THE SIGHTS

  • CURRENT RELEASE

    • Release
      LEFT OVER RIGHT
      July 19, 2012
      BUY

  • Upcoming shows

    No shows booked at the moment.

    • Detroit’s masters of heavy soul, The Sights, are a five-piece rock ‘n’ roll band renowned for both their incendiary live shows and acclaimed song-writing. Think Big Star & Badfinger fronted by Steve Marriott and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what makes these guys tick. Hailed by critics and fans alike, they continue to build on an incredible 14-year legacy of uncanny blues-rock meets power pop.

    The Sights combine the unobtrusive honesty of The Band with countless slivers of influence from their own personal record collections: Ike and Tina, Solomon Burke, The Everly Brothers, Bob Seger, Tim Hardin and all manner of raucous, infectious songwriting. Starting in the summer of 1998, famed typhoon of energy Eddie Baranek (guitar/vocals) fronted evolving line-ups through 2000’s Are You Green?, 2002’s Got What We Want and 2005’s self-titled The Sights – all recorded at Jim Diamond’s (White Stripes, Electric Six, Dirtbombs) Ghetto Recorders in Detroit.

    2010’s Most of What Follows Is True was an overwhelming critical success, placing in the top fifteen percent of The Village Voice’s 2010 Pazz and Jop listing and garnering press accolades from around the globe. With that record, The Sights achieved an unprecedented level of song and studio craftsmanship. In an era of soulless keyboards, drum machines and Autotune, Eddie & Co. responded with thrillingly catchy songs. No gimmicks, no studio trickery – just inspired rock ‘n’ roll from the heart.

    2012 is shaping up to be The Sights’ best year yet. They’ve already supplied the music for two Chevrolet ads, and this summer will bring a new single (“Eso No Está Bien Pequeña/Like Two Little Kids”) as well as the release of their seventh effort, Left Over Right. On it, Baranek is joined by Jarrod Champion (keyboards/vocals), Dean Tartaglia (saxophone/vocals), Kyle Schanta (bass) and Skip Denomme (drums) where they deliver not only their most soulful album to date, but do it with all of the intensity that has fueled their previous recordings and live shows for well over a decade. If you love – really love – passionate songs that fire your imagination and move your ass, then you’re gonna really love The Sights.

    The Sights have shared the stage with some of the best in the business: Robert Plant, Tenacious D, The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs, Sloan, The Datsuns, The Donnas, The Bravery, The Kills, along with many others. Their precocious ability to blend frenetic garage rock with ’60s pop and create something equally classic and catchy has garnered consistently rave reviews from both sides of the Atlantic. NME wrote “[The Sights are] a revelation – a treasure trove of sparky and wildly immediate songwriting” and Rolling Stone commented “at last – a new Detroit-garage band that comes in colors.”

    Raucous? Infectious? That pretty well sums up The Sights’ live shows as well. It’s a rocket-ride that has been experienced by countless audiences throughout North America and Europe, and will surely win over thousands more this summer when they hit the road with Tenacious D as part of their highly anticipated Rize of the Fenix tour!

    The Sights’ Left Over Right album will be available June 19th through HRM in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Vinyl formats.

    THE SIGHTS’ SUMMER 2012 TOUR DATES:

    May 04  Tequila Blue – Royal Oak, MI

    May 05 Town Pump – Detroit. MI

    May 12  Woodruff’s, Ypsilanti, MI

    May 16 Euclid Records In-Store – St. Louis, MO

    May 19 The Compound – Phoenix, AZ

    May 21 Burger Records In-Store (9pm – Free) – Fullerton, CA

    May 22 Whisky A Go Go – West Hollywood, CA

    May 23 Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA  w/ TENACIOUS D

    May 24 Fox Theater – Oakland, CA  w/ TENACIOUS D

    May 26 Les Schwab Amphitheater – Bend, OR  w/ TENACIOUS D

    May 27 Langano Lounge – Portland, OR

    May 28 Sasquatch Festival – George, WA

    May 31 Turf Club – Minneapolis, MN

    Jun 02 Upfront and Company. Marquette, MI

    Jun 16 Park Bar, Detroit, MI w/Reigning Sound

    Jun 17 Double Door, Chicago, IL w/Reigning Sound

    Jun 21 31st St. Pub Pittsburgh, PA

    Jun 22 MOTR Pub, Cincinnati, OH

    Jun 23 Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jun 25 Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jun 26 The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jun 28 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jun 29 Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY

