100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 20: Evan Thomas Way & the Phasers

Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.

Artwork by Seattle-area painter E.R. Saba

Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our sixth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’ll be showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about. For the fourth year in a row, the showcase is once again presented by Verity Credit Union.

Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter on a daily basis to stay on top of all the bands featured and be sure to follow Verity and NW_Music_Scene on there. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the spotlight yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s featured act is Evan Thomas Way & the Phasers.


About the band: 

Evan Thomas Way & the Phasers’ late spring release, Long Distance, founds its way onto our playlist and never left. The well crafted tunes on this album get stuck in your head but don’t take our word for it, have a listen to “Long Distance” below and we’re pretty sure you’ll be hooked too!

Here’s some of what we had to say in our review:

“Life” maneuvers like Cat Stevens’ take on the Scottish “Morning Has Broken” giving Way a stick to draw his line in the sand. His dazed faith and questioning reach both existential and heavenly end. “Long Distance” is a true burner. Perfect for road trips and/or late night nomadic searching. The steady riffs, celestial keys, and sticky drums soar in flannel and neon lights as Way embraces his path. The haunting guitar lines and large choruses on “Don’t Fall Away” jaunt Way’s troubadour prophetic forms and gift the Phasers room to explore their sonic genes.

Similar to the seamlessness of “Don’t Surprise Me”, Side B’s “Gone” could be your new favorite song. Way & the Phasers push without being pushy and jam without being flashy. Ben Latimer’s saxophone is a brilliant addition as it cuts and smears against Michael Blake’s organ’s whirl and hum. “Hope” doesn’t spark fireworks in a lyrical sense, but is songsmithed to the stars. The steady pulse and lift of organ and guitar twang jimmy Way’s vocals into more than the sum of its parts. By the album’s end, grit and dark morning searching carry “Fire at the End of the Line” into the ether. Way & the Phasers lock in and give testament to something bigger, which segues luminously into “Seventeen”. Here, Way’s voice is met with a heightened sense of clarity and ease. It’s as if he’s performing in your hallway or on a lonely street corner, embedding deeper into his own ethos of understanding as the album ends. And just like on previous work touched by Way’s understated skills as singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Long Distance has the miles to give for years to come.


 


 

Listen:


Find the band at:

Facebook

Bandcamp


Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submitting. If you would like to submit for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.


A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner. 


As an added bonus this year, House Of Cannabis will be playing the featured bands in each of their three Washington locations.

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