The Saps
RWIM Chicago

Dan Lastick - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Ryan Whitacre - Drums
Daniel Padgett - Bass


The Saps self-released album C'mon Already - Start A Fire (self-released 2007) gathered  slews of loyal listeners.  Affectionately called "Cmon Already", the album was sugar coated with catchy melodies and self deprecating lyrics that had critics and fans giving their thumbs up.  The dirty little secret is that there was a a dozen or more B sides that may have been a bit too rowdy, a bit too edgy, and were separated from the "C,mon Already" running and thrown in the archives. These songs were the ones that violently tore through guitar strings and beers during the making.  Definitely not as poppy and produced as the songs that made the grade, but are arguably more direct in their statement: "This is a band about being in a band!'.   Trials and tribulations are included in these fast-paced, edgy numbers, and have been compiled onto a retro-Saps EP called Burn Bridges.

The EP's opening song, Wait,  begins with lyrics "I got so drunk last night, I wanted to piss on you". Usually this number closes Saps sets because of the veracity.  Never released on a recording, this is lead singer Dan Lastick's favorite. It represents an out of control time in the bands' history, though frighteningly explosive, seems invigorating now!  

Ricky, a song about being slighted in a recording studio and losing music files labored for at least 6 months, is energetic and jaw clenching. "Shopped around at record labels/Everyone turned us down/ Sayin' the same damn thing, who the fuck did the sound?".  Dripping with sarcasm, Lastick never misses a shot when musically reaming someone who has done the band wrong.

Stay The Same, the 3rd song on the EP, is a jaw biter! Fast pace and catchy, it runs through the sensitive topic of the bands stint in jail that left them broken and discouraged. In the end, this experience left Lastick more encouraged to write this eye opening rocker.

The EP ends with Piece of Glass. This is an acoustic version of a song to be released in April, submitted for fan approval.

Lastick's writing has never been shy about pointing out flaws in his oppressors, people who never gave him a chance, a label that didn't listen, or a newspaper that wouldn't write about the band. This  EP is The Saps' middle finger to those who have put them on the shelf: hence its title Burn Bridges. These songs aren't necessarily the direction the band is going, as much as where The Saps have been. Burn Bridges, a collection of six songs for the faithful fans.  It's drunk, it's sleazy, ladies and gentleman, it's The Saps.

Releases:
Burn Bridges
Released: 2009
Label: Self-Released

C'mon Already - Catch A Fire
Released: 2006
Label: Self-Released

Finally A Band You Can Trust
Released: 2004
Label: Self-Released

"The Saps' forthcoming LP has roots in alt-country of the energetic sort, as if Wilco recorded A.M. on a sugar high and proceeded to invite Stephen Malkmus over for a havoc-wreaking play-date." Spin.com

"On their new album, C'Mon Already - Start a Fire, which tempers the snark with some convincing Beach Boy confections, Nuggets-style psych-garage and a little country picking. They make romantic metaphors out of hospital phobia and fish slipping off hooks, but they mostly make pop-punk for the right reason." Roy Kasten - River City Times (Critics Choice)(St. Louis)

"The new album (C'mon Already-Start A Fire) is the group's poppiest yet, but the shift in direction suits The Saps well." The Onion

"Clever pop, very impressive" USA Today

"The Saps bring poppy hooks, and bitter, yet clever chords." - The Chicago Reader