aerial Love Feed
White Light Motorcade, Tom Clark and the High Action Boys, Cody Melville
Bishop Allen, Slumber Party, the Numbers, The Choke, The Dansettes
SSM, The Scorchers, The Sex Slaves, The Genders, Honor Among
Thieves, Earl GreyhoundSemi Precious Weapons, 80's B-Line Matchbox Disaster
