Saltlick shuns 'alt' label.

Byline: Carolyn Lamberson The Register-Guard

It's easy to see why some folks call Saltlick an alt-country band.

There's that jangly telecaster, the pedal steel and lead vocalist Steve Taddei's twangy voice.

Beneath the jangle and the twang beats the heart of a rock band, one influenced by Crazy Horse, Pavement, Built to Spill, Gillian Welch, Modest Mouse, the Replacements and others. Saltlick is an alt-country band in the way that Wilco was an alt-country band for its first couple of records.

A sonic evolution is at work here.

`We don't want to have to sound like anything,' Taddei said. `People keep saying alternative country.

`For me, eventually we're not going to be that anymore. We're turning into something that's Saltlick.'

Eugene's Saltlick is about to release its first full-length CD, "A Face Only a Mother Can Love." The band will celebrate the album's arrival with a CD release show today at Sam Bond's Garage.

For Taddei, 29, and his bandmates - keyboardist Ryan Tocchini, guitarist and pedal steel player Chris Ross, bassist Jerry Abelin and drummer Scott Headrick - this is the right time for Saltlick to release its first album.

`We're in a position now where the members of the band don't want to be in a band that's not going to try to do something," he said. "We have fun.

`We always keep it fun, of course, but it's kinda getting to that point where, `Well, do we really want to do something with this or do we not?'

`And we were getting sick of people asking us for a record every time."

Saltlick has been a presence on the Eugene scene since 2000, when Taddei formed the band after his previous outfit, Hillbilly Holocaust, folded. The new group took a break in 2003 and re-formed in '04 with the current lineup.

The group is a regular attraction at Sam Bond's and will play the Saturday evening of the Eugene Celebration, on Oct. 1.

`We're going to try to go about this in a businesslike way," Taddei said. "We decided, `Let's put some money in this and see if we can't make some money off it.' '

In addition to the local show, the band is hitting the road for an abbreviated tour. It will hit Pendleton; Boise; Moscow, Idaho; Missoula, Mont. - all in a week.

`We play very good live,' Taddei said. "We're as energetic as you can be for playing the songs we're playing."

The band recorded most of "A Face Only a Mother Could Love" in Rocchini's basement last November during two rehearsal sessions. But the band dabbles in more ambient experimentation, as well.

Track 4, called "Horsehead," is a conversation taped at, naturally, the Horsehead Tavern in downtown Eugene. Other ambient sounds are woven into "Face.'

The 12th song, a hidden track called "Eighth and Charnelton," is 18 minutes of traffic noise recorded from the roof of the Buy and Sell Center, the music store where Headrick and Taddei work that's at the corner of - you guessed it - Eighth Avenue and Charnelton Street.

"Face" features guest appearances from Ehrin Ebbage on guitar and Alexis Stevens on vocal harmonies. Taddei and Headrick recorded a couple of additional tracks before shipping the record off to be mastered by Justin King at Blackberry Hill Studios.

Local artist Claire Flint did the artwork for the album cover. And yes, Taddei posed with a paper bag over his head for the drawing.

Many of the songs share a theme, that of a boy from a small town coming to find his way in the big city. The songs were written mostly between 1998 and now, Taddei said.

It's an album he says he is proud of because it's the first he's worked on that features only his songs.

`This is like my baby,' he said. `And this first album is like changing the first diaper, kind of.

`We kind of think about it a lot, actually. We use the baby scenario a lot.'

CONCERT PREVIEW

Saltlick

What: CD release show

With: Tractor Operator

When: 9:30 p.m. today

Where: Sam Bond's Garage, 407 Blair Blvd.

How much: $3

CAPTION(S):

Saltlick, regulars on the Eugene music scene for years, will release its first album, "A Face Only a Mother Could Love."