    Jun 30 Penn’s Landing – Festival Pie, Philadelphia, PA   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 02 Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 03 Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 06 The Fillmore, Detroit, MI   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 07 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 16 Daytrotter Session – Rock Island, IL

    Jul 19 Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 20 Palladium Ballroom, Dallas, TX   w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 21 Brady Theater, Tulsa, OK  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 22 The Outland, Springfield, MO

    Jul 23 The Pageant, St Louis, MO  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 24 Uptown Theater, Kansas City, MO  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 26 Red Rocks, Denver, CO  w/ TENACIOUS D

    Jul 29 SDSU Open Air Theatre, San Diego, CA  w/ TENACIOUS D

    MORE DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

    FEEL FREE TO POST THE SIGHTS’ NEW SONG “FOOL” FROM THEIR FORTHCOMING ALBUM LEFT OVER RIGHT:
    http://soundcloud.com/pavement-pr/the-sights-fool


    FOR MORE INFO ON THE SIGHTS:
    http://www.sightsarmy.com

    FOR MEDIA AND INTERVIEW REQUESTS:
    Tony Bonyata
    Pavement PR

    p: 262.903.7775

    e: bonyata@wi.rr.com

    HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT THE SIGHTS’ MOST OF WHAT FOLLOWS IS TRUE:

    “The album’s great; it’s filled with sing-song themes of self-reproach and waning innocence, all delivered with the heartfelt zeal of a modern-day Faces. Do your duty and purchase a copy at your local indie record store.” – Brian Smith / METRO TIMES

    “The Sights are an awesome band and their new record Most Of What Follows Is True is a great, great record. I highly recommend it.” – Keith Roth / THE ELECTRIC BALLROOM: WRAT RADIO

    “…one of Detroit’s greatest musical treasures.”  – MOTOR CITY ROCKS

    “…this was a record made out of the love for music and it comes through here on every ‘60s influenced power pop nugget, every Detroit sounding garage stomper and even the steel pedal induced tracks all back up The Sights early hype and prove that their talent has never diminished.” – THE FIRE NOTE

    “… a raw slice of Detroit-style blues rock.” – BROOKLYN ROCKS

    “… a foot tapping, stomp fest.” – THE ROCK & ROLL GURU

    “The band comes out of the gate with the guitar-heavy “How Do You Sleep?” sounding like a mix between The Creation and Blue Cheer while “Hello to Everybody” is a charging power pop nugget which doesn’t forget the humor (“Well I tried suicide but it wasn’t for me, it got to be a little too trendy”). A few tunes add some nifty pedal steel (“I Left My Muse” and “Back to You”) while the jangly “Maria” adds a nice Beatles touch to the proceedings (and “Happy” is pure 1967 Who with those opening Keith Moon-esque thundering drum fills).
Baranek proudly wears his influences on his sleeve but when the attention to songcraft is this detailed you won’t hear too much complaining. Their best yet.” – BLURT

    “… a notable album that deserves your attention. Detroit rock band The Sights is rooted in their native Motown sounds, with a modern rock edge.” – John Hendricksen / THE DENVER POST

     “…classic rock with a hint of blues and, this time around a little hint of country too.  It’s a corker… it’s rock and roll.” – HOT SPOT MUSIC

    “Awesome opening track ‘How Do You Sleep’ may sound like it was recorded 35 years ago, but it, along with much of the record, transcends any era trappings, feels current, and kicks ass. The band wisely reteamed with old producer Jim Diamond, who is responsible for at least 75% of the best straight-up rock records of the past decade (The Dirtbombs, The Ponys, The Whites Stripes…etc), and doesn’t disappoint here.” – David Mansdorf / LOSING TODAY

    “Five years after their last album, The Sights have returned with its strongest effort yet. Leader Eddie Bararenk has found the sweet spot in his songwriting, harnessing the melody of British-influenced power pop to the R&B-fueled garage rock of the band’s earliest days with tighter craft than ever before.” – Michael Toland / THE BIG TAKEOVER

