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Forgive Durden
Alternative Press - Rob Ortenzi on 6/4/09 @ 5:40 PM - altpress.com
NOW PLAYING: Razia's Shadow: A Musical (FUELED BY RAMEN; fueledbyramen.com)
WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: Forgive Durden embrace the great rock 'n' roll tradition of the rock opera with Razia's Shadow, melding endless ambition with a stable of notable friends (and a little eyeliner).
YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: THE DEAR HUNTER / PANIC AT THE DISCO / THE KILLING MOON
STORY: Marissa Moss
PHOTO: Chris Phelps
During the odd lifespan of the rock opera, some have been genius (The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall), some progressive (Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime) and some downright pointless (Styx's Kilroy Was Here). Forgive Durden's Thomas Dutton has entered into this up and down legacy with Razia's Shadow, a musical about the battle of love over division, good over evil and faith over meaninglessness. The guitars are booming, the arrangements are sweeping and the project is ambitious. So is the rock opera reborn? Vocalist/guitarist Dutton believes so, and Razia's Shadow is proof that some artists still find it a viable genre in a time when the music industry revolves around 99-cent downloads.
A native of Seattle, Dutton is to Forgive Durden as Conor Oberst is to Bright Eyes. Since the release of the band's first album, Wonderland, in 2006, members have come and gone. After a 2007 tour with the Almost, Dutton suddenly found himself essentially a one-man band, but that didn't stand between him and his obsession with tackling the grandiose task of writing a musical.
Influenced by his father's record collection and modern-day theatrical works like the film Moulin Rouge and Silverchair's sweepng 2002 effort Diorama, Dutton did what anyone would do: Recruit a roster of contributors from his A-list friends to help. "I did one demo and got Brendan (Urie) from Panic At The Disco-and it was amazing," he says. Other guests on the album include Chris Conley (Saves The Day) and Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou). Due to the extensive cast, Forgive Durden run into a few snags when it comes to performing the new album live. "We got a guy and a girl to sing some of the characters' parts, then we have keyboards and piano filling in a re-creating some of the other sounds," explains Dutton. "Then we have a sample that fills in everything we aren't able to create without a real orchestra-which we obviously don't have."
But that could change: Dutton is working towards staging Razia's Shadow with a full orchestra in a "real theater in New York or L.A." There's also the possibility of a graphic novel or even a feature film. So who would play Thomas Dutton's role in the movie? "Well, I'd want Brad Pitt to play me," he says. "Not that I think he looks like me or anything. Who even knows if the guy can sing."
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