Good night, sleep tight: Bands takes over Lexington night scene

By Katie Saltz

It’s rock, it’s pop, experimental and a little bit psychedelic. It’s not your average lullaby, but it is the unique sound of Bedtime.

This quartet, originating from Ashland, Ky., consists of James Friley on piano and vocals, Josh Blaine on drums, Andrew Ramey on bass and Lucas Ward on guitar. While the band is split between two cities, their music has spanned I-64 and attracted fans in Lexington over the past two years.

Friley, a music junior, moved to Lexington in 2006 to attend UK. Since then, he travels back to Ashland most weekends just to practice with the band. Over time the member composition has changed, and Friley said the music has mutated as well. No matter what form is takes though – “it does things.”

The sound Bedtime creates is mostly a blend of each member’s own style. Ward is a Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix fan. Friley grew up playing classical piano. Ramey said he was majorly influenced by The Beatles and the 1960s era of music. But it’s those personal differences that let Bedtime really own their music.

“Collectively, we haven’t set out to sound like anyone else,” Ramey said, “I would say we are mostly influenced by each other.”

While the band doesn’t quite fit any one category of music, Ramey said they could have their own genre name – one that is pretty distinctive.

“1890s classical indie-moon rock,” he said. “Sounds as good as anything else, right?”

Originality is a staple of Bedtime’s songs. Friley said he can’t remember when the band has ever played a cover. The song-writing process varies for the guys, but Friley said their best work comes out of just jamming and seeing what sounds good.

“Hopefully we’re recording though, because otherwise we forget what we did,” he said.

Other than original material, there is one thing you can expect from a Bedtime show — noise. And lots of it. Friley said part of the band’s mutation included turning up the volume, which is just the way they like to play.

“That’s a complaint we get, but a lot of people like it,” he said. “I like it that way, but that’s definitely something everybody says, that we are really loud.”

When not practicing with the band, Friley has another music related responsibility on campus. He works as the promotions director for WRFL, booking shows and bringing in bands. Friley said he felt well prepared for the job after working endless hours networking his own band.

“I’ve spent an insane amount of hours at the computer networking bands via Myspace, via e-mails, bands and venues and labels and whoever,” he said. “If I was trying to book a five-day tour, it might take me five hours every night for three weeks just to book those five days.”

Things are easier to manage now with connections in the music scene, but for any band wanting to get their name out, Friley had one piece of advice:

“The Internet is everything these days,” he said. “Myspace is so freaking helpful for bands. It’s the way I book tours, the way I meet bands.”

Bedtime is currently finishing up an album and Friley said he hopes to have a CD release show sometime in April, with their next show at Al’s Bar scheduled for May 9.