"Your Window" review in MBR

Navar has done it again. With Your Window, 15 new original songs enhance their reputation for solid vocals and driving, penetrating rock. A single from this latest CD - "Mojave Shake" - is already garnering air time in rock stations that know a good thing when they hear it.

The members of Navar - Pat and Ben Barry, Tim Lindhome, and Mike "Skippy" Yudichak - are making a name for themselves on the East coast. With talent like this, the rest of the country should soon follow.

"Your Window" and "Walking to Hawaii" are full bodied and haunting. "On Again" and "Near the End" are bluesy and erotic. "Mojave Shake" and "Dying Breed" feature Navar's signature cadences that penetrate to the marrow. And somewhere just beneath the surface lies the primal Irish folk rock sound that sets this band apart from all the rest. I mention only a few of the songs here. There's not a bad one in the bunch.

Your Window was recorded at Chameleonwest Studio in Buffalo NY, owned by GooGoo Dolls bassist Robby Takac. Takac and studio manager Marc Hunt produced the album. The end result is high quality, all the way. If you love rock and roll, Your Window is a must have. Included with each CD is a 16 page color insert about the band and a full size Navar bumper sticker. Along with this band's unique sound, I say you can't beat a deal like that.

Review by L.A. Johnson

Rochester City Magazine- April 7, 2004 edition

NAVAR/Burning Daylight
ROCK

There're a lot more groups like NAVAR out there than you might think. They're just not as good or simply don't try as hard. Here's a straight-ahead song-driven Upstate New York outfit that mixes all the contemporary electric styles effectively. But when a band perfects its material to a razor sharpness, it's hard for the majority of kids raised on modern rock to trust. Navar's music is dark and serious, and completely irony-free.

Even if I wasn't aware of show openers Burning Daylight's Push Star connection, it would be a comparison I still might make. With bleeding-hearted Romeos littering the airwaves, it's nice to hear a band that tries to get into a listener's blood writing and playing truly heartfelt songs. Just wait'll you hear 'em break into "Ruby Don't," a beautiful song that's both bittersweet and catchy with a splash of Americana as fresh as Aqua Velva. Definitely keep an eye out for this trio.

NAVAR celebrates the release of its new Robby Goo-produced CD, Your Window, with Burning Daylight, Famous Blue Raincoat, Lucid, and Last Conservative on Friday, April 9, at The Club @ Water Street, 204 North Water Street, at 7 p.m. Tix: $6. 325-5600. 16+

--- Frank De Blase

FREETIME Magazine- April 1, 2004 edition

Area band, Navar is set to put out their second full-length, Your Window, with a CD release party hitting The Club @ Water Street on Friday, April 9th, with guests Last Conservative, Lucid, Burning Daylight, and Famous Blue Raincoat. One of Buffalo's favorite sons, Robby Takac, bassist of the Goo Goo Dolls, aided with production on the album, and his influence is clearly present here, especially on Navar's first single, "Mojave Shake" (already getting area radio play). The band creates melodic rockers with seemingly great ease, full of memorable hooks and led by a charismatic vocalist (who oftentimes reminds of a less-goth, less serious Peter Murphy). Navar is positioned to go far (rhyme not intended), so catch them soon!

FREETIME Magazine- September 5th edition (25 Years in Print)

"Words and Music" section by Michele Picardo

"...hot new rock outfit, Navar. With members based between Rochester & Buffalo, the group let us have a listen to their
self-titled debut which showcases some energetic originals that are hard to pin down to any one category. I would definitely call this some memorable melodic rock, with good hooks from strong players and a lead vocalist who fronts with great passion. Navar play Buffalo's Showplace Theater on September 14th, with Rochester dates pending..."

I was front row center when rock and roll was born. Bill Haley and the Comets. Elvis. Buddy Holly. Jerry Lee Lewis. I saw them all perform in person before their names were household words. And then there were the Beatles, the Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Dead, the Doors. Through every metamorphosis and each new path rock took, I was there, so if there's one thing I know, it's rock and roll. Everything that made rock what it was and is, Navar has. Their sound gave me chills, took me back decades to those early days when rock and roll's message cut through life's pretenses to play on raw emotion. It's rock as it was meant to be - soul snatching, starkly sexual, hypnotic - a sound that 50 years ago drove another generation's parents to the preacher for solutions.

From the mellow, hopeful "Surprisingly Understood" to the frenetic "Heroin"; the haunting "Change Me" to the driving, penetrating "Deadly Mistake"; the explosive "Twisted" to the bluesy, smoky sound of "Meant to Be", Navar packs one hell of a whallop emotionally. All 12 tracks are equally impressive.

I had the sense that all group members contribute equally in creating their distinctive sound. Pat Barry's throbbing baritone beckons and beguiles. He uses that voice and guitar like a weapon to drive Navar's message home. Brother Ben Barry backs everything on vocals and works wonders with his bass guitar. Quite skillfully, Isaac Wood's guitar pulls Navar's sound together to amazing effect. The legendary Bruce Nowak mans the sax on "Meant to Be". Pat wrote all the lyrics and composed the instrumentals to four tracks. Isaac created several of the instrumentals alone, did one with Pat and one with Ben.. Regardless of who did what, this CD is choice.

