The Tale of SPROUT & THE ORANGE

Enable frames

The Tale of SPROUT & THE ORANGE

A Magical Mystery Musical Tour Made Carnate

By Robert E. Martin

Photo's by Bob Martin

It's a Thursday night and the parking lot at Wiseguys along with

the lot across the street is packed full with cars.  A couple months ago it

wasn't this way at all, but the buzz has grown like wildfire, and now the

legions of fans starved for something new, refreshing, fun and original

have found their answer in the form of Sprout & the Orange.

Consisting of Jeff Schrems on bass, Jeff 'The Marshall' Shemanski on rhythm

guitar & keyboards, drummer Patrick Shaw, and Brian Johnson on

vocals/mandolin/and rhythm guitar, with brother Aaron on lead guitar,

Sprout & the Orange have discovered a way to make original music

listenable, engaging, danceable, and fun all at the same time.

Trust me, this is no small feat for an age in which popular radio is

saturated with the saccharine sweetness of Britney Spears and the harshness

of Limp Bizkit on opposite sides of the spectrum.

But rather than seeking a 'middle ground' between these two extremes,

Sprout & the Orange have earned their newfound musical notoriety by

ignoring the middle-of-the-road and staking a higher one, creating a

collective synergy on-stage that is as entertaining as it is compelling,

and as densely packed with emotive layers as it is explosive with the joy

of its creativity.

As veteran Saginaw guitarist/vocalist Jeff Scott (currently with Count 'n

the Change and formerly with The Jitters) puts it:  "The great thing about

Sprout & the Orange is not only that they're young kids, but the fact that

they can actually play their instruments really well.  They bring new life

and fresh hope to a scene that can use new voices and fresh faces."

With influences that span the musical spectrum, Sprout & the Orange are

truly an 'organic' band in the sense of how their material, whether

original or cover oriented, mutates and grows into different directions.

Known for their progressive and jam-based explorations, and in the vein of

groups like Phish and The Grateful Dead, rarely if ever does an audience

hear a Sprout song played the same way twice.

In terms of origins, the group has existed for slightly over a year, and

was the brainchild of Jeff Schrems and Jeff Shemanski.

"We added members one by one," explains the latter Jeff. "The first guy

that joined was Patrick. We would work on our originals, but needed a

singer, so called our friend Brian, who was always hanging around the place

we rehearsed. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually he agreed to

practice with us.  Finally, we added his little brother, 'Big Aaron', who

really impressed us with his ability to play guitar."

"It's a good combination," says Aaron. "We're big believers in the power of prayer and it all kind of happened. Each person came, as they were needed,
one by one. It unfolded exactly as we wanted. We had a little bit of material together. Brian and I had been traveling a lot and I knew he could sing real well."

Given their magical formula of mesmerizing audiences with their fusion of musical intensity that never loses sight of having a good time, how is the band trying to distinguish itself in the competitive musical marketplace? "That's an unanswerable question," reflects Brian. "We all have musical preferences and decided to meet each other half way. We bring forward our own style. There are five songwriters in the band. We each put our own thing into it and everyone is pretty open minded about it. That's our
sound."

"Actually, we never really discussed it," states Jeff Schrems. We came

together and worked on each song one by one.  Individually, our songwriting

has a similar feel. Nobody wants to do anything real heavy, so it's all

very clean.  You won't hear a lot of distorted guitars. We have a kind of a

clean and happy sound."

"I think we set up a format where we concentrate on good songwriting and

don't dedicate it to a certain style, which is what I like about our band,"

interjects Brian.

In terms of their varied influences, Jeff says that he enjoys the music of

The Doors, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and Johnny Cash.

"I listen to a lot of punk music and think bands like Ween and The Beatles

are very creative," answers Jeff 'The Marshall'. "And that's what I think

we are, very creative."

"With me I try to keep an open mind towards everything," states Brian. "But

as far as my vocals I try to sing as originally as I can. My influences are

with more emotional singers. I'm picky. I like very emotive singers with a

strong stage presence - artists like Jim Morrison and Bono from U2."

