Bands on the EDGE
Submitted by jstudent on Tue, 2006-02-28 21:08.
By Joseph Simek
Philly EDGE Correspondent
Whether it’s because of geography or just bad luck, Philadelphia has been slow to develop a nationally-recognized indie music scene. Compared to Chicago, New York, or even Omaha, fewer artists from our city seem to gain national exposure. Philly bands may often feel like needles in a forgotten haystack, and whatever attention they do receive rarely extends to artists from the surrounding suburbs.
With that in mind, Philly EDGE has decided to take a closer look at the music coming out of Bucks County, home of some the area’s quintessential suburbs. From indie rockers like Illinois to the hip-hop of Witness and the Recollective Crew to lo-fi singer-songwriter Peasant, this slice of suburbia is budding with talent. Thanks to Internet sites like Myspace.com and Purevolume.com and new, intimate local venues like The Cigar Parlor in Doylestown and The Well in Feasterville, the Bucks County music community is unifying and growing.
EDGE will continue to cover these types of artists (and those from the city and other suburbs as well) in our “Exposure” feature, but we thought we’d interview three Bucks County bands -- Eastern Conference Champions, Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer and Aderbat -- who have set themselves apart from the pack.
Each band is at a different, yet crucial time in their journeys: ECC has just inked a major label record deal, Zolof is about to release another album on a respectable indie imprint and Aderbat has achieved noteworthy regional success, yet is still without a label. Although each band has taken a different route to where they are now, all three are on the…um…EDGE of bigger things.
www.easternconferencechampions.com
Josh Ostrander and Greg Lyons were living their dream. Their last band, Laguardia, had released an album on a major label and was touring the nation to support it. It appeared as if the band was headed for real success. So, the two did what any musicians would do in such a position -- they quit.
Fed up with a lack of support from Universal Records and fearing the band was headed in the wrong direction, the two called it quits and headed back to their native Southampton to work a landscaping job. It was an obviously gutsy move that even people close to the musicians had trouble understanding. As Ostrander puts it, “Even my parents were pissed we quit Laguardia.”
It turned out to be the right move. After Laguardia, Ostrander (guitars, vocals) and Lyons (drums) regrouped under the moniker Eastern Conference Champions, joined up with former CKY bassist Vern Zaborowski, and started recording an EP in hopes of simply signing to an independent label. It would be that recording that landed the band another major label deal.
“Our lawyer, who is based out of New York, played the unmixed EP for Jordan Schur, the president of Geffen Records, who just happened to stop in the office that day,” Ostrander explains, “and we met with him the next day and he offered us the deal on the spot. It was insane. It was one of those great rock ‘n’ roll moments that you don’t hear about anymore.”
The band’s EP, The Southampton Collection, will be released March 7 on the independent label Retone Records. The trio has been busy playing a handful of East Coast dates, including two sold-out shows in February with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Their emphasis now, however, is on making a full-length album for Geffen in the hopes of releasing it by October. When Philly EDGE caught up with Ostrander on his cell phone, the band was in Bryn Mawr at a studio waiting to meet up with a possible producer for the album.
“Right now we’re actually waiting for Owen Morris to check into a hotel room. He is the [UK] producer who did all the Oasis records and The Verve records. He’s fucking insane. ‘Proper insane,’ I’d think he’d say. But we think it’s in a good way.
“We’re just meeting with him to see if we get along. Just this weekend all the managers and lawyers and publishing companies were in town and when they’re in town, you just go out and drink. He just drinks like a fish. He’s amazing and we’re just trying to keep up.”
Whether or not the band records with Morris in London, or opts to stay stateside, Ostrander says the Geffen album will be similar to the straightforward rock of The Southampton Collection, but with a brighter outlook.
“There’s some not-so-dark moments on what we’re doing now,“ he says. “The situation is better and that really reflects in the music. We’re still miserable bastards. That will never change, but we’re definitely happier about it.”
You can’t blame him for being happy considering the manual labor of doing landscaping for his father is a thing of the past, not to mention he must feel a sense of redemption after leaving Laguardia behind. His days are now filled with everything ECC-related.
“We wake up and try to get to the gym but usually don’t,” Ostrander jokes as he takes a drag on a cigarette. “We usually get to the studio after lunch and work until about two in the morning. That’s about it. We’re really lucky to be in the spot we’re in but we’re really taking advantage of it. We’re working really hard.”
…And working for a major label again, despite their previous bad experiences with that aspect of the music industry. Still, Ostrander believes it’s worth the risk.
“We were really wary of [major labels]. When we were doing the EP, we were really thinking about doing an indie label thing and a grassroots approach. We weren’t sending it out to any majors. It wasn’t our goal at all. But when Geffen came in, they totally got what we wanted to do. They didn’t want to screw with it; they just wanted to help us get there. It just made sense to do it.”
What: Eastern Conference Champions with The Subways, The Shys,
Where: First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia
When: Friday, March 3, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $10
Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer
www.zoloftherockandrolldestroyer.com
Perhaps no one will ever pin down the sound of Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer better than the band itself. Among the cutesy, cartoon heavy album covers and T-shirts on Zolof's website lies the band's claim that it sounds like "beating yourself in the head with a candy bar."
This Fairless Hills band, which revolves around singer and keyboardist Rachel Minton and guitarist Vince Ratti, has taken sugar-coated rock and roll to a whole new adorable level. With its keyboard-laden, female-fronted pop, Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer’s sound is hardly as intense as its name might imply.
"A keyboard is almost as bad as being a female vocalist," Minton says via email, "some people see either one and they're immediately turned off to it."
