If you asked Minnesota band Fade 2 Shade what they wanted to be when they grew up, they would most probably say “Dave Matthews Band with a Christian rock vocalist.” Fade 2 Shade, which will provide entertainment for Nicholls students at Crawfish Day next Thursday, is a little-known midwestern band on a college campus tour.
Nicholls is one of 90 colleges the band will hit on their national tour this year.
Their music could best be classified as light alternative with a heavy influence from Dave Matthews Band, Sting, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and Eric Clapton, according to their biography.
I’ll give them Matthews and Simon, but I think a comparison to Clapton is seriously stretching it. There are no heavy guitar riffs and no wailing vocals.
Instead, there are flutes, saxophones, and different percussion instruments. Lead vocalist Craig Heitkamp sings with a clear, plaintive voice. I got the distinct impression that he is a soft-spoken, sensitive soul, as opposed to your standard rock musician.
In fact, you know how a lot of Christian rock singers have that distinct singing voice? Well, Heitkamp has that quality to his voice.
“Time Will Tell,” the band’s first “real” album, was a released last fall.
Most of the songs on the album are soft and slow. A few songs, like “Night Swimming,” have a fun, free-spirited tune that may leave many Crawfish Day revelers dancing in the stadium.
The ratio of slow songs to peppy songs is about equal to that of your typical Dave Matthews Band album.
I find the band to be at its best when playing a faster song. “Night Swimming” would have to be my favorite track.
A visit to Fade2Shade.com finds a guestbook filled with comments from die-hard fans. From what I saw, most people find their live performances to be spectacular.
The CD is a quiet, decent one to listen to when studying or doing work, such as writing a newspaper article. The songs are not distracting, have a soothing quality and have a few catchy moments.
It should be interesting to see how they are in person.
Fade 2 Shade will be at Nicholls performing for Crawfish Day activities Thursday. Their show will begin at 3:30 p.m. in John L. Guidry Stadium.
