These saints aren't exactly marching in.
The Utah Saints, an English duo operating in the "rave" musical style - involving loud dance rhythms, bright flashing lights and burgeoning nightclub scenes - are taking their act straight to the source . . . of their name.The group is headlining a Salt Lake show Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the Vortex Nightclub, 32 E. Exchange Place (350 South), along with fellow ravesters the Shamen.
According to Jez Willis, the group's founder, he struck on the unusual group name after a journey to the Great Salt Lake. Once there, Willis decided to test the lake's buoyant properties, only to find himself with a mouthful of the brackish water. Later on in the trip, he discovered more about the area's predominant religion and settled on the name, liking its "ethereal qualities."
As far as the duo's music, despite the fact that the Saints have no lead singer (they appropriate vocal "samples" from Annie Lennox, Kate Bush and Gwen Guthrie), they "refuse to just be a couple of faceless stereotypical DJs holed up in the studio or in the DJ booth," Willis said. "We're trying to put some real energy and live spirit into our records rather than just batter people to death with beats per minute."
Willis and Tim Garbutt have found four musicians to flesh out their musical ambitions for just that purpose, or as Willis said, "Our ambition is to elevate the dance scene into a real event where the audience experiences the same craziness that you get at a rock gig."
Both Willis and Garbutt have extensive experience as "house" DJs, and Willis played in several "industrial" bands in his Leeds, England, home. But their unique "sequenced" rave/dance style has spawned two hit singles, "What Can You Do For Me" and "Something Good," the title track from their current hit album.
"I don't necessarily feel that we've created our own niche or anything," Willis said, noting the band's inspiration from early rave pioneers such as Pop Will Eat Itself. "I mean, people expect you to talk about your music as if you've made a cathedral or something. We just make pop records."
Tickets for the show are $12.50 in advance from all Sound Off and Graywhale CD Exchange locations, as well as the club itself. Doors for the show, which is a Scott Arnold production, open at 8 p.m.