I'm not sure where I first "met" My Friend Steve. It was probably one night seven or eight years ago when I was burning up my modem with Napster downloads. I stumbled upon a lot of little-known "modern rock" back then, and each new find seemed to lead to another.
MFS was an Orlando-area band that was essentially a vehicle for frontman Steve Burry. Hope & Wait was their only full-length album and is most often compared to acts like the Counting Crows, Third-Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty. Apparently Rob Thomas from MB20 is also from the Orlando area and lists Steve Burry as one of his biggest influences.
While I understand the references to each of those bands, as Burry's project, MFS sounds much less like a "band" and much more like a singer/songwriter backed by session musicians. The sound may be similar to groups that found greater success, but the end-product doesn't have such a mass-market feel to it. I think it works because the writing is strong enough to carry it. Burry's got a way with words - whether they're witty and sardonic or insightful and provocative.
Perhaps ironically, I began with the end. The first song I remember hearing was the last song on the album - "Carflips" - which begins with one of my favorite opening lines: "Let it be said I sold you out..." and ends with a haunting appeal.
Steve's biggest commercial success came with "Charmed," a song soaked in sarcasm, which was used as the theme to some WB show I never watched. LOL
The third highlight for me is "All in All (Victoria)," a simple, but beautifully-crafted (end of) love song.
"Words in the wind, well they certainly do come easy..."
Burry's words carry more weight than Victoria's empty promises, but for him, they seem to come just as easily. I'm only disappointed that we won't hear more.
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