Work of Saws

Bred within the healthy pop affects of XTC and Richard Davies, Minneapolis’ Function of Saws was conceived as a spare time activity task of singer/guitarist Brock Davis. Utilizing a take down tape recorder, Davis started compiling a huge selection of one- to two-minute “songlets” that went the stylistic gamut, including country-pop vignettes, playful punk/pop ditties, and Brill Building-inspired pop tracks. Beginning to understand the potential of his copious tracks, Davis enlisted assistance from bass participant and primary member Dave Salmela, who started augmenting the materials with piano preparations and support vocals. Rounding out the lineup immediately after Salmela’s addition arrived guitarist Kurt Froehlich and drummer Greg Barnell. Davis’ prolific songwriting capability and his penchant to get a lo-fi recording design, short tracks, oblique game titles, and idiosyncratic lyrics quickly gained the music group superficial evaluations to indie pop heroes Led By Voices, although their powerful genre moving belied a skill that could defy a relegation to simple copycat position. Culled mainly from Davis’ early tapes, Function of Saws released their epic generally acoustic 44-melody debut album Inspiration and Watertower Sentence structure in the springtime of 2001, to very much acclaim from the neighborhood and nationwide indie underground, while their full of energy, crowd-pleasing concert events continuing to broaden the band’s group of fans.