Even if you've never heard of Sunny Day Real Estate, you've undoubtedly heard countless groups that have been heavily influenced by the band's sound. Dubbed "emo-core" by Sub Pop when the label released the band's debut album in '94, frontman Jeremy Enigk's emotionally strained, mercurial vocals paired with the group's grungy Seattle sound paved the way for all things emo—for good or for bad.
After breaking up in '95, half the band joined Dave Grohl's fledgling Foo Fighters, and Enigk released his first solo album for Sub Pop. SDRE regrouped for a stint, and a decade passed before Enigk released his second solo effort—this time on his own record label. Catching up with him by phone last week before he kicked off his current tour, Enigk said his newest album Vale, Oso is "nearly" complete and should be released by January '09.
"The songs on the album are all new, original songs," Enigk says. "And half of them were written in Spain." Which makes sense, since the disc was recorded at a friend's studio in Barcelona. "I went there wanting to create on the spot, and my goal was to not over think things."
The album features several Barcelona-based musicians playing everything from accordions to glockenspiels. But, Enigk says, the album won't sound heavily "Spanish" per se.
"I'll be playing a few of the new songs on this tour," he says. "It'll just be me on stage playing acoustic, so I'll be doing a stripped down version of the songs."
And he adds: "I will be playing some Sunny Day songs as well." (Nice!)
Local fave Sarah Jaffe opens Enigk, alongside the very U2-influenced Omoreka.
