Over two weeks in December 2013, one Starkville house echoed with vibrations from amplifiers and drum sets.
The brick house became a recording studio for Mississippi State University student Clayton Waller, who said he spent the first two weeks of winter break in his Nash Street residence working at breakneck speed behind a mixing board instead of relaxing on a couch.
“I kind of hauled,” he said. “There was a point where I was running out of time, where I did two songs in a day and the next day another two songs, so I had done four songs in 48 hours.”
The result is his debut album, “Blanks,” a collection of dynamic, rapid-fire rock tunes he will release under the moniker Rock Eupora on April 29.
Waller was the only musician in his DIY studio, which he said was intimidating but kept him on a compressed schedule to foster a creative explosion.
“I knew me setting two weeks aside for a whole album would squeeze the juices out of me,” he said.
“Blanks” sounds like the overflow from a 2000s musician under pressure, as the album rockets from one audial gem to another, including everything from indie rock riffs to Brian Wilson-esque harmonies and back to Spoon-style grooves that shuffle in amidst heavy breakdowns.
Kody Gautier, senior educational psychology major and bassist for Rock Eupora, said the band’s sound is a catchy, melody-driven take on alternative rock.
“It’s melodic, it’s very upbeat, driving choruses, complex dynamics and great chord progressions,” he said. “It could be described as if The Black Keys and Jack White came together and sang melodic choruses.”
Gautier said though Rock Eupora has many moving parts, Waller skillfully combines multiple genres of music into an album that coheres while it stays away from the pitfalls of repetition.
“I really admire the sound because I know Clayton’s musical influences, and I can totally see how he created an original spin on all of that,” he said. “He didn’t make a carbon copy of the music he likes, he just made his own music the way he wanted it, which is awesome.”
Waller said growing up in Mississippi was a process that helped form his music and inform his diverse — and sometimes disparate — inspirations, even as he hopes to return to the Magnolia state one day.
“I think it goes down to the principle of Mississippi being a cultivating place for the arts, which is ironic to think about,” he said.
Through the array of influences and musical styles in Rock Eupora, its Mississippi roots may be the album’s strongest common thread. Waller said he has played the album for friends and listeners and, though most could not find easy categories to place “Blanks” in, his sound engineer found one immediate resonation.
“He said, ‘It sounds like an album made by a Mississippi kid that grew up in the `90s,’” Waller said.
Rock Eupora has two concerts schedule for April, including a date at Proud Larry’s in Oxford on April 17 and a release show at Rick’s Café on April 30.
