Issue date: 11/14/03 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: Courtesy American Princes Little Rock´s own American Princes are preserving the rock ´n´ roll tradition in central Arkansas with their new album ´We are the people.´

The recent "return" of guitar rock is such hype. After the long backlash against guitar bands - in a corporate music world that fluctuates just like any other industry - MTV and Clear Channel have found it lucrative to promote random run-of-the-mill acts such as The Strokes and The Hives.

Just last year this latter group was actually featured in Rolling Stone with the headline reading "Rock is Back."

In local scenes, where shows don't cost $30, it never left. With last month's release of the American Princes' debut album, "We are the people," local Arkansans now have more reason than ever to think twice about the corporate mainstream and have faith in their own talents.

You can purchase a copy from the band's website, www.maxrecordings.com. And for the complete wall-of-sound experience, the American Princes can be seen live this Monday, Nov. 17, at Blank Generation in downtown Little Rock. They will also perform a show with Lucero on December 26th at Vino's.

The American Princes are a loud-as-all-hell indie rock band in the tradition of Jawbreaker but with a major distinction to their sound: three vocalists who are all exceptionally apt. Guitarists Collins Kilgore and David Slade, along with bassist John Beachboard, constantly rotate singing duties, an arrangement that prevents listeners from falling into a comfort zone or disregarding the band's socially conscious lyrics.

In the case of the American Princes, socially conscious does not mean verbose and recondite (e.g. Bad Religion's latest efforts); it is to say that these young men have been to college and a few places here and there; have read a bit; and are hurt, pissed off and scared.

To affirm this, take the album's strongest track, "Shake Baby Shake," for example: "Shake baby shake. / Shiver & shudder / on a northbound train / that the city runs under. / When you die when you die, / all your friends and lovers, / will wail and cry, / and say they told each other so." Maybe rocking will help.

The Princes began as a trio last September in Harlem after David Slade, a New England native who attended high school in Little Rock, asked John Beachboard to join him in New York for a musical project.

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