It comes as a surprise that no major political party on either end of the aisle attempted to adopt Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers during last year’s campaign season. The fact is even more surprising given that they call Arizona home and have a sound that is just about as American as childhood obesity and apple pie.
They’ll offer you a slice Tuesday night at the Highdive.
Not only does the band heavily support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, but they also donate at least one percent of their annual net revenue to 1% for the Planet, which helps support environmental organizations worldwide. To top it off, Clyne himself is the epitome of the American family man with a bio that says he “is as passionate and pure about his music as he is about his dedication to his wife and three children.”
Baseball. Hot Dogs. Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.
They’re not exactly blazing new musical territory, but the band (drummer P.H. Naffah, lead guitarist Jim Dalton and bassist Nick Scropos) has been active since 1998 and has a hearty, comforting sound reminiscent of the songwriting consistency of Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Mellencamp. Maybe a little Springsteen thrown in at moments.
Their newest studio effort, Turbo Ocho, is an audio/video double feature of the bands first ever “VivaCast,” where the band wrote and recorded eight songs in eight days from a seaside home in Rocky Point, Mexico. Both Clyne and Naffah enjoyed earlier success with the Refreshments, whose 1996 album Fizzy Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy produced the singles “Banditos” and “Down Together,” but you probably know them from writing the theme to TV’s King of the Hill.
If the politicians couldn’t get behind their music, perhaps they could back Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers for their keen business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. They are the only independent band to debut in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Internet Sales chart and they recently released Glow In The Dark, a live recording taped at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey, as an independent web-only release.
If that isn’t enough, they solidified their ties with the American spirit in 2007 when they wrote the theme song for their home state’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Borrowing appropriately from Gary Glitter, the “Dbacks Swing” is said to be a homerun.
Nashville’s the Coal Men open. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show starts at 8 p.m. and the cost is $12.