Still, there are a growing number of people who are just fine with it. Like bands such as Weezer and The Anniversary, Zolof seems to appeal to fans all along the pop and punk spectrums. Zolof has done remarkably well in the indie universe, releasing two records on New Jersey-based Eyeball Records, as well as touring fairly extensively. Not bad for a band that started as a simple recording project.
"At that time there were two singers in the band, me and Anthony Green (Saosin, Circa Survive) and we were just trying to make a fun CD," Minton explains, "It wasn't supposed to be a 'real' band or anything. The recording took well over a year to complete because it was hard to gather us all together and we were in no rush. After we were done recording, our friends Justin Wonka (Wonkavision Magazine) and Pete Buckley (Breakeven Records) really liked it and wanted to release it. That's when we decided to play some shows to help promote the CD, so that our friends didn't lose money."
From there, the band signed to Eyeball and released 2003’s Jalopy Go Far and 2004's The Popsicle EP. According to Minton there's been no real secret to band's success or to signing to such a respectable independent label that has been home to such well-known bands as Thursday and My Chemical Romance.
"I don't really know how we got involved with Eyeball Records. I think they randomly saw us a few times and then we had Gerard (Way) from My Chemical Romance calling us and telling us how awesome it would be if we agreed to sign to Eyeball. Back then we were like, ‘My Chemical who?’"
This year will see another Zolof release on the label. The band is currently hunkered down in its own Skylight Studios recording its next effort, Schematics, which Minton says doesn't have a set release date. The band is planning on touring as much as possible in support of the album, an essential step for a band of Zolof's size.
"I think touring is the most important thing to do after making an album," Minton says. "We're such a small band that we don't get advertising or videos on MTV2 or even Fuse. Therefore, we have to get our name out there ourselves by touring. Even if it's as simple as people seeing your name on a flyer, it's still promotion."
Expect Schematics to line up musically with past Zolof efforts, as Minton describes it as "a little darker than our last recordings, but it's still happy pop-rock." Actually, Minton doesn't seem too eager to change much of the Zolof equation, seeming indifferent about taking Zolof to the next level. She's content to make music and work at Skylight Studios.
"My day job rules. Sometimes Zolof takes up so much time with all of the touring that I start to miss the studio. We're not making music to be in the national spotlight. We'll be involved in music whether that happens or not."
What: Zoloft The Rock And Roll Destroyer with the Junior Varstiy and Small Towns
Where: Backstage Enterprises, 212 Wyoming Ave. Kingston
When: Sunday, March 5, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $8
What: Zoloft The Rock And Roll Destroyer with the Junior Varstiy, Small Towns and The Suicide Pact
Where: Trocadero Balcony, 1003 Arch St., Philadelphia
When: Sunday, March 12, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $10
Aderbat
Sitting at a small table in the back of a coffee house, Aderbat guitarist Matt Taylor and bassist Brad Kunkle are reflecting on the last two years since their band self-released its first album, Rabbits And Rocks. Only a few yards from the intersection of State and Main in Doylestown, the duo are in the heart of the town their band calls home and it’s obvious how excited they are about being one of the core artists of the area’s fledgling, yet promising, music scene.
“The success of the first album has kept us going over the last year-and-a-half to two years,” Kunkle says. “The response in Doylestown was awesome as soon as it got into the kids’ hands. You’re calling your friends to come out to your shows and then all of sudden you don’t have to (call).”
The audiences may be growing because Aderbat, who also includes Chris Covatta (guitar) and Todd Schied (drums), has paid its dues locally. Kunkle and Taylor formed Aderbat after meeting at an open mic at John & Peter’s in New Hope. From those first days of sporadically playing shows as solo musicians, Aderbat has created a strikingly mature sound crafted around Taylor’s aching songs and layered with cellos and electronic touches.
Even without a proper record label, Aderbat has already gone on mini tours across the northeast, from Washington, D.C. to Boston, where Kunkle says the band “almost has a better following than in Philly.” Both WXPN in Philadelphia and WTSR in Trenton have interviewed the band and played cuts from Rabbits and Rocks. And the band’s song “Bye, Bye” was featured on the CBS show “Joan Of Arcadia.”
“They used a minute clip of one our songs, but it was not credited at the end [of the show],” Taylor says.
“It was fun sitting in our living room and hearing our song on national television,” Kunkle adds. “It’s one of those things that keep you going. We could have paid to get credit for it, but it was a ridiculous amount.”
At this point, these musicians simply needed the money they did receive from the show. All of the band’s members are “self-employed” doing everything from painting portraits to teaching music. It’s a move that Kunkle says allows the four “to do everything we can for the band,” even if their lifestyles remain far from glamorous.
“I work as a gardener and I have the winters off. It’s rough right now. I just walked down to get my trash can and the trash is still in it,” Taylor says with a laugh, “I just didn’t pay the bill. It’s been one of those weeks, you know, when everything’s due.”
Their relatively free schedules allow Aderbat the time to make records, something the band is diligently working on during these winter months. The band is recording at The Studio in Philadelphia and again working with producer Andrew Weiss (Ween) to craft their sophomore effort. Although still unnamed, Aderbat plans to use the album and the experiences of the last two years to make push for wider exposure.
“We shopped our last CD to a lot of labels, but the industry is so weird,” Kunkle says. “We had interest, but even majors who really liked us weren’t going to sign us unless we could pack a room in New York full of eager fans and kids. The whole process was very disenchanting. This time around, we are going to get labels to come to us instead of the other way around. The goal is to get as many people to hear our music as possible and if we can maintain our current lifestyle, which is really nothing, and make a living, that would be success.”
