ZapTown

Photo by Harper Smith.

It’s a good day to drive. Cruising through Midwestern landscapes, the four members of the Postelles left New York City to embark on their first North American tour. Now deep into a series of shows — the destination of their road trip started out by traveling to Minneapolis — this tour has them going places they have always wanted to experience, yet never had the opportunity until now.

Hearing chatter and laughing in the background during a conversation with Daniel Balk, lead vocals and rhythm guitarist, the band was in good spirits. It could be the general excitement of adventure as much as it is good friends sharing good times with each other.

“We are really excited to get out there,” said Balk. “We have been playing this material for a while, we made some adjustments to the music, and now we have this extended energy to paint a pretty accurate depiction of the songs live.”

This is early tour talk as Balk says they will continue feeling out the songs and “find out what songs will work and what songs will not.” This is a band that is focused and committed to what they do.

A group of high school buddies, Balk, along with David Dargahi (vocals/lead guitars), John Speyer (bass), and Billy Cadden (percussion),  joined together over the love of music. With a fond appreciation for the New York scene both past and present and ‘50s and ‘60s rock and roll — from Buddy Holly to Sam Cooke — they began going from talking about music to playing it.

The move to play live led them to a chance encounter with Stroke’s member Albert Hammond, Jr. Running into him on the street, Balk asked him to check out their show at the Sidewalk Cafe. Hammond, Jr. came back and saw the performance. It was an impression that led to a friendship with the band and to recording “123 Stop” in his living room.

The band took a back burner when three of the members went on to college. Even separated and in other cities, the band would try to re-unite to play as often as possible.

“During this time, we grew a lot as a band,” Balk said.

They realized that it was The Postelles’ name they needed to make full-time. After a year, they made that dream happen and began working on their debut, the White Nights EP.

“We re-recorded songs from our demo, like ‘White Night and ‘123 Stop,” he said. “It gave new light to these songs, and it allowed us to play them just how we wanted to. I love the sound that we captured. It sounds like we are all playing in a room, which is what we did.”

What resulted was a group of songs that emits a feel-good vibe through conventional rock and roll. Little computer trickery is involved as the band shines best in the moment of their own image, bringing the past and the present together in a bundle of guitar rock imagery.

And now that the band is on a roll, playing shows all the way into June and beyond, The Postelles don’t plan to put the brakes on the rock and roll train.

“We are continually writing songs and playing them live as they develop. We are already prepping for a new album. For now, we will continue playing live and learn a lot about the songs before getting back to New York and back into the studio.”