You're waiting in a smoky bar in upstate New York, downing a relatively cheap drink. Your first impression as the band comes onstage is that you can expect to hear the familiar sounds of alternative rock. That you will, but you'll also find yourself moving to the strains of reggae, blues, and funk; changing pace between jazz, hiphop, psychedelia, and ska; and struggling to catch your breath between thrash, industrial, and rockabilly influences. This band is Jivehead, and an aggressive mix of disparate musical genres is their stock in trade.
They aren't the first band to do this“Jivehead themselves are quick to cite the "healthy portions of Chili Peppers, Fishbone, and Bad Brains" in their "sonic gumbo." But there are many other mysterious and tasty ingredients in there, and in terms of preparation and presentation, Jivehead cooks it up with a conviction and style all their own.
"We're a punk band," explains vocalist Jason Hazel Stone, "but we've been influenced by just about every kind of music under the sun."
"We all have different personalities and tastes," adds guitarist Josh 'Fender Lips' Owen, "but each contributes something vital to the overall sound of this band." The guitarist himself listens to a great deal of rap, funk, and reggae. Drummer Abraham 'Beaver' Smith is dedicated to the heavy rumblings of groups like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Monster Magnet, while bassist Sean 'Party Thing' McDuffy is influenced by Rush and the instrumental virtuosos Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius. Mr. Stone seems to like just about everything (except for Morrissey), but swears a special affinity to hardcore, jazz, noiserock, and Tom Waits.
Despite the broad range of musical territory that they cover, the Jivehead sound is focused and tight. It is rare that their music becomes random or slapdash; the songs are sometimes wild but never chaotic. This is because the band is blessed with a thorough understanding and appreciation of the power of "The Groove." A Jivehead show is a throbbing mass of precise rhythm; the bodies of the audience are compelled to move in new ways and directions, producing everything from dancefloor gyrations to moshpit frenzies.
Yet no one experiences the manic energy of the music more than the band itself. At a time when most young bands are concerned with projecting an image of distant toughness or studied cool, Jivehead remains gleefully energized, interacting with each other and the audience unselfconsciously. Their aim is to entertain and have a good time of it.
Watching a Jivehead performance, it's easy to imagine that these guys are some hedonistic breed of party animal. This is, however, only half the story; offstage, they are revealed to be articulate Cornell graduates with a lot on their minds. Racism, police brutality, religious dogma, exploitation of animals, suburban malaise, and media brainwashing are all subjects of Jivehead songs, which stylistically encompass everything from surrealism and black humor to thoughtful introspection.
"Our lyrics reflect the full range of things that we think about," says Stone. "Some are very political and issueoriented, because we have some real concerns in those areas. On the other hand, we are also real people who think about eating, sleeping, relationships, going to work“the concerns of daytodaylife... we write songs about those things, too."
"This group is really a collective, collaborative effort," Owen points out. "There is no leader or main songwriter. We do it all together, and we're all good friends. We share bonds that transcend the music."
The future is looking good for Jivehead. Their albumlength cassette demo "Camel Sutra" has been selling well at shows and at Rebop Records in Collegetown, and they plan to record again in the near future. They perform each month at the Haunt and the Nines in their hometown of Ithaca, and are beginning to make successful forays into Binghamton, Syracuse, and New York City venues. Their reviews have been nothing but positive, their mailing list is growing by leaps and bounds, and they have attracted recordlabel interest. So are they ready to relax?
"We take things one step at a time," cautions McDuffy, offering his perspective on their success. "This is a tough business and you can't let things go to your head. We're a young band and we know we still have a lot of work to do."
"We just want to keep playing for a long time to come," says Stone. "Writing good songs and playing them for people. Working hard to put on the best shows we can. There's nothing better than that." Coming from a Jivehead member, that's easy to believe.
Barry "Jukuman" Werger is currently researching emotion and gender of computer systems. He has worked as a concert promoter for rock, blues, and Andean bands in New York City and as a cook for the esteemed Yoshiaki Omura, MD, ScD, FICAE at the Heart Disease Research Foundation.
There are so many guitarwielding bands around that it's refreshing when someone tries a different approach. On its new tape, Spelled, Rotary Ten weaves a web of edgy psychedelic pop with only bass and keyboards for lead instruments. I didn't even notice the missing guitar until I read the liner notes!
Formed five years ago in Cleveland, Ohio, Rotary Ten includes singer Dan Phillips, bassist Gregory S. Eyman, keyboardist Scott David Phillips and drummer Chris Solt. The band has never used a guitar onstage or in the studio, although Solt and the Phillips brothers all write songs on the instrument.
"When we started we couldn't find a guitarist, so we started playing covers with just a bass and keyboard," says Eyman. "Finally, as a joke I started playing chords on the bass and it evolved from there."
Does the band ever feel limited by the unusual lineup? "Not at all," says Scott Phillips. "We write pop songs that are somewhat conventional and the lack of guitar forces us into something that's more exploratory. Now that Greg and I have found our voices as far as the instruments are concerned, it no longer seems experimental to us."
Last summer, the band members relocated from Cleveland to Ithaca to join Eyman, a senior film major at Ithaca College. The band has played several shows at the Haunt and the Nines, and just recently performed in Binghamton for the first time. Besides playing out, the band has concentrated on its writing, which Solt notes is the "best thing about being here, by far. We've gotten tighter rhythmically in our sound and interacted with each other as songwriters." The band has written more than a dozen songs recently.
Spelled was recorded in Ohio just before the band moved to Ithaca. The first song, "Never No Kidding," is the newest song on the tape. With its quirky rhythmic variations, Scott Phillips' organ and backing vocals, the song sometimes recalls the Seeds' sixties hit "Pushing Too Hard."
According to Dan Phillips, the lyrics to "Never No Kidding" were inspired by his first "pointless groupie" experience. "I wrote about a guy who had a meaningless sex experience while at the same time thinking about someone he actually cared for a lot," says Phillips. "The refrain 'Never No Kidding' means it's always a joke. It's very frustrating to say something like that because it means nothing that you say will ever be taken seriously, but it's also supposedly liberating, because if you take nothing seriously you can do what you want, and you can have meaningless sex."
Onstage, the band attacks its instruments in a way that's not always evident on the tape. "It's been a problem getting that sound recorded," says Eyman. Scott Phillips agrees. "I think that this tape captures a performance of those songs, but it's more focused on the songs and lyrics. Us live is more of a feeling of rhythm and energy, very concentrated on the energy."
Rotary Ten see itself as filling a gap in the Ithaca music scene and lists Milf, Beatrice Blinded, Smak (for which Solt also drums), and The Tortillas You Wanted as other local bands that are kindred spirits.
This year, the band hopes to play enough gigs to recoup the expense of producing its tape. Of course, the band members wouldn't mind signing a deal and quitting their day jobs to tour. "Getting signed is the bottom line, but that's just the beginning," says Solt. "The ideal situation would be to be on an independent label with national distribution, or opening on a tour for a band that's doing well, even if we just cover our costs to travel and play."
Rotary Ten has several shows scheduled for this month, including March 18 at the Nines, March 22 at the Haunt, and March 26 at G.I.A.C. Spelled is available on cassette for $5 at Sounds Fine, Discount Records, Rebop Records and Ithaca Guitar Works, as well as at the band's gigs. For more information, call 2771546.