Worcester's four horsemen

A look at the men who are saving the local music scene

by Joe Longone

Sit down! I'm gonna tell you the way it is. Most people in this town (and just about everywhere else) have fooled themselves into believing they've made choices in the music they like. I'm here to say that very little of it isn't under some sort of corporate control. In other words, most record buyers and radio listeners with neither the time nor the motivation are letting others make the choices for them. Bullshit, you say! I'll continue.

About one percent of recorded music receives the lion's share of profits -- that's billions of dollars a year. New York City and Los Angeles marketers, with keen ears and a thorough understanding of what sells, troll the pool for digestible music. Hired hacks, who lower their journalistic standards by writing promotional puff pieces for the big-time music publications, find sympathy for a bunch of millionaires. I've given up on commercial radio stations that promote the latest Great Woods show, but ignore the hundreds of talented regional bands -- or lamely relegate them to two hours on a Sunday night.

The fact remains that the finest music is performed in small halls, nightclubs, and restaurants. The sound quality alone is superior to that of complexes built to house sports teams not bands. Most of today's pop superstars started in small venues where they scratched and clawed their way to the top. Next year's megastars might be playing the Espresso Bar or Sir Morgan's Cove this week -- isn't it worth checking them out? America has a great music heritage that includes the wild sounds of a Saturday-night bar band, the Sunday-morning church chorus, or the singalongs in your own living room -- don't let big business limit your scope.

I've had the pleasure of meeting four individuals who -- like only a handful in Worcester -- are willing to keep our local scene alive no matter what the odds. Each is working to ensure that area musicians have a stage to showcase their music. And while there is money to be made in any business, these four horsemen of Wormtown are looking beyond commerce to make Worcester a music mecca.

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The tall one

Erick Godin has always had a calm demeanor that seems in direct contrast to the kinetic scene that surrounds him. He looks cool and collected leaning his tall, lanky frame against the Cove's bar or playing bass for Chillum, Worcester's funk kings. Godin's controlled voice and temperament make what he has to say about the scene all the more thought provoking.

"People expect that there's always gonna be venues to see live local music," he says. "They might be taking a good thing for granted."

Growing up in an East Templeton home where his mom sang along with Motown records, Godin was introduced to soul and funk at a young age. He picked up the trumpet first but as a teenager learned to play bass and guitar in his first band. He found out in high school, however, that you can be quickly ostracized for liking certain music.

"I went to Narraganset High where all the kids were into conformity. All the so-called cool kids were listening to Huey Lewis and the News, and I was considered an outsider because I liked the Psychedelic Furs and the Cult. In that school even being a Rush fan would put you on the outs with most of the other students."

By his senior year he was turned on to the band Fishbone, thus starting his love affair with funk.

Godin moved to Worcester in 1989 to work in graphic arts and to pursue his music interests. Folks may remember him from the Marauders and Life Goes Wrong.

But the Erick Godin who so many have come to know officially made his entrance in Chillum, one of Worcester's most popular bands. "I joined about a year after the band first started. I would hang with the guys; we were all friends. I joined them when they were looking for a bass player," he says of his casual start in the ever-changing and expanding group (they've had up to nine guys in the band at the same time).

Chillum have since had a storied rise. They won the Cove's Battle of the Bands in 1994. In 1997, they were voted the Worcester Phoenix Best Local Rap/Hip-Hop/Hardcore Act. And music from their debut CD, 9"6', was played on a number of MTV Real World episodes.

Godin explains the MTV connection, "We owe it all to this guy Todd Shapiro. He was working on the Real World set and just happened to be a fan of the band. It's funny, the CD he gave to MTV was a copy he bought at one of our shows."

If being part of an up-and-coming outfit and still working as a graphic artist (he runs EGG Publishing) weren't enough, Godin recently started the booking of Sir Morgan's Cove. In his first six months there, he launched a promotional 'zine, the Captain's Log, and took an aggressive approach to bringing in more indie-label acts.

But he quickly found out that a club can be hard to fill.

