There today
The '80s never sounded heavier
by Don Fluckinger
When Boston heavy-metal trio There started out 11 years ago
as smart-aleck high schoolers throwing
down the power chords at the Middle East in Cambridge, heavy metal was on the
wane. Poison, Mötley Crüe, and Ratt were heaving their last, heavy
sighs, while Metallica, Nirvana, industrial bands like Ministry, and hardcore
bands had divvied up the spoils. Heavy music moved away from the "rock and roll
all night and party every day" mentality into deeper, darker, more
introspective themes.
There (who appear this Wednesday at the Lucky Dog) were part of a dying genre
then. Now, with the players headed toward their 30s, There's hard-rocking
Zeppelin/Sabbath sound is an anachronism, a reminder of what rock sounded like
before Trent Reznor and Kurt Cobain rewrote the rules. Despite There's
tightness, which comes after a decade of practicing, recording, and playing
out, and despite their loving devotion to old metal, kids today want to hear
groups that sound like Godsmack and Rage Against the Machine. Or hardcore, like
Honkeyball and Tree.
"The clubs always say they just want whatever the kids want," says There
ringleader Jake Hamilton, who plays bass, sings lead vocals, and manages the
business side of There's rock. "I think finding the audience that has been most
interested and most supportive and most motivated to check out what we're doing
has always been a trick."
The '80s metal movement was a bandwagon affair; at one time, There's style was
more commercially viable than anything else on the radio, including pop,
hip-hop, soul, and country. While great bands like Kiss and Aerosmith set the
standards for grand stage shows and catchy tunes, the lure of easy money
attracted many bands heavy on glamour and light on substance.
At its makeup-laden, leather-clad height, heavy was pure commercialism, right
down to the chart-topping power ballads. It seemed as though a lot of similarly
named groups (one set that comes to mind is Great White, White Lion, and
Whitesnake) were in the business only for the money. That's what makes it so
ironic that There, who actually love the music and perform it well, now have to
scramble for gigs.
Nevertheless, Hamilton, guitarist Andrew Shadrawy, and drummer Vic Dobson
persist, having established a following on the Portland, Maine, and Boston
circuits. They've the leather, the chains, dry ice, and a whole lot of
attitude.
"We're definitely into the theatrics of it," Hamilton says. "As our budget gets
bigger, I definitely look forward to finding ways to give people more and more
of a show, as far as the spectacle of it that kind of coincides with the heavy,
heavy loud presence of the sound that we're doing."
For just three players, There can pump out a surprisingly heavy roar. Following
the "power trio" model, they pull off their act without a full-time rhythm
guitarist or keyboard player filling in the sonic blanks on stage, a difficult
task. Furthermore, there are no power ballads on There's latest CD, There
II, the follow-up to the group's 1997 debut. The tunes all ring familiar:
"All Over for You" has a down-and-dirty '70s FM album-rock groove, and "It's
Coming Again" is taken straight from the Sabbath playbook.
While '70s chestnuts sometimes work their way into the live set, the only cover
on the CD is fairly obscure. "Can You Picture That," a tune in the funky vein
of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," was copped from, of all places, the Muppet
Movie soundtrack. It comes along in the movie when Fozzie and Kermit are
plotting their escape from Doc Hopper and run into Dr. Teeth and the Electric
Mayhem.
"That's literally something that we had the original vinyl copy on and we kind
of analyzed and figured out how we were going to do that, long before we ever
thought we wanted to record it," Hamilton says. "I really was sort of opposed
to actually trying to pull that one off, because I was like, well, we don't
want to get sued."
One tune on There II that would fit on today's radio, sandwiched between
Rage and Offspring, is the heavy, punchy, hardcore closer, "The Rat," which
follows "Ransack," an extended thrasher that itself would be at home on a 1990s
Metallica CD.
But There's main focus goes back to the salad days of Ozzy and Jimmy Page.
"Their stuff live always gave me lots of ideas as to how I wanted to try to get
our own material across," Hamilton says. While proud to be associated with the
city that spawned FM heroes Aerosmith, the Cars, and the J. Geils Band,
Hamilton rejects the idea there's is a "Beantown sound."
"I'd be surprised if somebody heard us without knowing where we were from and
said, `Oh, you guys are from Boston,' " Hamilton says. "But, hey, if
that's the case, more power to that."
There play at on April 19 at Lucky Dog Music Hall. Call 363-1888.