What would rock 'n' roll sound like if someone poked fun at it? It would sound like Bombadil, four genteel rock nerds from Durham, NC. Part blues rock, part folk, part who-knows-what, Bombadil sees the value in the nuance and the humor in the awkward moment, tackling music with an enthusiasm kind of like kids with their first instruments.
The guys of Bombadil are far from novices, though. Through various college bands and outing clubs, Daniel Michalak, younger brother John, Bryan Rahija and Stuart Robinson formed the band in 2005. Soon after, James Phillips replaced John on drums to create the Bombadil lineup that's been ever since.
Named after a free-wheeling, music-loving J.R. Tolkein character, the band embodies the same whimsical spirit with a host of influences from CAKE to The Kinks, their own musically diverse home state to the Cool Runnings soundtrack. Yes, really. And that versatility has brought them far; when Bombadil opened for The Avett Brothers in 2006, they caught the eye of Ramseur Records' Dolph Ramseur and joined the label. They've toured nationally and performed at multiple festivals including Bonnaroo, FloydFest and Rhythm & Roots.
All songwriters, Bombadil members sweat the lyrical details, sensitive to all the subtleties in personal conversations and experiences like marriage, death and even theft. And as blatant rocknerds, they like to experiment. Fortunately, they forgo synthesizers in favor of trumpets, glockenspiels, accordions and saxophones, which they brandish in their live performances with the kind of effervescence a kid invests in his first garage band.
The patchwork Bombadil sound still has a familiar, everyman appeal, particularly in the lyrics, that allows them to fit into this whole neo-folk movement. Comparisons to other artists are nearly impossible; at the most, you could say Bombadil's sound is as dear as The Shins and as down-to-earth as The Avett Brothers. To put it more accurately, a fan from Cleveland once described the band as "so North Carolina."
Bombadil's offbeat brew found a home at NC-based Ramseur Records (Langhorne Slim, David Wax, Frontier Ruckus), where the band released a debut EP in 2006 and three LPs: A Buzz, A Buzz (2008), Tarpits And Canyonlands (2009) and All That The Rain Promises (2011).
Their catalog is likely to double in the coming year. The band is planning on four releases for 2012 including two instrumental records, a folk record and a mysteriously described "experimental" record. Sound crazy? No, it sounds like Bombadil.
