Isaac: lead guitar and vocals
Skup: bass
Tony Bones: Dums
Vic: guitar
Influences
Almost every bit of rock out there. Each member of the band has a multitude of different styles that they like and all of them show up in the music somewhere.
Sounds Like
Our fans say that we sound like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and Stevie Ray Vaughn to name a few. I know that can not possibly go together but that is what we hear from the people who love our music.
In one of the more mathematically curious rules of rock and roll, the "power trio" can make sounds that seem far more sizable than their lineup. Acts like Cream, Rush and Crazy Horse proved that, in the immortal philosophy of Schoolhouse Rock, three certainly can be the magic number when it comes to volume and intensity.
Houston's Sunburst 17, whose members previously played together in Follow for Now before settling on their current moniker, falls right into that power trio category with this stunningly impressive self-titled debut. Meaty enough to run afoul of vegans everywhere, this baker's dozen of tracks wake tired and complacent ears with fuzz-bomb blasts and '70s-style hard rock helpings.
Sunburst 17's driving force is singer and guitarist Isaac Perez, a real revelation as both. On the mike, he delivers each line with passion and power -- a refreshing change from many line-reading rock singers. On guitar, he soars and plummets on the scales and takes many surprising turns. The former music student at the University of Houston was obviously not nodding off during class. Meanwhile, the rhythm section -- bassist Henry "Skup" Skupin and drummer Tony "Bones" -- is tightly locked into a twin groove, but the expansive songs give each player ample room to show off his own skills.
The rawness of tracks like "Caught Up" and "Perfect Connection" come across like the soundtrack to a thunderstorm, while the rat-a-tat attack of "Greatest Amount" is the hail hitting your window. The band shows a funkier side on "Big Momma Bomb," with their jazz leanings only building in "Miss You." And "Dance Naked in the Rain" is full of joyous abandon.
But the record's centerpiece is the suite of "Icarus to the Sun" and "I'll Just Run." Catchy and memorable melodies with a Thin Lizzy-like pump and thump weave through both numbers. It's just the stuff to play at full blast through your speakers, neighbors be damned.
But not all of the album succeeds. "Cry Anymore" lapses dangerously close to Creedland, while the slower "Dealings" and Sabbath-like "In Between" drag a bit under the weight of their ambitions. Nevertheless, this is an exciting, get-the-blood-pumping record that makes you wonder what these guys could do live.
houstonpress.com | originally published: February 20, 2003
From Reverent to Irreverent, from Sarcastic to Bombastic
SUNBURST 17 is Rock-N-Roll the way it was meant to be played.
MP3.Tv has named SUNBURST 17 as an emerging talent and has them showcased on their website. As of now SUNBURST 17 is the only Texas based band to receive this recognition and attention
SUNBURST 17's lyrics challenge and explore the ups to the downs of relationships by investigating the lives of Isaac, Skup and Tony Bones through verse and shamelessly open up their lives for your review. As a band they explore their own joy, bitterness, mirth, confusion, and the depths of depravity that life can drop one in, sometimes all with in the same song.
The music played by SUNBURST 17 is all-original and stylistically it is music truly defined by them. Yes, you can hear elements of early Pearl Jam, Blues Travelers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Byrne, Clash, Nickelback, Cure.... But the band has a "Take No Prisoners" "Offer No Quarters" "Balls To The Walls" massive wave of original sound. This is a band that creates music anywhere and everywhere. But, there is no one sound that you can say that SUNBURST 17 emulates but themselves.
