Jeremiah Freed takes New England by storm

It’s almost the same story. A bunch of guys get together in school, dish out a few tunes, get a little popularity and a couple years later there’s an explosion.

The band gets heavy air play on a local commercial radio station.

Here’s the story again. High school buds Joe Smith, Kerry Ryan, Jake Roche, Matt Cosby and Nick Goodale were practicing and freewheeling rock songs while their classmates were sweating over SATs.

By the time they graduated in June 2000, the quintet, now under the name Jeremiah Freed, had already secured management and a fervent following that stretched from Boston to Portland, Maine, including their hometown of York, Maine.

They’re not bad at all. In fact, they’re pretty good. There are definite hints of Led Zepplin and Aerosmith in the music.

Jeremiah Freed’s self-titled album has taken old rock classics and brought them to life for a new generation to enjoy.

It’s a little difficult, sometimes, to figure out what they’re singing about. The vocalist, Joe Smith, is articulate and clear in his verbiage, but like a lot of rock music, the hidden meaning in the music stays pretty much hidden.

The emotions of the songs are noticeable, such as in “Stranded” and their first No. 1 hit on Portland’s alternative rock WCYY, “Again.”

Things get a little foggy when it gets to “How They Got There,” which wrestles with personal demons and addresses relationships from inside and out.

“Out of Trust” exhibits the modern rock sound while “Wait For Me” offers a nice southern twang and pleasant acoustics.

The beginning is reminiscent of those Ford Texas commercials on television.

You get the old fashioned guitars mingled with some really talented drums. Add a twist of a young man’s vocals and lyrics that make little sense, and you’ve got Jeremiah Freed.

The instrumentation is the best part of the album. “How They All Got There” really blends the styles of the past and the energy of today in the talents of guitarists Goodale and Roche.

There’s also real talent behind Ryan’s drumming skills. None of this pre-programmed machine-drum stuff that you get in a lot of pop and alternative nowadays.

This dude actually knows what he’s doing. And some pretty mad bass skills are also provided by Cosby.

As for vocalist Smith, he could stand to be a little more natural. It sounds like he’s trying to imitate someone, especially when hitting the high-energy sequences.

He has a great voice, as long as he doesn’t try to force words off his lips.

Each song on the self-titled album has a fairly lengthy introductions, about 50 seconds to a minute a piece of instrumentation or slow intro to an upbeat chorus.

The instrumentation is pretty sweet, but it’s too much in the beginning. You get a little bored before the actual song hits.

All in all, a good piece of work. Not just for a couple of guys who recently graduated from high school, but for any next generation rock group all together.

The album features a wide musical variety. There is one really long song on the album titled “Eyes, Life, Change.”

Its starts out with a long introduction again, but its pleasing to the ears. It’s not until you’re about five minutes into the song that the really long instrumental sequence hits.

You have to lull around for a bit until you get towards the end when the song picks back up again.

The rest of the songs average about three and a half to four minutes, but “Eyes, Life, Change” tops out at eight minutes and forty-five seconds.

Jeremiah Freed is currently available in stores. To find out more about the band and tour information, visit www.jeremiahfreed.com.