    “Much of The Sights’ first three records play like grinning, raucous romps through dusty record shops, spinning everything from blues to latter-British-invasion to mustachioed, solo-indulgent ’70s rock. Most of What Follows is True, with its sporadic brow-raising bluntness in autobiographical lyricism, could be the most illuminating, or at least heartfelt, Sights album yet. Musically, it’s simultaneously fresh, yet worn and comfortable, with three new members flexing their idiosyncrasies in instrumental inflection and switching off lead singing/writing. It’s still flat-out rock ‘n’ roll, but noticeably, on Baranek’s pieces, more candid.” – Jeff Milo / REAL DETROIT WEEKLY

    “The Sights’ latest release is an explosion of tuneful power-pop gems that conjure up ‘60s British masters like The Kinks and (dare I say) The Beatles.  They stretch out on a few songs to dip into Country and some blue-eyed Soul.  A remarkable comeback.”  – PIRATE CAT RADIO / SAN FRANCISCO

    “… powerful songs with hooks and harmonies aplenty. Listen now, or forever hold your peace!” – WFMU RADIO

    “Put your pants on tight, because The Sights are back to rock them off. Their upcoming album, Most of What Follows Is True, is crammed full of hearty, gritty rock that could blow a house down.  Led by Detroit’s most underrated contributor to the rock world, Eddie Baranek, the newly-aligned four-piece will have you longing for simpler times when rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t drowned in pretension.” – QRO MAGAZINE

