In early January of this year, I was covering the band Trapt at Herman’s Hideaway in Denver. The opening act for that evening was a local rock band called Something For Tomorrow. Sometimes opening acts are okay, but not necessarily special. Other times they catch your attention as something worth paying attention to. This night, and this band, belongs in that latter category.
Something For Tomorrow is a three-piece true rock band made up of band founder, lead guitarist and vocalist Jason Lycan, drummer Ryan Khwajazada, and bass player Trevor Saunders. After connecting with the band following their set at Herman’s, and then spending close to an hour on the phone with Lycan, I was invited to catch the band’s gig this past Friday night at The Coast in Fort Collins.
Lycan’s musical roots date back to his early childhood. He lost his father when he was just five years old, and used his interest in music as a coping mechanism to deal with his father’s passing. As a child he split time living with his mother in Denver during the school year, and living with his father’s parents on the family farm in Missouri during summer and holiday breaks. Save for an uncle who had played guitar as a teenager, Lycan really didn’t have any specific musical role models within the family. But still, by the time he turned ten, he knew he wanted to be a guitar player.
For Christmas just after his 11th birthday, that same uncle passed down an old acoustic he had played in his youth. While he appreciated the gift, Lycan was initially disappointed that it was an acoustic guitar, and not electric. But his uncle explained that the acoustic was actually more challenging, and that if he could master it he would be able to move to electric relatively easily. That was all he needed to throw himself headlong into learning to play that old acoustic. In his words, “you wouldn’t see me without that guitar… I wouldn’t put it down”.
It would be another five years before Lycan got his first electric guitar, a Fender Squier bought for him by his stepfather. For the most part, Lycan is self-taught. There was about a month of group lessons on the acoustic, then a handful of lessons after he got the electric. He also spent a year in his school’s jazz band, but found that he was far behind the rest of the students in terms of musical training. But still he pushed on, focusing on developing his own personality and style.
When asked to describe that style, Lycan says, “I kind of teeter between a major and minor in my scaling, but I’m probably drawn towards a minor scale. It’s very melodic, I like a lot of harmonies within the way I’m playing.”
Lycan’s first experience as part of a band came during his sophomore year in high school. For about eight months they tried to make it work, but ultimately they disbanded because each of the three members was focused on very different musical styles. “The drummer was more of a jazzy guy who liked rock… and the bass player was a total funk guy”. But he notes that it was a great learning experience, teaching him how to “start working together with a couple of good musicians”.
Something For Tomorrow’s history dates back more than a decade, originally coming together in 2012. After bouncing around with several other bands and projects, Lycan brought together a group of people he’d met along the way to form what would become Something For Tomorrow. The band’s name was contributed by Lycan’s younger brother.
“One day, we were like, we’ve got to finally come up with a really good name. We started making a list, and we had a list of a couple pages worth of names. Then I asked my little brother, “If you had a band, what would you call it?” Without hesitation, he said Something For Tomorrow.”
“One of the reasons I particularly like the name is because, to me, music is a never-ending process. I’m always striving for tomorrow, for my next song to be my best song. That’s kind of the philosophy of Something For Tomorrow. No matter where you’re at, you can always achieve more. I think it’s a very hopeful name, you know, and so that’s why I’ve stuck by it all these years.”
The current incarnation of the band has been together for a relatively short period of time. Drummer Khwajazada had actually played with the band in 2014 and 2015, but left for personal reasons. When a position opened up in 2021, he was enthusiastic about returning. Saunders on bass is the newest member of the team, joining later that same year.
Personnel changes aside, the biggest moment of the band’s evolution came in 2020. Up that that point, Lycan had played lead guitar, but the band had a dedicated vocalist. When that vocalist left the band, several of his friends encouraged Lycan to assume lead vocal duties as well. Originally hesitant, the downtime due to COVID provided Lycan with the time to focus on both growing as a vocalist, and learning to play and sing at the same time. In true Something For Tomorrow fashion, Lycan considers his path to being both a guitarist and vocalist to be part of an on-going journey. “I’m still working on it. But I’ve come a long way, in the last few years for sure.”
Last Friday’s gig in Fort Collins was also as an opening act, and consisted of seven tunes, all originals. When I talked to Lycan prior to the gig he noted that the band takes great pride in doing their own material. They have been working on a cover of System of a Down’s “Toxicity”, but they didn’t play that Friday. In Lycan’s words, “We might incorporate a cover every now and then. But it’s going to be 95% all original”.
Their music is definitely on the heavy side, which you’d expect given that Lycan lists Metallica as one of his biggest influences growing up. But there’s a crispness to it… back to that “melodic” idea Lycan noted about his style. Friday night’s set was a strong one, confirming my initial impressions that this is a local band that deserves to be noticed. Both Khwajazada and Saunders are exceptionally animated. Khwajazada takes on a persona behind the kit reminiscent of John Bonham or Keith Moon, while Saunders is the furthest thing from the stereotypical, laid back bass player we see in most bands. Lycan moves back and forth between semi-sedate while singing, to jamming with the best of them when he steps away from the mic. He’ll acknowledge that he’s still a “work in progress” as a combination guitarist and lead vocalist, but from my perspective he does an admirable job of handling both.
There’s definitely a lot of talent here, and this is a band that is absolutely worth the time to check out. You can learn a little bit more about them, check out a couple of videos, take a look at their upcoming gig schedule, and book them for a gig at their website, www.somethingfortomorrow.com. Their next scheduled gig is Friday, May 5 at The Black Buzzard at Oskar Blues in Denver (www.ticketweb.com/).
Story and photos by Rick Witt www.rickwittphotography.com
