Travis Nesbitt - vocals, album art designer, humor. Logan Jacobs - bass, ball caps, dedication. Ben Shillabeer - drums, encyclopedic knowledge of rock 'n' roll trivia. Chris Ruddy - guitars, flexibility. Honesty. No one seems to care about it anymore. Politicians constantly lie. Pop starlets pretend they can sing and even everyone’s favourite diva in drag, Cher, can't tell us the truth about her farewell tour. Three years later, she’s still saying goodbye to her fans. Sheesh.
That's where singer Travis Nesbitt and Social Code come in. They can't help us with Cher, but the Alberta rockers are more than willing to be truthful with their fans. Their Interscope debut, A Year at the Movies, isn’t brimming with goofy pop-punk ditties. They don't rage with fake anger pent up over centuries - And no, Social Code doesn’t sound like Nickelback, though drummer Ben Shillabeer gleefully admits to being one of the world's biggest Bon Jovi fans. Heck, Jon Bon Jovi once saved Shillabeer’s life - not in the traditional “I was a troubled kid until I heard Livin' On a Prayer" kind of way, but in a "Hey! Watch out for that car!"-type situation. Honest. Speaking of which, Nesbitt says "brutal honesty" is the basis of Social Code and A Year At The Movies. "We’re not cool, we're total geeks," he says. "We love computers, we love Star Trek, we're very comfortable in our own skin. I think that comes across 100 percent." So, naturally, Nesbitt only sings about what he knows - which sometimes flies in the face of current trends.
Social Code's first single, Beautiful, is an insanely catchy song - with bouncing bass lines, rocketing guitars and optimistically defiant lyrics: "I feel so beautiful today/You're just so typical/You can't break me." It's such a simple but refreshing statement, especially in an era of artists singing predominately about pain and hate. "We're not a serious, dark band," says Nesbitt. "Our songs have substance - They have real, relevant issues about relationships - but I don't think they’re going to change the world. To get all esoteric and talk about grandiose things, people don’t latch into it." "We tried to make a meaningful album," says bassist Logan Jacobs. "We worked our asses off to make an amazing album." A Year at the Movies actually encapsulates years of comedy, drama, suspense, horror and working off asses for the band formerly known as Fifth Season. Initially founded by Nesbitt and Jacobs in a city just north of Edmonton, They went on to record three discs, winning a songwriting contest and touring Canada to hone their live chops.
In 2003, as the recording industry was collapsing under the weight of illegal downloading, Social Code took a risk and signed with Interscope after an aggressive wooing process by Jeff Blue, one of the most successful A&R executives in modern pop and rock. (His previous discoveries? Oh, Linkin Park, Korn and Macy Gray, to name but a few.) Under the watchful eyes of Kermit the Frog and engineer Greg Collins, Social Code recorded A Year At The Movies in one of the world's top recording facilities, Henson Studios, in Los Angeles. While there, Nesbitt was also chewed out by American Idol's Randy Jackson and almost went deaf after jumping into a pool. "See, we act like little kids," laughs Nesbitt. “We weren’t doing anything cool – like picking up chicks or doing drugs. We were sitting by the pool, doing flying WWF elbow drops into the pool. Basically, my ear landed flat on the surface of the water and I popped a hole in my ear drum." Nesbitt’s injury ended up healing but, unfortunately, the group’s gamble didn’t pay off. Social Code was stricken with the "new act" blues. Blue left Interscope shortly after A Year At The Movies was recorded and the group was lost in the shuffle next to fellow Interscope acts such as Eminem, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Jimmy Eat World and The Hives. Yet Social Code soldiered on and released A Year At the Movies in May, toured with Canadian punk priestess Bif Naked and took over Edmonton’s airwaves with their first single, Beautiful.
Then, in what could've been the final scene in SoCo's film, guitarist David Hesse decided to leave the band and pursue other interests. There's no need to fade to black yet - a happy ending could still be written. Hesse was quickly replaced by Chris Ruddy from Drive By Punch, one of Edmonton’s brashest punk groups, and Social Code's Beautiful is now on the verge of invading the rest of Canada. It's in high rotation on Windsor's 89X, and Toronto’s taste makers, The Edge, recently added the track. But Social Code is already looking ahead. The Alberta rockers are about to shoot a video for their second single - a searing cover of Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly), a modest (but awesome) 1984 hit by the Icicle Works. Keep your eyes and ears peeled as the Code of honesty blankets the country in 2005.