Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, The State Room 5/25
SALT LAKE CITY — Good rock-n-roll isn’t always accurately measured by radio airplay, platinum records or the size of crowd at a concert.
Good, honest, unadulterated, uncompromised rock is measured by the passion the band puts into its records, its live performances and the passion of their audience, both feeding off each other to create a euphoric synergy in concert.
It’s in that spirit that veteran rockers Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers are one of the best live bands in America.
RCPM (as they’re known by fans) return to Salt Lake City Friday at The State Room for what’s sure to be the city’s best fiesta to kickoff the holiday weekend.
Lead singer and Arizona native Clyne has been called both the Troubadour and the Springsteen of the Southwest. The combination of his lyrics and passion on stage, the crunching guitar of Jim Dalton, and the backbone rhythm section of bassist Nick Scropos and PH Naffah (one of the best still relatively unknown drummers in the country) make the Peacemakers one of the tightest and most energetic live bands on tour today.
Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers have released albums on an independent record label for nearly 13 years. They are the only independent band to debut in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Internet Sales chart for six consecutive albums, including two #1 entries.
Their latest release is Unida Cantina, a guitar-driven roots rock-n-roll record that reached #2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and #4 on iTunes Rock Albums list in 2011.
Prior to RCPM, Clyne & Naffah enjoyed an accomplished stint with The Refreshments in the 90s. Their cult-classic album Fizzy Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy produced the hit singles “Banditos” and “Down Together” and was Radio & Record’s ninth Best-Selling Debut Album of the Year and went to #1 on Billboard’s Heatseeker Chart.
This time around, RCPM comes to Salt Lake on their Road to Circus Mexicus Tour. It’s the tour leading up to their annual celebration in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, the Mecca of RCPM concerts each year. Thousands of fans from all over the world travel to Mexico for what has become a three-day celebration of music next to the Sea of Cortez and beach soccer.
Unofficially, this year’s event, June 8-10, has been stretched to four days. Austin-based Americana rockers Shurman along with RCPM’s tour manager Jason Boots will give a free show on June 7 at cantina on the beach.
Also appearing at this year’s shows, Virginia roots rockers Sons of Bill whose latest album was produced by David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven.
Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers own their tour bus, which they have literally driven around the U.S. and Mexico enough times to flip the odometer back to all zeros a couple of times. But the band also wants to do all they can to protect the environment. This year, they’ve added solar panels to their tour bus to complement the existing eco-friendly, bio diesel generator. The band expects to save 500 gallons of diesel fuel on this tour alone with solar panels.