Melonhead

Blind Melon has a new singer and is releasing a new album and I'm not really sure how to feel about it.

The lead singer of my favorite band died when I was 13, well before I was aware of them in any capacity beyond the band with the catchy bee girl video, which is probably how most people continue to remember them now. It wasn't until I got to college that I rediscovered the band and really listened to the first album and got completely hooked, and then discovered their other two albums, with Soup probably making my top 5 favorite albums of all time.

I can only imagine how good Nico could have been had Shannon not pushed his drug use too far, but then again his apparent excess in just about all areas of his life may have been what drove his songwriting and lyrics. The other musicians in the band are very talented guys, and a lot of what attracted me to the music was the guitar work inspired by a lot of classic rock bands that I was very into at the time- but it was also very unique, and a pretty stark contrast to the grunge and then 'alternative' sound popular at the time their albums were being released. But, having tried to find music from the other band members after the breakup, it was always missing the element that Shannon brought.

Now, the band has gotten back together with the addition of Travis Warren, a guy with a similar vocal vibe to Shannon, and the guy is pretty good, from sampling tunes they've been posting on their myspace page, I get a vibe very similar to the first album, which is good, but living up to the second two is a really tall order.

I'm not sure whether they decided to revive the name for easier promotion, or because the music has the same vibe or what, but I feel like it's even more egregious than say, Alice in Chains reuniting without Layne Staley. If they can put out an album that is on par with the old releases then I'll be happy to accept it. In the meantime the purist in me is feeling a little uneasy.