Wakefield's Which Side Are You On? is the sound of
a band maturing, fast. Where some bands go on tour, this one went to school. Between hearing the Beatles inspired "C'mon Baby,"
which changes time signatures between the chorus and verses but still manages to be as hooky as a tackle box, or the smart
riffs and layered harmonies of "Quietly Complaining," you'd be forgiven for wondering if this really is the same band that
debuted with the buoyant pop-punk of American Made in 2003.
Ryan Escolopio and J.D Tennyson, the band's singer and
lead guitarist, first teamed up as high school freshman with the addition of Ryan's brother Aaron, former Good Charlotte drummer,
and cousin Mike Schoolden on bass. After years of playing in cover bands and booking their own tours, they had a serious talk
to discuss their goals.
The foursome eventually found their way to Arista, releasing
American Made. But when an opportunity to start fresh presented itself, says JD, they were ready for a change: "We
scratched what we knew and started over with everything. It just felt right for us." Wakefield now has a home at Jive Records
The evidence of Wakefield's medical journal-worthy growth
spurt is 2005's Which Side Are You On?, set for release on June 14. "C'mon Baby" takes a page from Sgt. Peppers' "Lucy
in the Sky with Diamonds" and features the aforementioned time-signature shift: "The verse is somewhere around 142 bpm," Ryan
says, "and the chorus maneuvers to completely different tempo - it was kind of a 'Let's see if we can do this' type thing."
The song also drags 30 year-old power pop conventions into the 21st Century by dropping a jabbering rap in the middle. Even
better, it's an ebullient song about sex.
