Seymour, Texas’ Under the Influence band has been around for a long time but TheFUSE just recently had the chance to see them for the first time, and we were pleasantly surprised by their no-nonsense, rockin’ brand of country.
Together, drummer John St. Clair, bassist Cory Butler, lead guitarist Jeremy Jowers and frontman Lance Burnett put on an entertaining show of country and rock covers, plus a selection of original material written by current and former members of the band.
Not only is Under the Influence a good band with chops, they’re also quite funny onstage. After their first song, Burnett said “Thank you. We are under the influence, which coincidentally also happens to be the name of the band.”
The one-liners and funny stories continued throughout the set, to the enjoyment of the audience, who occasionally tried to juice the comedy by bringing beers to the band. It seemed to work.
Our ears were particularly pleased by the work of lead guitarist and backing vocalist Jeremy Jowers. On lead, Jowers is a smokin’ country and blues-oriented guitar slinger, and his backing vocals were particularly tasty, lending a brash, bright, cutting tone to the vocals. Though the style was markedly different, it reminded us a bit of the air horn style of backing vocals by former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony — clear and complimentary.
Vocalist Lance Burnett mentioned during the show that Under the Influence will be recording a new album at some point, but they have no timetable as of now. “We have plans to start on it this year,” he later told me via DM. “Would love to say we can finish it this year, but it’s so hard to say.”
Their last album was recorded in 2010 and features an energetic original country rock song that we found awesome. Take a listen to Corn Whiskey.
Have you seen Under the Influence? Tell us about it in the comments.
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This is an awesome review on a band that IMO are really great. My hometown, hometown band. WTG guys 👏
One of the best in the business. Some damn good fellers too