Navar is not a clone of any group, past or present. Their potential range was apparent by the hint of Irish pathos in their music, and the touch of raunchy old-time blues. This group makes music with a passion rarely heard these days. To say I'm a new fan is understatement.
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Interview with Navar:

I recently previewed a CD by a new group called Navar. Their sound was unlike most rock groups, both old and new, which made me curious to learn more about them. Two founding members of the group are Pat Barry and his brother Ben. Their debut CD is also titled Navar.

LJ for MBR: Navar is hot off a debut concert in New York where your CD was showcased for the first time. How did that go?
Pat: It was a truly memorable show. With so much heart and soul put into this album, it was really great to get back out on stage and introduce our new songs to our fans. Nothing can touch the electricity and emotion that is embraced and dispersed during our life show. Nothing!:

LJ for MBR: I know you call your music "alternative rock", but it sounds like good old down and raunchy rock and roll to me. Explain the designation "alternative rock" to our readers.
Pat: It is actually pretty hard to place music in a specific category. I think that they give you the big bins like "ROCK" and "Hip Hop" to ease the pain a bit. The worst part of the whole classifying dilemma is that your music HAS to fit into a genre and what is even more scary is that you have to know what it is. For me, alternative rock is good old rock and roll...and more. Alternative rock tends to hit more of the mainstream, with more emotion in the vocals and lyrics. Without getting crazy and expounding a painful explanation like "Navar is an emo/indie rock hybrid band with hints of funk, folk and metal dispersed sporadically," we just throw the mess into the "rock bin" and move on to the next question. Anyone confused? Don't worry, I am too.

LJ for MBR: While previewing your CD Navar, I was impressed with how well your sound seemed to mesh. How long have you been making music together? And give us some details as to who creates the music and lyrics.
Pat: To put all of this into perspective, I'd like to start out by saying that this whole project has happened in under 6 months. The fact that we came up with 12 songs that we all felt passionate about was impressive to me. The whole process began with some creative jamming I did with Isaac. We developed some of my previously written acoustic demos and Isaac's riffs/progressions into full band arrangements to start out . After working through all that we had in our musical closets, the next task was to push forward with new material together. Isaac and I had some truly surreal moments in our practice space where he would just play and I would write lyrics and melodies right on the fly. Songs just began to flow so smoothly that I began to think that we must be ripping people off. We headed into the studio in the beginning of June with 7-8 songs that the band felt completely confident with. Meant to be and a few others were in the works and songs like Virgin Life and Omen hadn't even been born. We recorded all the finished tracks and then just jammed out the rest. While I would have liked to develop the songs for a few months, I still love the spontaneity of the whole thing. I am terrible at forcing ideas, so the whole thing was incredibly stressful for me at the end. I wrote many of the lyrics to the new songs in the control room of the studio and on the very last day of recording I wrote all the lyrics to Twisted while driving myself to the studio. Ben actually wrote the meat of Twisted, which ended up being great song. We had a few days of stillness and then he came to me with the bass line that sparked the song. I wrote a few little riffs for the chorus and verse, but other than that it was his baby. He came through with that song when we needed one more and surprised us all. Now that I know what he is capable of as a writer, I truly look forward to the songwriting that is to come.

LJ for MBR: I know you've made some changes in Navar members since the CD was made. Now would be a good time to give us a little background on current members.
Pat: Yes, there have been some changes here at Navar. Co-songwriter, guitarist and close friend Isaac Wood is taking an opportunity to further his education at the University of Maine and will be greatly missed. I wish him all the luck in the world and hope that our paths will cross once again. Nothing stops for Navar though, we already have quite a few songs being developed with the new lineup!!

LJ at MBR: You seem quite accomplished in many ways to have been at this such a short time. You compose music and write lyrics, sing and play guitar, and I know your brother Ben is closely involved with everything you do. Did you, Ben, or any of the group study music in school, or is your gift a natural one?
Ben: We grew up surrounded by music. Our father is a natural entertainer, always in musicals and singing around the house. And our mother is a creative writer, so we have had creativity and self-expression influences our whole life. We were involved with musicals, church hymns, band and chorus in school. So it was this base combined with our passion for the music we heard on the radio and watched on MTV that cultivated the desire to be a part of that.

LJ for MBR: I appreciate you and Ben taking time for this interview, Pat. I know you have a lot of irons in the fire. Is there any question you wish I would have asked, or any bit of information you want our readers to know about Navar?
Pat: Being successful in the music business isn't easy, especially when you are not backed by the corporate mega-buck. It is help from open minded individuals like you, Laurel, that give us the exposure and the audience that can make a difference. I want to thank you for your help and ask all your readers to stop in to www.Navar.net and check us out. If you like what you hear, pass it on. No matter how good the music is, we still need your help! Take care y'all and keep rockin!

LJ for MBR: It's been my pleasure, and I wish you great success. Thanks!

Laurel Johson
Reviewer/Interviewer