Link: http://www.earlgreyhound.com/

Confined to a van heading out of New York City, Kamara Thomas warns me on the phone that she may have to call back as they were getting ready to go through a tunnel. You can imagine the three members of Earl Greyhound being surrounded by gear, clothes and instruments, off to experience a ritual that is increasingly becoming less and less popular in American society — the infamous road trip. Their destination was Montreal, Canada, and a scheduled video shoot for a song off of their sophomore release Suspicious Package (Hawk Race Records). Before getting the opportunity to ask about her thoughts on the preservation of an American past time or something you conceptualize in your mind like a ’70s road film, I hear nothing but silence. We were disconnected. True to her word though, moments later, the phone rang. At least I had a second opportunity to talk about the preservation of another past time — the classic elements of rock and roll and their role within it, especially on Suspicious Package.

It’s a topic they have spent all day on the phone with various people talking about as well as talking up the latest album.

“We want to connect and communicate with people,” said Thomas. “We are definitely an in-your-face band that wants to find you and find common ground with the audience.”

Already waist deep in a U.S. tour, the band is bringing their in-your-face approach to The Earth House in Indianapolis on April 21.

They admit, it has not been easy for Earl Greyhound as they have held on tight through the roller coaster ride of their career, including the sudden exit of original drummer Chris Bear after the release of their debut album Soft Targets. But for the band, survival has only made them stronger.

“We have been through it all,” said Thomas talking about her enduring friendship with co-songwriter Matt Whyte. “We have been friends, we have fought, and we have made up. Matt and I have grown up being in this band. Through our ups and downs, this record helped us come into the light.”

Where their debut album was a glitter-eyed testament to how the band could tame the classic rock sound and simply become a band, Suspicious Package is a bolder, more daring and experimental approach. The tone on Suspicious Package is darker and the mood within the band’s songwriting is deeper.

“We came out of the cloud of everything that was going on to make this record,” she said.

Not only is the “palette of influences” different on this album, the two also threw now drummer Ricc Sheridan into the lion’s den and directly into this album. And with this, it enabled the band to take things to the next level. With both Whyte and Thomas serving as primary songwriters, they have spent years channeling each other’s energy and strengths that both show within songs like “Oye Vaya,” “Ghost And The Witness,” as well as the two-part album opener “The Eyes of Cassandra.”

“We approached ‘Eyes of Cassandra’ specifically,” she said. “Matt and I agreed that the song served some bigger idea to just have it as one song. The lyrics expressed in the song leads up to that intensity. We were following our musical instincts, and it ended in a two parter.

“We thought that ‘Cassandra’ had the most dramatic intro to be more surprising especially if you are expecting a certain sound from us.”

The sound you hear at the beginning of Suspicious Package is one of mystery, contemplating and sparse. And as “Part II” of the same song begins, the mystery explodes into an atmosphere of notes as they ponder divine law to explore human and moral nature through the eyes of Cassandra.

As poignant and important as that song represents the change that took place within the band, they balance their existence between progressivism and the ideology of classical rock and roll philosophy. What that entails is not only something different from one song to the next — whether it is raging guitar muscle or sincere balladry — but something fresh and  new within the boundaries of the band.

“We like a little bit of drama,” Thomas said. “We sequenced the album to serve each song and for it to be a great listening experience for everything and everyone.”

That may be the ultimate goal for any hard-working band to achieve, the pleasure of that connection between band in listener. But when you hear the three of these musicians come together in a song like “Ghost And The Witness,” it’s blatantly obvious how well this band has achieved that.