The Soda band (for short) assimilates the American music lexicon and bends it into new and wonderful shapes. Much in the same way that The Pogues took old Irish drinking songs, traditional ballads and shot them through the veins of punk rock, the Soda Band is doing the same to Americana.   Soda's gruff and eerie voice recalls Tom Waits and his tales of lying women, sinners and early death call to mind the warped world of Nick Cave. Theirs is a twilight world of dirt roads, the open prairie and mysterious strangers on the outskirts of town.  Stories of cold landscapes and great empty spaces, played by a fantastically crowded band -- with Soda (from the pop-punk band Wax) as the humble narrator.