Playing Bell’s tonight, Savas relates the story of his musical voyage for Local Spins, which also debuted new tracks by The Crane Wives, North Keeper, Fangs & Twang and more.
His Dream Band: Abe Savas and The New Standards of Beauty. (Courtesy Photo)
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The musical journey for Abe Savas started as a child when he wrote his first song about – of all things – a battleship, followed by jingles he’d create for “radio shows” on a hand-held tape recorder.
After getting his first guitar at age 16, he was “driven to write” songs, inspired by Tom Petty’s 1989 album, “Full Moon Fever,” and fueled by playing in bands at Clarkston High School.
But life and work kept getting in the way of the Kalamazoo singer-songwriter’s musical pursuits, which “fell by the wayside” until about 10 years ago when he started joining cover bands and resurrecting his urge to pen music.
Finally, earlier this year, Savas – now in his 40s – released his first studio album of original material: Abe Savas & The New Standards of Beauty’s “Love Cabal,” followed by a three-song EP, “Out There.” Tonight (Friday, Dec. 8), he’s playing his first full-band show to spotlight that album at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Café’s back room along with Pillar to Post and Brian Koenigsknecht & The Dirty Work.
Creating Songs ‘With Something to Say’: Savas (Courtesy Photo)
Tickets to the Kalamazoo show are $12 in advance and available here. The show begins at 8 p.m.
“This is kind of my dream band,” he said of the group featuring members of the established Kalamazoo band Knee Deep Shag, aka guitarist Phil Barry, drummer Jeff Moehle and bassist Mike Fuerst.
“This is the first time I’ll share the stage with them and I’m stoked,” he said, adding that he’s convinced that the “incredible” musicians will bring his songs “to life” like never before.
Beyond that, other special guests will join them on stage, including guitarist Bill Jones, keyboardist and singer Emily Grabinski-Conklin and saxophonist Jarad “Saxsquatch” Selner.
It’s also a dream come true to showcase his original songs from “Love Cabal,” a collection of rock-propelled singer-songwriter tracks about the various aspects and subjects of love.
UP NEXT: 100 SONGS IN 80 MINUTES?
“ ‘Rock’ is a pretty broad term for me and I think it encompasses the kind of electric guitar-driven music I tend to come up with,” he suggested. “Some have called it power pop because it tends to be melodic and jangly. I think my future releases will cover a lot more ground, but for this particular album, I wanted to try to narrow my focus to make it more accessible.”
As he puts it, his new songs “have something to say” and he plans to continue moving forward by penning new material.
“I just want this show to be a beginning,” insisted Savas, who owns Kalamazoo’s Green Light Music. “I just want to keep writing. … I’m really hoping to get a smaller, more garagey version of the New Standards of Beauty together to play regularly as a unit in 2024.”
His other ambitious project? Create 100 short songs that cover just 80 minutes.
“If it sounds kind of crazy, it is,” he quipped. “I’m still working out the details.”
In addition to showcasing songs by Savas, this week’s episode of Local Spins on WYCE — which focuses on music by Michigan artists at 11 a.m. Fridays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org — featured music by Al Green, Diana Ross, Cody Robert DeWindt, Brian Koenigsknecht, Fangs and Twang, North Keeper, The Crane Wives, Headband Henny, The Marsupials and Kait Rose. Listen to the radio show here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (12/8/23)
VIDEO: “Runnin’ at the Speed of Light,” Abe Savas & The New Standards of Beauty
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