New Life

The van in which Shiner traveled the country looks brand new. It’s as gleaming-white as a smile in a toothpaste ad, with a recently rebuilt engine and transmission. And renovations have quadrupled the value of the midtown house where Shiner practiced. Allen Epley, the Shiner singer and guitarist who spearheaded both efforts and owns the home and the vehicle, has proven that he can revive almost anything. But now, for the first time in more than a decade, he’s trying to start from scratch.

The Life and Times, which also includes drummer Mike Myers (String and Return) and guitarist-bassist John Meredith (Someday I), will soon release what figures to be one of the year’s most scrutinized debuts. It’s just a 24-minute EP, but The Flat End of the Earth offers comfort to mourning Shiner disciples who crave fresh doses of Epley’s space-dust-sprinkled riffs and subtly commanding vocals. It provides a promising preview for fans eager to see Epley explore new territory. And it dispels several myths about the trio’s sound, which was rumored to encompass everything from sensitive singer-songwriter material to minimalist drum-and-guitar experimentation.

“It’s still loud rock songs,” Epley says. “I’m not trying to reinvent myself. If I’m writing something and it smacks of Shiner, I’m not going to shy away from it.”

At the same time, there are several noticeable distinctions between Life and Times and the Kansas City sound institution to which it will immediately be compared. Life and Times’ tunes are simpler than Shiner’s songs, with clear dynamic patterns and standard time signatures. Given that Shiner evolved from intimidating, obtuse epics to accessible, if unusually pensive, melody-guided creations, this feels like a natural progression.

Some Life and Times tracks, or at least their sonic skeletons, date back to Epley’s Shiner days. “I’m using a few older frameworks,” he explains. “Whenever there were songs I wasn’t sure about for Shiner, or songs that I was absolutely sure were not Shiner songs, I kept them on the side. They’re a little more free-flowing and straightforward.”

During its practices (three hours, three times a week) the members of Life and Times hammer their personal stamps onto Epley’s ideas — literally, in Myers’ case. Playing with a wide-mouthed expression that mirrors the typical Life and Times audience’s awestruck gaze, Myers infuses intense organic energy into every track. Meredith uses a bilevel amp that provides his guitar parts with robust low-end support, giving the group the versatility of a quartet. (At one of Life and Times’ first shows, both a band with which it shared the bill and Myers’ father believed the group was hiding a plugged-in bassist backstage.) Meredith is also an experienced producer who had a hand in Flat Earth‘s recording process and figures to be even more involved in crafting the band’s future releases.

Not all observers envision the group staying together long enough to produce more material. The short run and much-lamented dissolution of the sublime supergroup To Conquer (which included Myers) as well as the sketchy success rate for post-powerhouse projects inspire pessimism about Life’s span.

“We’re all full time in this,” Epley insists, pointing to the fact that Meredith moved to Kansas City from Colorado two months ago specifically to play in this band. Also, Myers, who has juggled as many as four bands simultaneously, has no other commitments. “People can have their doubts now, but they’ll see in a year.”

A closer checkup date is July 26, when Life and Times is scheduled to play the Hurricane after returning from an East Coast tour. This will provide the first opportunity for eager fans to observe how the group’s chemistry survives close-quartered road trips, and how a few weeks of being tagged with “formerly of Shiner” affects its psyche.

“That doesn’t bother me,” Epley says. “I mean, I don’t want to ride it forever, because I don’t think Shiner was that big. People will say ‘formerly of Shiner, what?'”

“Give yourself some credit,” Meredith interjects. “You guys did well.”

“We did fine,” Epley agrees. “Our fans were fierce and loyal, and we were very influential in a certain core of bands. But when we broke up late last year, I saw it less as this terrible death of Shiner and more as an awesome rebirth.”

Still, though Epley beams like a proud parent, his record label and other industry professionals with whom he’s working — many of them holdovers from the Shiner era — would’ve hesitated to hook up with an ugly kid.

“They all needed to hear it first,” Epley says. “If it sucked, they would’ve come out with excuses. No one’s just going to give anything to you, no matter what you’ve done.”

If the group’s label and booking agency enjoyed Flat Earth, they’ll really be impressed by the releases that follow. Epley says he held back some “aces” because he was reluctant to play his best cards immediately. With intense instrumental passages and abrupt, innovative endings, some of the songs Life and Times plays during practice are more challenging than any Flat Earth track.

“It’s like a high-quality, black-and-white photograph of the band, but we’ve added a lot since then,” Epley says of the disc.

It might sound strange to hear a musician say he’s evolved past a disc more than a week before its release party. But Epley always has his mind on revitalization.