Imagine: Shortly after their gig at Bob’s Country Bunker, Jake, Elwood and the rest of the Blues Brothers trek north and west to the rainy climes of Seattle for the fabled “next show.” Upon arrival they find themselves at Adrian’s Flannel Shack, where they purport to have both kinds of music; grunge and alternative. Hilarity ensues.

If there really was an Adrian’s Flannel Shack, the name on the marquee outside would be All Time High. Fronted by VALIS bassist/vocalist Adrian Makins — who here plays guitar — the band runs through a warming 12 tracks of pop-based heavy alternative rock on their Small Stone debut, Friends in High Places. It’s not actually grunge, thanks largely to the production of the venerable Jack Endino, who does an excellent job of making it sound like Makins, fellow guitarist Sam Williams, bassist Steb Brown and drummer Matt Vandenberghe (also of VALIS and since replaced by Bryan Garfinkle) have showered within the last week.

It needs to be said: Nirvana. There. Now it’s out in the open and we can proceed through the rest of this review without the elephant in the room. A strong Incesticide current runs through “Pollyanna” and “No Mind,” but All Time High’s heavier low end and classic rock tendencies give a richer context to the material than can be summed up in a comparison to any one band. That said, if you were to blindfold me, lock me in a room somewhere without the bio, play “Earthquake Bee” and ask what city the band who wrote it was from, I’d probably say Seattle, even if the bassline toward the end of that song reminds me of “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” by Primus.

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In a pairing that can only lead to good things, Californian desert rockers House of Broken Promises have signed to Small Stone Records for the release of their debut full-length, Using the Useless. Here’s the news as it appeared on StonerRock.com, saying pretty much exactly what I just said:

House of Broken Promises consists of Arthur Seay, Mike Cancino, Eddie Plascencia (all 3/4`s of the famed Unida band). HOBP`s Small Stone debut Using The Useless will be hitting store shelves this fall, and the band will be touring Europe in November in support of this release. Perhaps a stop at SXSW 2010 is in the cards as well. More to come very soon, including, bios, photos, lies, and other modern day propaganda…

I interviewed Seay years ago back in my excitable college radio days, but of course, didn’t tape it. Shit happens. He was a cool guy then, pretty clearly stoned, and his band’s demo ruled. Looking forward to the album. In other news, VALIS side-project All Time High also joined the Small Stone roster. Dig it:

All Time High is led by Adrian Makins (current VALIS low end man), and also features Steven Brown, Samuel Williams, and Matt Vandenberghe (also from VALIS). So, you get 50 percent of VALIS for the same low price… Oddly enough, we had only heard of the band`s name, but it was not until Van Conner turned in the audio master for his Northwest Mind Meld comp [review here for curious parties] a few months ago that we finally got to hear their music. We dug it, and we hope you do as well. The band`s debut album, Friends in High Places, will be out as soon as we get it remastered and make some art tweaks. If you are overly curious or just a self starter, head on over to iTunes or eMusic and check out the All Time High song “Steel Sunshine”… It is what sold us!