Alumni musicians promise enjoyable show
By Matt von Boecklin
Live shows are the best way to experience music, and anyone who has been to a concert or two will agree. Musicians who can put on a good show are the ones that will be remembered. This is the reason that Mirror Image is asking all students interested to attend their show on Oct. 28.
Why is Mirror Image any different from other bands on The Bronco's lineup? It has something to do with old faces.
Three of the members are Santa Clara alumni, and the lead singer attended graduate programs here as well.
Influences include U2, Dave Matthews, Natalie Merchant, Switchfoot and Fleetwood Mac. As lead songwriter and guitarist Sean Mendelson puts it, "Mirror Image puts on a great show. We're a nice, fun band, and it comes across on-stage. We're ready to bring the after-party for all Halloween celebrations."
Sean Mendelson, Brad Okamoto (violin/sax/mandolin), and Billy Ramirez (drums) all attended Santa Clara together less than five years ago. Mirror Image, which formed in the senior year of the ex-students' college career, is a jazz, funk, and folk ensemble with a surprising kick.
Singer Lisa Trevorrow, who attended grad school at Santa Clara, is the bearer of the band's message, which almost invariably is a celebration of life.
"We are 'stylistic rock,'Ã " says Mendelson. "We vary styles and vibe from song to song. It's similar to the way Sublime and No Doubt vary genres and styles in their albums."
It's always hard for a jam/jazz/funk band like Mirror Image to get an underground album into the mainstream.
Dispatch and Phish are popular jam bands, selling millions of concert tickets, but they never broke radio airplay.
Even Dave Matthews is rarely played on the air. So these bands, along with Mirror Image, can only rely on a live show to help break through.
Mendelson is familiar with live performances. Back when he was a sophomore, he personally instigated open-mic nights in Sobrato. He played in the jazz ensemble for guitar. He had a band called Shades of Hewson. His motto was, "college is what you make of it."
That attitude, it seems, has helped him to mold and craft his band, Mirror Image, into a stand out jam band.
Non-major label recordings tend to leave out the sublime aura of a great jam on any given track. Accordingly, Mirror Image's album, a half-hour EP with six songs called "All Directions," leaves a listener thinking that to truly feel the songs, one must see them played live.
But the songs, jumping from folk to jazz to funk evoke a number of feelings. There's reflection, celebration, and hope in all of them.
Brad Okamoto, who met Mendelson in their freshman year, controls the melody and dynamics of Mirror Image's songs. Playing violin, sax and mandolin with practiced precision, he becomes the crutch upon which the band heavily leans. One of the best parts of Mirror Image's show, according to Mendelson, is simply experiencing Okamoto switch instruments from song to song, creating a different vibe with each transition.
Almost every track's lyrics deal with the manifesto that life is a thing to be savored and enjoyed. It's almost reminiscent of early Dave Matthews: think "Two Step" or "Tripping Billies."
Mirror Image's CD on a whole is an enjoyable experience, with few of the pitfalls of a band with only one album. Sometimes moods are too prolonged, and sometimes the sequences become repetitive.
But then again, such is the method of a good jam band, and such is the reason why one can't help but think that each song was meant to be heard live.
Contact Matt von Boecklin at (408) 551-1918 or mvonboecklin@scu.edu.