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  • REVIEWS

    • "Eddie Baranek’s one of those effortless masters of garage/pop/R&B/soul—he’s the kind of guy Little Steven wishes he could clone and add to every three piece combo—but he’s never rested on his laurels, and Left Over Right finds him expanding his palette on an album run riot with saxophone, trombone and organs galore. Admittedly, there’s less guitar heroics to be found on Left Over Right than on previous Sights albums (though check out the Big Rock Solo on “Anything to Anyone” to hear that they’ve still got it), but these lifers know that there’s more to rock and roll than six-string theatrics." - Stephen Haag / POPMATTERS
    • "The Sights' latest (and best), is a wonderful mix of tight songwriting and pop rhythm & blues with nods to the Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake Small Faces and the Sunflower-era Beach Boys." - THE BIG TAKEOVER
    • "Immensely powerful. They’re stopping in Toledo for an ass-kicking night of straight-up rock n’ roll, swingin’ pop, swooning soul, and proof that nobody quite does it like Detroit bands do." - Ryan A. Bunch / TOLEDO.COM
    • "Each time The Sights make a new record we say it’s their best yet. No sense straying from tradition and getting up off our knees now ’cause their new, AutoTune-free, Jim Diamond-helmed album (their seventh!), Left Over Right, is the band’s finest moment thus far. No sh*t." - Brian Smith / METRO TIMES
    • "Detroit's garage/power pop monsters The Sights, fronted for the past decade and a half by Eddie Baranek (guitar/vocals), have just released their seventh effort, Left Over Right, the followup to 2010's Most of What Follows Is True. On it, Baranek is joined by Jarrod Champion (keyboards/vocals), Dean Tartaglia (saxophone/vocals), Kyle Schanta (bass) and Skip Denomme (drums) where they deliver not only their most soulful album to date, but do it with all of the intensity that has fueled their previous recordings and live shows for well over a decade." - BLURT
    • "We need the wild cards and the intangibility [that The Sights bring to their music] to make things feel like one glorious, getting pushed off the roof and into a pool kind of moment more often than we don't." - Sean Moeller / DAYTROTTER
    • "On their new album Left Over Right dashes of Beatlesque piano pop join the band’s usual melodic garage rock and R&B-flavored power pop for another rip-snorting good time." - Michael Toland / THE BIG TAKEOVER
    • "Unlike past efforts, the new album is less bluesy and guitar-driven, and offers a more R&B-oriented sound, built around horns and keys. A garage-rock prodigy of sorts, Eddie Baranek seems to have been blessed with an uncanny ability to evoke the best work of Humble Pie, Badfinger and Mott the Hoople in his songs — often in the same tune." - Bob Mehr / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL: MEMPHIS
    • "Rock and roll is what The Sights continue to deliver, and their latest record, Left Over Right offers more of the same great riffs juxtaposed against the same timeless melodies Eddie Baranek continues to produce. Sharp and electric, the latest incarnation of the band is fresh off the road from a national summertime tour with Tenacious D." - WDET RADIO
    • "The Sights are on a roll with their latest album Left Over Right." - Gary Graff / THE OAKLAND PRESS
    • "Opening for Tenacious D is no easy task, yet The Sights rose to the occasion. With high energy and exceptional musicianship, The Sights banged out a style of rock that could be described as a clash between The Rolling Stones and Arcade Fire. If there was anything to take away from their set, it was that these guys know how to play their instruments. Guitar solos, drum solos and even a saxophone solo made an appearance in the 30 minute opening act." - THE REBEL YELL: LAS VEGAS
    • "The Sights’ new record Left Over Right is a sweet collection of high-energy rock and soul from this Detroit quintet who have been pounding the pavement for some 14+ years now." - MOTOR CITY ROCKS
    • "This raucous quintet proffer hooky guitar riffs and a vibrancy missing from much of the rock scene in recent years and released their seventh album, Left Over Right, on June 19th. Fans of fellow Detroit band The White Stripes will appreciate the heart-thumping tunes that lead singer Eddie Baranek and his bandmates bang out." - Sal Christ / 303 MAGAZINE: DENVER
    • "A Detroit-based band dedicated to reviving rowdy garage rock." - KANSAS CITY STAR
    • "Earth shaking & electrifying. Left Over Right is more cohesive and focused than their last record. And after this summer’s tour supporting Tenacious D, you can expect that The Sights will return to the studio with even greater tenacity than ever before. Not only has Eddie become a better songwriter over the years, but his band has consistently stepped up to the plate – elevating his vision of what rock n’ roll is really about." - DAVE CHMIL MUSIC REVIEWS
    • "The Detroit-based band The Sights made the most of its brief opening set for Tenacious D, playing a half hour of glorious ’60s-style garage rock including “How Do You Sleep” and “Fool (I Can’t Stop Making Out with You).” - ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
    • "The Sights' sound callbacks to the MC5 and Exile On Main Street-era Stones… satisfying. " - DALLAS OBSERVER
    • "The Sights' garage sound swaggers with influences ranging from punk to glam, blues to the Kinks to Queen." - TULSA WORLD
    • "Call it garage soul, call it ragged power pop, or simply call it rock 'n' roll. But whatever the label, the appeal of the raucous typhoon that erupts when The Sights kick into gear is undeniable." - KDHX RADIO: ST. LOUIS
    • "Left Over Right is a winning, layered mix of garage, pop and soul that gets better with each listen and boasts enough studio flourishes and solid craftsmanship to have plenty of appeal to the audience that pushed the latest from The Black Keys and the recent Jack White release to the top of the charts." - LOS GRILLOS
    • "The Sights, led by ebullient frontman Eddie Baranek, blasted out catchy '60s pop tracks to a warm reception. The gang seemed to have all the characteristics that Tenacious D's Jack Black & Kyle Gass champion: energy, good humor, and a sincere desire to rock." - SAN FRANCISCO WEEKLY
