I attended a special concert a few nights ago. The final show of a seminal Indianapolis based band called Loretta. Loretta are a powerful, moody, thoughtful and rocking quartet composed of three brothers, Jason, Damon & Jeremy and their longtime friend Stan. At their pinnacle moments, the three brothers harmonies poured over the incredibly powerful and melodic wall of sound the band produced live would make you swear that you’ve been lifted a few inches off of the ground.
I believe that I first saw Loretta (originally known as Jihad until 9/11 hastened a name change) back in late 2001. They were part of a grouping of bands I came to admire when I dove head first into the mainstream music scene here in the crossroads of American. They obviously stood head and shoulders above the pack of local music hopefuls in Indianapolis at the time. I was able to attend a lot of their shows as they shared the bill with several of my local favorites. Also when I started working more closely with a host of bands, they often ended up on the same bill as Loretta.
Loretta trudged through the minefield of the music industry for a long time. Their record label at the time (the newly formed Benchmark Records) created good buzz for them nationally. When their debut CD was released it performed very well on college radio hitting the College Music Journal (CMJ) charts and providing further publicity for the guys. They toured all across the country and seemed to be on the fast track to be the next big thing. Sadly, that never happened and the guys of Loretta saw their fame fade away as their record company slid into bankruptcy.
They’ve spent the last couple of years recording their new CD “Message Received, Not Understood” and coming to the realization that time was no longer on their side and realities of life, getting married, having kids, moving on, etc. was catching up to them.
Last night’s show was a wonderful yet bittersweet swan song for them. It was great to hear all of them say that they don’t have any regrets and that they are ending well as good friends. Many tears were shed after they closed with a new song appropriately titled “Settle Down.”
Thanks you Jason, Damon, Jeremy and Stan for painting a beautiful brush stroke through my journey in the music world these last seven years. Blessings on you as you move forward in life.
Oh yeah...sorry you missed them.