Rounding out the night was Nashville’s Overzealous – appropriately named as they proved to be a hard band not to get excited about. Their affinity for uniquity is surpassed only by their raw stage energy, a highly entertaining group to hear and see – and with so much power you’ll swear there’s a fourth member hiding behind the curtain.
Throughout it all, the friendship between William Blount High School graduates Dustin Sellers and Brad Crittenden has been the bedrock.
That bond, present almost as long as the two men have been alive, has kept them close more than 10 years after they graduated. It’s seen them through numerous lineup changes and one near-demise, and it’s the backbone of overzealous, the Murfreesboro-based pop-rock band of which they’re both a part.
Their friendship, you could say, is overzealous. Without it, there would be no band.
“Friends and music definitely don’t always mix, but we got lucky in a sense,” Sellers told The Daily Times this week. “We’ve known each other since preschool. My grandmother raised both of us. We went to different grade schools, but after we met back up in high school, regardless of what was going on with the rest of our group of friends or our bandmates, we always had an understanding.
“We could predict one another’s thoughts and take each other’s ideas to the next level. We can collaborate, and I can take something he’s started and throw my two cents in, and vice-versa. And there are a lot of songs we write together from the get-go. There just aren’t many egos involved.”
From the beginning, they’ve let the music dictate the direction they take, and usually it sounds like something a direction they both want to travel in together. As overzealous, the two trade in solid, no-frills pop rock along the lines of Foo Fighters, a band to which overzealous draws a number of comparisons. It’s melodic, catchy and as good as anything rock fans could want from popular radio — providing popular radio still played decent rock ‘n’ roll.
The two started their band in high school, hitting the local scene after graduation and traveling to Murfreesboro on a lark to enter a battle of the bands contest. They won, and part of the prize was studio time at Wolf Studios in Nashville. Once they got in the door, however, the music so impressed those behind the project that they offered to cut the entire overzealous record — 10 songs — for free.
At the same time, the studio’s owner introduced the pair to a group of independent filmmakers who were shooting a mockumentary about a Bowling Green, Ky., band that dies in a wreck shortly after recording an album of music. The fictional story intercuts between the band — Novem, which is also the title of the film — and those who discover the “lost” music in the present day.
Sellers, Crittenden and their former overzealous bandmates not only provided five or six songs for the soundtrack, they also starred in it. Things seemed to be looking up, but Crittenden was diagnosed with cancer and had to back away from the band to battle the disease. Another member got called up to serve in Iraq, and by the time Crittenden returned to the fold, keeping a rhythm section in place was an impossible task.
For a time, the guys gave up on overzealous, joining forces with a couple of Chattanooga-based musicians to form the band Pop Vulture. They cut some songs with local production wizard Travis Wyrick, but again problems arose.
“Unfortunately, the other guys we joined up with weren’t as gung-ho about accomplishing stuff as we were,” Sellers said. “We tried doing that project for close to a year, and after that we just thought, ‘Well, most people know us as overzealous anyway, so let’s pick up where we left off.’ We wanted to keep putting records out and do something fresh, but we also wanted to keep the name because most people knew about it.”
These days, the guys are a little older and wiser. They still live in Murfreesboro, but the band has been stripped down to a three-piece. They still play uncomplicated rock, but there’s a surprising depth to the new material that reflects some of the personal changes that have gone on in their lives over the past several years, Sellers said.
“I’ve actually gone through a divorce since then, so the music has definitely matured in the sense of the writing,” he said. “It’s still melodic rock ‘n’ roll, but there’s definitely a lot more depth that we want to showcase on our records in the future. Most people know us as this Foo Fighters, pop-rock kind of stuff, and that’s our bread-and-butter, but we also want to showcase our songwriting. We have so much material built up, and we want to get out and see what people think of it.”
With new depth comes added complexity to the music — some of the newer songs are piano-driven, some are acoustic-based, but they’re all rooted in the pop-rock realm, Sellers said.
“The good thing about us is that we’re straightforward rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “There’s a good, strong melody to it, and it doesn’t fit in a certain niche. We want to do some more creative marketing and play a lot more to draw attention to ourselves, because it’s tough — but if we were doing it just for the money, we would have quit a long time ago.”
For 2011, the guys are planning on putting out a compilation of slower, more intimate love songs in time for Valentine’s Day, and they’re looking at ways to get out the backlog of material they have in the coffers. They’re seeking management and permanent booking help, and playing regionally as much as possible — including a show taking place on Friday (Jan. 14) in downtown Knoxville.
