The New Them shows off with 'The Show,' a concert video-turned live album
Plus, a new two-volume set from The Miss Alans' Scott Oliver (and friends).
The New Them didn’t plan out its first album, much.
It was more of a “on a whim” kind of deal.
“We performed a live set in Fresno, and had our friend Rodrigo video record the entire set,” says singer/guitarist Michael Martinez, who plays alongside Eric De La Rise.
“Then, I ripped the audio off the video and plugged it into a mixing program called Magix.” He added bass in post, did a mix and master of the songs and released the whole thing in September as a hybrid live album aptly titled “The Show!”
The nine tracks are available across streaming platforms.
Martinez started The New Them in Porterville in 2023 as a solo project, playing mostly covers and acoustic versions of his original songs under a name that represented something quite literal to him.
“The New Them stands for recreating or discovering the best version of yourself that you always wanted to be,” Martinez says. “We all grow and change over the years, whether it be our mindset or physical features. When looking back at our past selves we see how much we’ve grown and different we’ve become. A new them.”
De La rise joined in March.
“It was like striking gold,” Martinez says. “I had written the lyrics and guitar to the original songs that you hear on the album and brought them to Eric to write the drums.”
Since then, the pair has kept a fairly busy calendar playing in Fresno, but also in the South Valley and Bakersfield, where they scored a set at last month’s Fest Fest. The duo is back in Fresno Dec. 28 at BenSmokin BBQ. The full lineup includes Psychotica, the Disassociates and De La Rise’s other band Skank Stomp.
Desert Union, ‘Great Divide Volumes 1 & 2’
Scott Oliver seems to operate as a project musician.
Meaning, he chooses to create, play and release music as individual project pieces, rather than relying on a singular moniker under which to stack his work.
Among his projects are:
The Miss Alans, which had its heyday during college-radio 1990s (though they did release new material in 2020).
The alt-rock outfit Thunderbolt 650.
Elektron Graffiti Kult, which saw a two-volume set of releases in 2021.
The political collective, Blackcoats, which has released two albums (nearly 40 songs) since 2022.
And now, Desert Union, which released “Great Divide, Volumes 1 & 2,” earlier this month. The songs (two dozen across both volumes) are a slow-shuffle kind of alt-rock Americana, with hints of Neil Young (to my ears).
Oliver once again teamed up with long-time collaborators Victor Sotelo, Christopher Estep and Tracy Chisholm, but pulled in a teams musicians (including a few known Fresno players) for the records. Credits include: Grant Clifton on bass; John Shafer on drums; Dee Johnson on violin and fiddle; Kevin Cearley doing horns and brass and Ron Morse on guitar.
Both volumes of “Great Divide” are now streaming across platforms.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Tonight, I’ll be chatting with Cosmic Space Bunnies about their new single “Salty,” and a return trip to Fresno. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com