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Come sense a new kind of sound

Sometimes a band comes along and just blows you away because they don't sound like anybody else. Sense Field is one of those bands. Rooted in Southern California punk, but with a more melodic, majestic rock appeal, Sense Field's style is hard to classify. Their latest album, "Killed For Less," has songs ranging from acoustic ballads to all-out power pop masterpieces. It's indie label Revelation Records' biggest selling album to date, and with good reason.

Made up of Jonathan Bunch, Rodney Sellars, Slow Johnny, Chris Evenson, and Scott McPherson, Sense Field's members range in age from 25-28. They all grew up in the Los Angeles area listening to "Black Flag, and that," vocalist Bunch said. All the band members have "been in garage bands forever," he said, starting when they were 14 or 15 years old.

After forming in 1991, the band released a five song EP on their own label and sold it out of their homes. In 1992, they released another album on their own RunH20 label, and caught the attention of Revelation. In early 1994, Sense Field released "Killed For Less" and toured heavily.

The new year brought some changes to the band. With their contract up at Revelation last December, Sense Field signed with conglomerate major label Warner Bros. When asked about that decision, Bunch, talking from a pay phone outside a Pizza Hut in the Appalachian mountains said, "It felt like it was the right time to move forward, to sell more records, to be able to pay rent."

As far as the whole fiasco behind a lot of punk-rooted, underground bands like Bad Religion, Green Day and Sonic Youth being called "sell-outs" when they moved from indies to major labels, Bunch disagreed with the "sell-out" label. He said he's "never felt like we were the type of band that claimed to be indie."

Bunch said the new album, scheduled to be released in April, is called "Building," and it is "all done and recorded" and waiting to be mixed in two weeks. He said it is a mix of both the first two albums and "Killed For Less."

"It's 35 minutes of music with 13 songs," he said. "It's a little bit faster, a little bit heavier, harder. I hear the old albums, and there are things I wish I could go back and change." He also said the album has " a lot of energy" and it's the "first album (he's) totally happy with."

Revelation is a label that is known underground for its hardcore and punk acts like Quicksand and Gorilla Biscuits, however, this is a category which Sense Field never really fit into. When asked to described their style, Bunch said: "We don't claim to be, and we're not a punk band, not an indie band, not an anything."

When asked about the whole Southern California scene and the crossover popularity and commercialism of the "punk" sound, he said "It's pretty much at its peak now. It's totally popular, with all the Epitaph bands ... it seems to be a lot more acceptable. Not as scary and violent as it used to be."

Sense Field's lyrics, especially on "Killed For Less," are from life experiences. They very subtly hint at many Christian messages, as well as against loss of control with drugs and alcohol. Despite the lyrics, the band is neither straight-edge (no drugs/alcohol) nor affiliated with any church. "Our only religion is music," Bunch said. "(People) can believe in God without having to classify it (because churches are) just buildings people go to worship."

"Drugs are not necessarily a good thing ... they take away your creative energy," Bunch said. "Some people can handle it, some people have problems.

Sense Field's last visit to Detroit was in April when they opened for Samiam. Their intense stage show really captures the urgency of their music. Their present tour, opening for Into Another, is only about three weeks long, and is going "really good," Bunch said, the only exception being a snow-in on the first night. "Half the set is the new record, but if people know the songs, then we'll play the older songs."