“I always think the ultimate goal is to be successful and sustain careers doing this, but our main goal has just been to leave something behind, something that came out of us,” Sellers said. “Regardless of how successful it is commercially, we can say we’ve accomplished something.”
If you had shown up at the Hard Rock Café Thursday night at 9:45, you would have only caught the tail end of the second act. When performances actually get rolling at the scheduled time, you know you’re in for a classier show experience. Hard Rock is ideal if you’re not up for being packed into the room so tightly with fellow showgoers you’re absorbing their sweat. You can enjoy a table inside or on the patio during the show, which on Thursday consisted of Blackfoot Gypsies, Bravo Max, and Overzealous.
Seeing Nashville/Murfreesboro band Overzealous play live for the first time was something of a shock. In person, founding members Dustin Sellers (vocals/guitar) and Brad Crittenden (vocals/bass) seem affable but subdued. Onstage, they prove there’s something to their name and deliver a high-energy performance. Newest Overzealous member, drummer Nick Morro doesn’t seem to have a problem keeping up, either. Last year, Sellers and Crittenden were still looking for a drummer that would stick; now they’ve got Morro plus a new EP to follow up the previous sunny “Yellow Jr.”
Melodies echo all the regular guys who rocked the late ’90s and early ’00s – Foo Fighters and even Jimmy Eat World at times, plus traces of Nirvana when they decide to shred a harder riff – but the lyrics are Sellers’ own. “Really every song I write is an echo of what should have been,” he says. Sellers crams a lot of personal experience into his lyrics, and the new EP “The Valley” is no different. Worth checking out if you’re into any of the aforementioned artists, or just want to see an energetic and fun show. – Jessica Pace
I’d say Overzealous is just keen enough. Amid personal tragedy, global geo-political machines crush rock and roll dreams, but somehow they come out of it all with more energy than I’ve heard committed to tape in a while. It would be worth checking out some of their personal story.
Overzealous has nearly 10-year MTSU history
Over the whir of blenders in the MTSU Walker Library coffee shop, Crittenden and Sellers sit and talk about Overzealous and why they have both stuck with the music for so long.
"I dont really recall," says Brad Crittenden vaguely, thinking about how the name came to be for the band he has been a consistent part of for almost 10 years with band mate Dustin Sellers.
Both guys are quiet and vaguely bookish, seeming almost too polite for the sound that they have spent the last decade sculpting. Since forming in 2000, they have burned through drummers who could not quite commit, gone from a two-piece band to a three-piece to four-piece and back to two.
They have interchanged instruments, Sellers used to play drums on recordings with Crittenden on lead guitar.
Amidst constant morphing in the bands assemblage, Overzealous has stumbled upon a lot of random opportunity along the way. After winning a Battle of the Bands in Murfreesboro, the guys received a bit of free studio time, which was used to record a collection of songs simply titled EP.
They released an assortment of small compilations, most with little formality but all packing a lot of punch. But now Overzealous has been whittled back down to just Crittenden, who took up bass, and Sellers, on guitar. Both play piano, and both are vocalists.
Writing and narrowing down the vision has been easier, Sellers says of being a two-piece band again.
Still, the search for a permanent drummer has occupied much of the bands time when Crittenden and Sellers are not promoting their brand new release.
Yellow Jr. is a five-track EP with a quirky name landed upon by a lot of underlying shit and a yellow sort of mood, Sellers says.
He and Crittenden have been playing shows in Knoxville and Murfreesboro in the past two weeks to break out the upbeat but still lyrically complex Yellow Jr., which is possibly the bands most pronounced and relevant release to date.
They came across sufficiently and honestly, says Crittenden of the five songs. Not too much pizzazz, but enough force to present themselves.
Force describes it well. Yellow Jr. is confident and the guitars are blazing in a Foo Fighters-type way that is laid-back but does not lack finesse.
And Overzealous seems happy with the relevancy the album has compared to previous EPs, which were pieced together on others timeframes so that the material was somewhat outdated by the time it surfaced.
It seems to be a reflection of the moment, Crittenden says.
Most of what Overzealous does seems to be of the moment, seizing projects spontaneously and approaching them head-on. In 2005, the band starred in Novem, an independent film about a college band that meets a sudden death after a week of recording in the summer of 1973.
The type of role that the guys were to have in the film, however, came as a shock to the band.
\We thought we were signing up to write songs, but we were trying out for parts, Crittenden says.
Overzealous took the roles anyway, and continues to dive headlong into whatever opportunities present themselves.
At 22, we were like, Yeah, well play music. Where do we go? Crittenden says.
Though he and Sellers are both 27 now, they have hardly curbed the enthusiasm for the band, their music often sticking out like a sore thumb, but in a positive sense, as Sellers puts it.
