Scoville Unit

One of the things we love so much about great rock music is that it always seems to rear its beautiful head at the precise moment we least expect it to.

On January 2 of this year, Gandhar Savur rounded up four friends who had agreed to help him record a handful of songs that had been running around in his head over the past few months. Gathered together at a makeshift basement studio in Connecticut, everyone set out to do just that. There was no elaborate planning or lengthy discussion on exactly how the songs would fit into the grand and ultimately daunting scheme of rock and roll - just few guys, ranging from close friends to distant acquaintances, taking a vacation of sorts. And helping out a friend in the process.

After exchanging hellos - or even introductions as it were - drinks were mixed, and everyone descended into to the basement to get started. By all accounts, the next few hours were filled with the kind of feelings you're never comfortable describing, or even alluding to, for that matter. But there was something about the way each player's personality worked with the others, about the way the guitars, organs, drums, and vocals filled the room. It's the kind of feeling musicians live for, and it's the kind of thing you learn not to ignore.

The next morning, with bloodshot eyes and hangovers courtesy of all that Maker's Mark, everyone woke up, remembered where the hell they were, and formed Scoville Unit.

The next seven days were spent laying the basic tracks for the songs Savur had brought to the table, and it became clear to everyone involved that a very special record was taking shape.

After that week, there were a few more trips to the studio for layering and mixing, but what you hear on this debut album is very much the result of that first session - that first night, even. It's the sound of five people hanging out, getting drunk, and bonding over a shared love of all the amazing things rock and roll has given us in its first 50 years of existence.

You'll hear hints of Buddy Holly in the upbeat but sad sounding melodies, hints of Simon and Garfunkel in the picture perfect vocal harmonies, and of the Loving Spoonful in the tasteful keyboard parts that sprout up all over the place. You'll hear Belle and Sebastian, R.E.M, Small Factory, and all that other good stuff.

You'll hear people making music together without the thought of an audience, creating simply for their own ears, and you'll hear why we had no choice but to let you all hear this record.