Tag Archives: Aaron Lee Tasjan

PHOTOS: Aaron Lee Tasjan at The Blue Room

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Aaron Lee Tasjan at The Blue Room (Nashville, TN)

Aaron Lee Tasjan is a performer’s performer; one whose love of art and experimentation combines in tremendous fashion with a distinct reverence for the rock and roll traditions which came before him. With a knack for storytelling and a sharp wit to match, he invites each member of his audience to make a personal connection with his music.

That’s what we had a chance to experience last Thursday at The Blue Room, and we were more than happy to take the ride!

Tasjan’s performance was in celebration of his new album, Stellar Evolution. Released on April 12, the full-length offering explores and shatters sonic boundaries, while offering personal takes on sobriety (“The Drugs Did Me”), the queer adolescent experience (“Horror Of It All”), and the state of American political culture (“I Love America Better Than You”).

Set highlights — aside from the aforementioned fan favorites — included special guest appearances by renowned guitarist, songwriter, and producer Butch Walker; indie rock standout Molly Martin (who opened the evening), and interdisciplinary musician and producer Lafemmebear on an exciting rendition of Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel.” Walker and Lafemmebear stayed onstage to add their respective flavors to Tasjan’s 2021 song, “Up All Night.”

Of the new tunes, “Pants” brought funky, feel-good vibes to accompany a message empowering the audience to feel comfortable within their own skin. The beachy, romantic “Ocean Drive” brought a sense of serenity into the room, as it captured the essence of feeling at home with the one you love.

Tasjan even gave us a preview of what is to come post-Stellar Evolution by performing two new songs. “The Real” felt like a love letter to those in attendance; one which gave Tasjan a chance to showcase his guitar chops, with an emotive solo reminiscent of Richie Sambora at his most soulful. Immediately thereafter, “Punk Rock Joy” was a high-energy banger which made a statement — no matter what the world, society, or a government takes away from us, it can’t have what’s inside our hearts.

WATCH: Aaron Lee Tasjan Examines the ‘Horror Of It All’

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Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

Aaron Lee Tasjan has made a career out of pushing the sonic envelope, but his forthcoming album, Stellar Evolution, promises to be his most innovative offering to date. The record — Tasjan’s fifth studio album — is said to “(connect) the far away universes of slacker indie, hyper pop, and new wave.”

And frankly, if the rest of the record is anything like lead single, “Horror Of It All,” sign us up for more!

The single is a glorious sonic melting pot; one whose new wave sensibilities feel nostalgic and futuristic, all at once. The tension of this glorious hybrid soundscape — which reaches a brilliant apex with an electrifying guitar solo shortly after the 2:20 mark — is representative of “the joy, confusions and humiliations of the queer adolescent experience.”

“When I think of what scares me the most about ‘being myself,’ is that I’ll get rejected for it. This song examines the concepts of both rejection and self-acceptance, through metaphors of childhood playground heartbreak and the dramatic nature of the teenage experience,” Tasjan noted. “The story is being told through the eyes of a young queer person. I wanted to use experiences from childhood in the song, because I feel like those heartaches are the ones that are truly everlasting. In life, we have to deal with and learn from the heartbreaks of our youth. Those lessons stay with us because the pain of the experience can be processed, but the memory of it happening always remains.”

“Horror Of It All” is accompanied by a stellar, Teen Wolf-inspired music video, lending a nod to Tasjan’s love of 80s cinema, as well as to the confusion of — and ultimately, triumph over — our formative teenage years. Watch it below!