Thus far, the Charlottesville-based band Wisher has made headway largely between Washington, D.C., and North Carolina, frequenting places from the 9:30 Club to the late Trax. That's about to change. Armed with songs from their shiny new album "Rome Again," the foursome has set out on an extensive east coast summer tour that will take their previously regional act as far as Philadelphia, New York and Massachusetts.
The assorted "Wishers" have known one another, in one capacity or another, since high school and their college years at James Madison University, where three of them pursued music degrees and played together in an assortment of bands. The old friends, originally billing themselves as "The Parasols," coalesced again in 1999. This formed the present group from the remnants of the Harrisonburg punk-pop group Book of Kills and Seattle hip-hop rock group Bicycle.
Together, they decided to move into a Green County house in order to allow themselves to rehearse, write and otherwise "live" their music. It eventually paid off, with their tight performances winning them the highest honors in the U.Va "Battle of the Bands" for two years in a row. They had initially set out with a primarily local focus, but as gigs steadily multiplied, Wisher soon found that they needed some help to make sense of it all.
A performance at a Harrisonburg "Battle" during the fall of 1999 attracted the attention of John Bradner, a talent scout from a now-defunct Northern Virginia record company, then serving as one of the judges. Bradner eventually signed on as manager and his efforts, combined with the contacts that had previously been forged by singer Forrest Burtnette and guitarist Brian Chenault while members of Bicycle, led to a deal with west-coast Barbaric Records. By the end of the summer of 2000, Wisher had finished recording an album for Barbaric. Unfortunately, it never went to press. Bradner came to the rescue shortly thereafter, and the band was released from its contract.
All of that is behind them now and they've since been hard at work in a Richmond studio with Steve Van Dam of Everything at the production helm. Shooting for a live sound, all instruments were recorded at once in the same room with only minimal overdubs. "Rome Again" is the triumphant result and there is already a soon-to-be-fabled "lost album" to be pined over by marginally obsessive Wishheads in years to come. The group still needs a new label and a good booking agency, but that hasn't slowed their expansion plans one bit.
Most are quick to draw comparisons between Wisher and marginally popular pop acts like Fountains of Wayne and Big Star, but the rhythm section is more heavily influenced by the big dogs of 70s rock - Rush, Yes and the inimitable Led Zeppelin. Adding this to the Beatles-like vocal harmonies permeating songwriter Burtnette's arrangements makes for an interesting combination.
With their upcoming tour, Wisher hopes to acquire a more geographically diverse appeal (and of course sell massive amounts of their new album). As an unfortunate result, local followers may be out of luck for the time being, save for a single midsummer Outback Lodge show. However, Charlottesville-area performances have been in abundance recently, with the band performing alongside everyone from John Mayer to chili cook-off contestants. Check them out this Saturday at Starr Hill - if this tour works as it is supposed to, it may be your last chance for a while.
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