    • "Detroit’s former boy wonders, The Sights are back with a new one. And all’s just a little more right with the power pop world. Well, it’s not entirely, or only, power pop – the band has a strong soul influence, with a bit of hard rock to it as well. In any case, Left Over Right is a five-man life force, it’s so full of irresistible hooks, ‘60s-inspired songwriting, and passionate rock ‘n’ roll affection. Doesn’t look like Baranek & Co. are likely to run out of ideas any time soon." - Mary Leary / DAGGER
    • "On The Sights' Left Over Right the sound creeps forward to visit late '60s/early '70s classic rock, decorative bits of psychedelia, and even folk rock. There are so many whispered influences (The Animals, Badfinger, Bowie, The Band) that it's not so much a tribute as a long comfortable soak in a bygone era. A great album." - JESTER JAY MUSIC
    • "This album is their best yet." - Yuliya Harris / AFTER 5 DETROIT
    • "These Motor City soul/garage/blues rockers just wrapped up the recording sessions for Left Over Right, which could fit just as comfortably alongside The Band, Solomon Burke or Bob Seger, packing plenty of pop sensibility at every turn." - Andy Argyrakis / CONCERTLIVEWIRE
    • "If this doesn’t sound like a rock & roll party, we don’t know what does." - Mike Newman / EAST VILLAGE RADIO'S BEYOND BEYOND IS BEYOND
    • "About midway through the opening set by Detroit's The Sights you could close your eyes and just about be at the Fillmore in 1971 watching Humble Pie. In fact, if you squinted at the stage at diminutive frontman Eddie Baranek's direction as he leaped about the stage, attacking his hollowbody Gibson, you might've just thought the ghost of Steve Marriott was in the house… and that's no mean trick." - NYC EXAMINER
    • "Detroit's the Sights do a fine job of combining garagey crunch with retro-pop melodies." - TIME OUT NEW YORK
    • "The Sights are a band out of the Motor City that delivers pop heavy tunes infused with the right amount of fuzz and soul. Longtime critical darlings, their 14 year career has yielded multiple albums full of musical nuggets that scream DETROIT! Their latest album, Left Over Right, is a whole lot more of the same. From start to finish the music employs the soulfulness of Motown, the frantic energy of the MC5 and catchy lyrics to create a musical environment for the listener to enjoy." - ATLANTA EXAMINER
    • "Left Over Right is the perfect album to give the person in your life who complains that they don’t make bands like they used to anymore." - MIDNIGHT TO SIX
    • "This album is a solid offering and showcases that what The Sights do, they do very well." - CULTURE BRATS
    • " These songs show the band growing into a true R&B machine, mixing southern horns into guitars that continue to roar with a Motor City ferocity. Baranek delivers his vocals with the abandon of a preacher about to slip into tongues as he channels his spirited tales to lay along the walls of organ-flecked pandemonium underneath. The Sights have always been a great live band. And their albums always showed they were capable of delivering solid studio work. But Left Over Right shows that the band has finally wrassled that live fervor and captured it down to tape to reveal their full potential. And a more potent result we couldn't have asked for." - CHICAGOIST
    • "Left Over Right deftly mixes churning guitars with left-of-center, Beatlesque power-pop melody. – Steve Forstneger / ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER
    • "Most of What Follows Is True is the finest record any line-up of the band has cut yet. Recorded, like every other Sights album, at Jim Diamond’s Ghetto Recorders, the band’s fourth shifts the emphasis away from the touchstone mod-psych sounds of the mid-‘60s toward the freewheelin’ rock-a-boogie of the early ‘70s. Their chosen musical path echoes with the distant footsteps of the Small Faces/Faces former band members Steve Marriott, with his short-lived supergroup Humble Pie, but especially Ronnie Lane’s solo work recorded in one of the first mobile recording studios down on his Welsh farm at Fishpool. Combining the jaunty piano/organ and sing-along tradition of British Musical Hall, Appalachian banjo, and violin with rock ‘n’ roll, the touching heart-on-sleeve ode to Baranek’s girlfriend “Maria”, for example, contains the essence of Lane’s pioneering sound. Then there’s the blue-eyed soul shout, windmilling power chords, driving B4, coruscating guitar skirmishes, and boozy blues rock which provides the album’s sweaty counterpoint. Unsurprisingly, these guys have turned out to be honest-to-god rock-a-boogie racketeers." - POPMATTERS
    • "The Detroit combo is back as strong as ever, touring their butts off with an excellent new album to boot. Fronted by the amazing Eddie Baranek, whose vocals are like a heavenly cross between prime time Rod Stewart, Steve Marriott and James Brown, The Sights boogie like an American version of The Faces with an intoxicating hybrid of rock ‘n’ soul… Scorching guitar riffs that crush, soaring harmonies and a heavy pop swagger reminiscent of Big Star." - THE BIG TAKEOVER
    • "Most of What Follows is rooted in the tough, straightforward, R&B-based rock that's the Sights' bread and butter, though the pedal steel on "I Left My Muse" suggests they've also been listening to some classic country sides, and "Maria" is spot-on pure pop. The album is long on great tunes and rock & roll swagger, but Baranek and his latest edition of The Sights (Dave Lawson on bass, Gordon Smith on keys, and Skip Denomme on drums) never sound arrogant or gimmicky -- what comes through most strongly on Most of What Follows is the sound of four guys playing rock & roll because they love it, and even when the music takes a dark detour on "Take & Take" or slips into the blues on "Back to You," there's an honest joy and enthusiasm that infuses the music at every turn. Baranek sings with an unaffected passion and force that's truly impressive while he and his bandmates play with lots of heart and soul and no false moves; this is strong, rootsy, meat-and-potatoes rock & roll played with gravity, skill, and the enthusiasm of true fans." - ALL MUSIC GUIDE
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