Sun Regime Takes Salt Lake By Storm

A relatively new band to the Salt Lake music scene has taken the foreground pleasing audiences with their unique sound. The band is Sun Regime. 

Band members are Rod Nicholson on guitar, Sean “Nem” Sipple on drums, Ben Sharp on bass, Zak Craigle on saxophone and Seth Hooker on vocals. The band also has two lyricists, Eric Hunter and Hande Carre.’ Together Sun Regime puts out some really good music that is sometimes jazzy and funky with a definite rock ‘n roll foundation. The music is unusually hard to define, and that’s the best music anyway—the un-labelable. 

They first took the stage at the The Word on May 20 opening for the Boxcar Kids. They had received a great reception, especially considering it was their first performance ever. I guess word of mouth means a lot. The entire band played well, with Rod Nicholson highlighting the performance. He has been playing guitar for only a short time (in fact only three years) and is indeed impressive. These guys tore it up and the audience reacted with the same tangible energy. 

I have two slight criticisms. One is the that Seth’s vocals don’t seem to fit the music. Not that the lyrics don’t necessarily fit, his vocals don’t seem as powerful as the music is yet. There also seems to be a bit of an awkward stiffness in the singer’s stage presence when the music is very dynamic, demanding movement. Keeping up with the top grade musicians, however is a very demanding position, and I believe these problems will resolve themselves in time. 

Sun Regime’s second show was even better than their first. After a slight personnel change, Sjon Johnson being replaced by new bassist Ben Sharp, the band hit the stage. After an outstanding performance from Salt Lake’s Subject To Change, the band delivered two and half hours of music that never stopped to let you even catch your breath. Once again, the (large) crowd responded enthusiastically.   

It has been said that the songs are a bit long and too much of a good thing isn’t always taken receptively. To me, the length of the songs is more of an asset than a liability. In fact their music reminds me quite a bit of older YES songs that gain more and more power as they progress. 

This band hit the town by storm, and they keep getting better. Sjon Johnson is now managing the band and is doing a great job. Sun Regime is a very talented band with a well respected name. The band’s popularity came about almost entirely by word of mouth and the word is only improving with age.

Don’t miss Sun Regime this month—they will be playing July 1 with Alice Donut at the Speedway Cafe and again with House of Cards at The Word on the 15.