Living the high life

Who said rock 'n' roll has to be serious?

The Forty-Fives, a Georgia-based quartet, are bringing back the carefree, classic rock style that has long been absent from the modern music scene.

"We're not very mainstream," said Bryan Malone, lead singer and guitarist. "We're the standard shaggy kind of rock band. It's a lot of fun. Besides, you don't want to be doing music that's too complicated when you've been drinking."

Their mix of classic rock, mid-90s alternative, and blues can be heard this Sunday at The Mohawk Place.

During the interview, the band was winding through back roads on their way to Detroit.

"We're doing a little side thing, looking out the window," Malone said. "It's quite a beautiful day. The sun is shining, people are wearing shorts."

Then he rethought his comment.

"Actually," he said, "Nix the shorts. I don't think any grown man should walk around in short pants and open-toed shoes. What the hell is that all about?"

The band is touring to promote their newest release, "High Life High Volume," a glorified garage band album with added brass and chorus sections.

"It's just what comes most naturally for me," Malone said. "We're old rock n' roll fans. As a band, we're getting into a lot of old R&B and '70s rock. It's rock in its purest sense."

Recent critics have dumped the band in the same basket as newly spawned groups like The Hives and Jet. However, Malone has shrugged off such accusations.

"Everyone is always trying to compare you to someone else, and it's not necessarily accurate or flattering," Malone said. "Not that I dislike those bands, but people just have a hard time defining us because we're the truest form of rock n' roll. Not a lot of bands make that kind of music anymore."

Malone first began dabbling with music in the small village of Smithville, Tenn. Despite his preternatural interest in music, his choices were limited.

"We were out in the middle of the country, so the only radio we could ever get was country radio," he said. "I had to go to a town 30 minutes away just to get records. I raided my mother's collection too, she had a bunch of old stuff."

At first, Malone learned the guitar to pass the time, and later added bassist Mark McMurtry and drummer Adam Renshaw.

"There were three of us initially," Malone said. "We went to New York and were playing around as a three-piece. After the first record we started going out on the road and haven't looked back since then."

The band became official in Georgia, adding their final band member, keyboardist Trey Tidwell. Since then they've been touring nonstop.

"All we do is travel. We haven't had a day off for three weeks, but you get used to it after a while and hit a certain stride," Malone said. " Everyone always asks me how I'm feeling. And I say, I feel the same as I do every day - tired, hung over, and what time do we play?"

In keeping with their band name, derived from the turntable RPM setting, Malone explained his main motivation for joining up with Yep Roc records.

"Yep Roc was willing to put out our music on vinyl," said Malone. "I have a big record collection of my own. A record is the real thing. It's been a dream in my head since I was a little kid to have my music on one."

Lately, the band has also taken greater freedoms with experimentation, including the work on their recent release.

"I've been leaning in more of a soul direction lately," Malone said. "We've tried to do more instrumental stuff, brought some girls in to sing the chorus, just opened our minds to a lot of different things. We did a recording in Detroit at Jim Diamond's place, cutting everything live and then just experimenting around."

Malone had a vague sense of what direction he would take his band for his next recording period.

"In the future I might add another guitar player, start writing different things, just see what different direction it lends itself to," he said. "I really don't have a formula for anything."

Band members also have very fond recollections of playing at the Mohawk Place.

"I like the Mohawk Place, it has a good feel to it," said Malone. "Actually, I think Buffalo was the town where our keyboardist broke a chair and threw it into the audience and almost killed a girl. He's properly dosed most of the time now."