The Pennsylvania rock outfit Sage is nothing short of ambitious. Since their formation in February 2000, the quartet has perfected a marriage of styles and genres that, driven by an adept musical chemistry, have pushed them to uncharted heights. Based out of New Hope, the band - guitarists Marc Gallo and Tim Nayfield, drummer Gabe Rohmann and bassist Dave 'Tree' Ryden - has blanketed the northeast with countless shows, and has even championed their own musical festival, "Jam at the Grove." Over the last three years, it has grown from a humble gathering of 500 to 1200 music lovers for the festival's 2002 installment.

Certain of their path and sure of their methods, the band has stepped past the more prevalent self-produced single disk debut. Instead, their self-titled double album release boasts 18 hard-driving originals. Fueled by the guitar attack of Gallo and bolstered by the rhythmic control of Nayfield, these fretboarding-bending compositions come complete with three-part harmonies and adventurous soloing that is collectively explosive. With a boundary-bending presence and a fierce attitude, Sage is poised to export their flight-bound flavor beyond their regional stomping grounds.

By Jamie Lee

Hittin' the Note Magazine, January 2004