By: David Schultz

New York City has been an intriguing territory for Rose Hill Drive, the hard-charging Colorado trio fronted by brothers Jake and Daniel Sproul and anchored by drummer Nathan Barnes. Unlike other bands that haven’t opened for The Who or shared the stage with Leslie West and Matisyahu, they’ve struggled to find their niche in The Big Apple. When they play the cozy Mercury Lounge, space it at a premium and you have to battle for a good view of the band; when they play larger rooms Gramercy’s Blender Theater or, as they did last Friday, the HighLine Ballroom, the rooms feel underpopulated. Why that may be so is a question better left for publicists and marketing personnel. From a musical standpoint, Rose Hill Drive should be playing their arena-rock anthems in the rooms for which they’re written.

Still young in years, Rose Hill Drive play like road-tested veterans, accentuating the power aspect of the power trio. While Jake Sproul attracts the most attention with his thunderous bass, sprawling lyrics and howling vocals, his brother Daniel has developed into one of the best young guitarists currently plying their trade. At the HighLine, the younger Sproul tore through electrifying covers of Hendrix’ Band Of Gypsys era “Who Knows” and “Power Of Soul,” charged into the Sabbath-tinged riffs of their own “Reptilian Blues” and showed a mastery of bringing a song to a climax on an incendiary version of “The 8th Wonder.” The newfound strength of Jake Sproul’s vocals was another pleasant surprise. Always capable of a healthy holler, Sproul is able to sustain the energy in his voice and has even grown comfortable enough to work in some scatting.

On Moon Is The New Earth, their superb follow-up to their self-titled debut, Jake Sproul moved the focus of his songwriting from Spaghetti Western narratives to old-fashioned rock and roll come-ons. If the subject matter dipped into juvenilia, the seriousness with which Rose Hill Drive plays hasn’t. An assertive drummer, Barnes pushes the rhythm forward with a ferocious mien, often locking in with Sproul’s propulsive bass to conjure up a maelstrom worthy of the classic rock titans that inspire them. On Friday, they gave a fine blues workout to “Do You Want To Get High?” and didn’t need a keyboard to liven up their encore cover of “Long Tall Sally.”

Having already mastered Hendrix and Aerosmith, Rose Hill Drive will be adding Led Zeppelin II to their repertoire of New Year’s Eve covers at the end of this year. Rose Hill Drive are still growing and maturing as a band and given where they are at this point in time, there’s no reason to have anything but high expectations of where this trio can go.

Labels: Rose Hill Drive