The name Overzealous probably has more meaning now than it did at the time, Sellers says. Here we are 10 years later, just me and Brad still, pushing the same thing. I feel like when our work does come out, its overzealous.
In addition to pushing Yellow Jr. wherever it can, the bands next endeavor may possibly be another release of songs recorded live in New York. If the New York recordings, should they see the light of day, have any of the energy of Yellow Jr., it will be worth a listen.
Weve taken a lot of opportunities that were hit or miss, Sellers says. If you dont try and test the waters, youll just be sitting around waiting for something to come.
Overzealous is a group that hearkens back what is now uncommon in rock music: they produce songs, not a lamentation on negative feelings that seems to prevail in today’s world. Their music is hard but feels good. Their sound can in some ways be seen as an homage to the pedigree of Knoxville, their hometown: one of their major influences is Superdrag, another fine band from the South. They even draw their music from groups like the Beatles and especially John Lennon’s music in particular. However, ultimately Overzealous has its own, unique sound; one that is dedicated to a catchy, melodiously infused music.
“Apples and Girls” is a tune that is extremely memorable. The guitar riff sets up a wonderful entrance while the drums and bass set up a properly party-like atmosphere for the lead singer.
“This Old Man” channels Led Zeppelin in its hard-hitting yet tuneful sensation. It seems to be a expression of grief over old age but is presented in such a cheerful, jovial way that it almost becomes an affirmation that old age is just as enjoyable as young life.
“Big City Postcards” most reminds one of John Lennon’s later music with a little Nirvana thrown in. Listening to the song is just like receiving a postcard from any big city; the guitar solo at the end somehow radiates how relaxing and yet angst-ridden it may be to come home to an apartment in downtown anywhere and attempt to unwind while the world outside bustles with life.
They've starred in an award-winning docu-drama, played the big stage at the Foothills Fall Festival, won a Middle Tennessee battle of the bands contest and, on Saturday, they'll play "The Shed" at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson. Not bad for Dustin Sellers and Brad Crittenden, a couple of William Blount graduates whose partnership dates back to daycare. Technically, the two didn't start making music together until high school, and after graduating from WBHS in 2000, they took their band, Overzealous, to clubs and bars around East Tennessee. "We came to Murfreesboro and won a battle of the bands contest, and part of the prize was studio time at Wolf Studios in Nashville," Sellers told The Daily Times this week. "We went there, started cutting some songs, and they liked us so much, we got to cut all 10 songs, the whole Overzealous record, for free." The duo's good fortune continued, as the studio owner hooked them up with a group of independent filmmakers who were shooting a mock documentary about a band from Bowling Green, Ky., who recorded a collection of rock songs before tragically dying in a wreck on the way back to Harrison State campus. The fictional story intercuts between the band -- Novem, which is also the title of the film -- and those who discover the "lost" music in the present day. Sellers, Crittenden and their old Overzealous bandmates not only provided five or six songs for the soundtrack, they also starred in it. "The long and short of the movie is that it's set in the '70s, part of it, and it's documentary-style, with us hanging out and playing music," Sellers said. "The other part is in the present time, where we're finding the footage of those 'sessions' and the music. It's done really well and has won a half-dozen film festivals. (For more on the film, check out the Web site -- www.novemsongs.com.) "We are songwriters, and we both play guitar, bass, drums and piano," Sellers said. "It really helps with the musicianship and writing." Shortly after the first of the year, the members of overzealous recorded a couple of songs with Travis Wyrick, a local production wizard who's worked with such bands as shadowWax, Jag Star and 10 Years. More recording is planned for a full-length debut album; in the meantime, some promotional copies of songs that developed will be available at Saturday's show. The end result is a frothy pop stew that draws inspiration from The Beatles, The Pixies and Foo Fighters -- melodic rock with a pop slant that isn't too syrupy or too heavy. It's an energetic, feel-good sound that'll go well at "The Shed." "Our biggest selling point is that our catalogue of material is very, very deep," Sellers said. "We've written close to 150 songs together. Obviously, we don't have all of them in our set, but that's one of the things we're excited about. We like to play the straightforward rock stuff, and people who hear us like that, but there's so much more that we want to showcase. "We don't get home as much as we want to, but I'm a big fan of Maryville, and I love it and miss it a lot. This'll be our first show in Maryville, which is kind of appropriate, since the last big show by Overzealous was at the Foothills Fall Festival in 2003 or 2004. This is our first big pumped-up show in Maryville, and we've got a lot of family and friends there, so we're looking forward to trying 'The Shed' out."
