Firecracker is: Scout - lead singer/guitar Dave Strahan - lead guitar/back-up vocals Russell Tillitt - piano/organ/accordion/back-up vocals Peter Craft - drums Gardner May - bass When Firecracker released their first EP in 2002, critics pronounced their sound "As American as Oasis is British" (Miles of Music), and fans up and down the West Coast came out to see what the buzz was about. After countless nights on stage and as many days writing lovelorn songs about girls, Firecracker finally signed with Nashville indie label Emerge Records, who are now set to release the band's full-length debut, "So Long Someday." The album, produced by the band with longtime San Francisco singer-songwriter Patrick Conway, features several guest musicians and some unexpected instrumentation, including mellotron, glockenspiel, oboe and cello. But the band's primary goal was to capture and translate the energy of their live show. Recorded in one sweaty weekend at San Francisco's legendary Hyde Street Studios, "So Long Someday" is infused with the spirit of rock and roll. Lead singer Scout Shannon set up his microphone in the very spot where Van Morrison recorded his classic "Tupelo Honey," mixing took place in the same room Janis Joplin once deemed her "favorite room to get stoned in," and at one session, some headphones were 'borrowed' by Jello Biafra, working in the next studio. The songs on "So Long Someday" are linked by their subject matter: desperation and failure tempered by love, friendship, and ultimately, hope. The album begins with the opening blast of "Welcome Back To The Party," in which a long-lost love returns to find a former suitor still waiting, and ends with the melancholy farewell of "So Long Lorraine," in which optimism finally overcomes inertia. On the tracks in between, the band's pop, rock and alt-country influences mix and merge, shifting in prominence from song to song-and sometimes from verse to verse, as in the rollicking "(I'm Sorry) Caroline," in which a full-bore guitar solo by Ken Bethea of the Old 97's spills seamlessly into a classic pedal steel romp and the bridge explodes into swirling harmonic vocals worthy of the Byrds. Another member of the Old 97's, singer Rhett Miller, gave "So Long Someday" its lone non-original track, a song he wrote called "Fireflies." This haunting duet, the tale of a spurned lover and the woman who left him behind, finds Scout trading lines with the beautiful Melody Baldwin (of San Francisco's own Bellyachers), entwined in ribbons of pedal steel unreeled by guest musician David Phillips. In the studio, piano player Russell Tillitt grabbed a lap steel and picked out the intro in one take-the take you hear on the album-having never played the instrument before in his life. Sometimes you get lucky and the tape is rolling. On stage, Firecracker is a freight train of muscular guitars and bouncy piano, kept tight to the rails by a rock-solid rhythm section. The five-piece band's vibrant sound and musical capability has earned them billing with national acts including Tim Easton and Calexico, and slots at music festivals including Noise Pop (San Francisco), North By Northwest (Portland) and International Pop Overthrow (Los Angeles). "So Long Someday" is slated for release in Spring 2005. Firecracker will be on tour throughout the year.