"I have many, many influences, answers brother Aaron. "I personally like to

let the music do the speaking. I like to say what I have to say by the

music I write.  Steve Howe from Yes was a big influence. He amazes me. He's

such a great guitarist.  I've been turned on by a lot of things from the

'70's lately."

As for their original material, the group currently has about 25 songs in

the bag. " We practice a lot, probably the majority of the time, 4-5 times

a week, including shows," notes Jeff. "The whole reason we wanted to play

every week is to get our stage presence down. We're new and growing on and

offstage. So we consider shows to be basic practice, because we do a lot of

onstage jamming and improvisation."

" Our main focus is to get our crowd, and we have a good 'friend' as

opposed to 'fan' base, because we really enjoy the people that come out and

see us."

 "We always want to do something different on-stage and that's one of the

things people like.  They can come to one of our shows and never know what

to expect, and we'll always give 'em that."

Do Sprout & the Orange consider themselves more a dance or listening band?

"One of biggest compliments I've been paid is when a guy came up to us at

one of our shows and said he never danced at a wedding or anything, but

couldn't help himself when he heard us," says Jeff.

"Musically, there is so much there if you can digest it - we're a listening

and a dance band. We've recorded a little bit, but once people take our

music and listen to it they hear a lot more texture there than the power to

make people move."

Currently the group has a CD of original material in the works that they

hope to have ready by the end of March or early April.

"A lot of great musicians in this area are doing their part in terms of

creating great original music," notes Brian. "Now it's just a matter of

turning people on to it."

What does the band think about the state of music today on both a national

and local level?

"There's a lot of good music out there, but it's hard to find," states 'The

Marshall'. "You don't hear much of it on the radio and that's unfortunate.

There was a time when the popular scene was also the best scene out there,

but that's not true now."

What about the aforementioned Britney and Limp Bizkit? "I don't think I can

say they're musicians so I give them the benefit of the doubt," he smiles.

"They definitely appeal to people so they're doing something right," adds

Jeff Schrems.  "It's a certain sound for a certain time. A lot of kids

listen to their music. Every kid in high school probably has the Korn CD,

so there's something to be said for someone that's achieved that much

success. Maybe the next scene will be completely opposite and we can be a

part of that."

"The original scene in Saginaw is starting to crawl out and needs a drive,"

comments Brian. "It's not about money, it's about being treated with

respect. Wiseguys has treated our fans and us well. They treat our fans

with respect, and that's most important. It might not be the biggest or

best venue in town, but some of the things that have happened in there have

been just magical."

Finally - the million dollar question - how did the group come up with the

name Sprout & the Orange?

"I've been waiting for this explanation!", cries Jeff.

"The answer is within the question," smiles Brian. "I like the word

'Sprout', which Schrems and I talked about. Sprout signifies the birth of

something and it has a good ring and is a colorful word."

"Our drummer Patrick always liked the idea of having the word 'and' in the

title. Because that was important to him and he is important to us we

decided to go with it."

"And the word 'orange' is one of the few words in the English language that

you can't rhyme anything. Therefore, that makes it original.  So in

essence, if you translate our name, it means something 'New and Original'.

So there it is."

"People always ask us, 'Who's Sprout?'," continues Brian. "Aaron and I

always get that being brothers in the band. They see us having fun and

there's always something good about seeing family on stage, whether it's

the Allman Brothers or Van Halen.  But the title doesn't represent any

members of the band. If that was the case we'd be Marshall & the Orange!"

As for the near future, the group intends to take a few weeks off to work

on their CD and put some new material together.  "We have a performance on

March 1st at the newly remodeled Shooters on their new stage," notes Brian,

"and then we're taking 2-3 weeks off from Wiseguys to put new material

together. We need to keep things interesting."

"We want what everyone wants who supports the arts," concludes Jeff. "And

we want to tip our hat to Marc Beaudin and the folks at CAGE. What they're

trying to do is so good; just to keep art flowing.

"It's what keeps us sane in this town, given the lack of sunlight."

For more information and fun check out the band's official website at

www.sproutandtheorange.com, or their fansite at sproutfans.com.

Sprout & the Orange will also be making a special performance at the 15th

Annual Review Magazine Music Awards to be held Monday, April 23rd at

Hollywood Nights.

Enable frames