"We brought in Stealth. You figure a new band that is getting critical reviews across the country -- and also includes one of the founding members of Bad Brains -- would pack the Cove. I think we got 65 paying customers. Do I have to go to people's homes and drag them down here to prove we're offering some great music?"

He knew it would be an uphill battle when the club gave up a night so Holy Cross's radio station, WCHC, could hold a benefit for its metal shows. "We went up to the college's radio station and put flyers all over the campus. The station had weeks to promote the show, yet we had 10 students show up. It ended up being a waste of time on everyone's part."

But Godin sees hope for the future. "Okay, I work for the Cove. But I'd love to see other places do well too. I'm encouraged by all the excitement at the Espresso Bar. Right there could be where the future audiences for nightclubs are being grown. I'd love to see the local scene take off for everyone's sake."

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The preacher

Shooting out blasts of raw rock and roll across our sleepy surroundings every Wednesday night on WCUW, John O'Neill is on a mission. O'Neill's got the sound to rock your foundation. With his boyish grin and Midwest good looks (if you consider Leicester the Midwest), he might appear to betray his passion for pop, punk, and garage music, but bring up his favorite subject (music), and he'll flatten you with his conviction. Recently turning Dinny's, a neighborhood Irish bar, into Wormtown's latest rock palace, he is a man to be reckoned with.

"I was lucky to grow up in a house with two older sisters who were into music," he says while we sit at Dinny's -- a homey establishment where he bartends several nights a week.

As a young tike he already had a sophisticated understanding of the Beatles and the Beach Boys when kids his age were still into nursery rhymes. "The first live show I saw was Albatross when I was around 11," he says, recalling one of the times his sister Sharon snuck him into the pub at Anna Maria College, where she was attending school.

As a Leicester High student he suffered the popular (i.e. bad) music of classmates (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Seger, etc.) only to escape to his own bedroom where he found relief in Cramps and Ramones albums.

"I knew there was music out there, but I didn't know where to look -- I certainly didn't think it was in my own back yard. My sister Sharon was at Becker Junior College in 1983 [where she was a residential director] and snuck me in to see the Odds. That show was a defining moment for me. It showed me how great music could be -- and the band was from Worcester."

Seeing an impressive aerial photo of the University of Bridgeport, O'Neill enrolled in the Connecticut college and worked at the school's radio station, WPKN.

During a 1990 Worcester visit, O'Neill saw an Odds' reunion show at Ralph's. "It was at that show that I found out what Wormtown was all about. There was an incredible electricity in the air that I'd never experienced before; and the band hadn't even played a note yet. What I'm doing today is a direct result of seeing that show."

He moved back to Worcester in 1991, volunteered at WCUW where he soon procured a Wednesday slot from 10:30 p.m. to midnight (the same one he has today). Within a year he was named the station's rock director. Although there have been many years of internal squabbles which have resulted in changes to much of the station's programming, O'Neill has kept rock clearly afloat. He admits, "Our rock shows are scattered all over the place; we'd be more effective and more of a service to the community if the station had block programming."

The Music Litterbox may be a bit odd, but the music he plays is turbo-charged and 100 percent fun. No-frills speed demons like the Cynics, the Monomen, and the Swinging Neckbreakers come hurling at listeners each week.

"Some people think I'm retro; others think it's another form of alternative music I'm playing. I look at it as a public service. No one else is playing these bands. They are recording and touring today, and they have something important to say. I find -- along with rockabilly -- the records I'm focusing on are the least pretentious and probably the most soulful of anything being released in recent years."

When he started tending bar a little more than a year ago on Lincoln Street, all his musician buddies would drop by. Someone jokingly suggested that Dinny's should start booking bands.

"One night a bunch of the guys came in, set up, and started to play. I talked with Bob Peters about bringing in the Free Radicals -- they have since become Dinny's house band. We got a good reaction every time we brought someone in to play. Cool people started to show up, and I decided to start offering a guarantee for out-of-town bands to come in and play. I've always loved the Lyres, and now that my old pal Steve Aquino plays guitar for them, I was lucky enough to get the band to play the club. A large crowd came out for that show, and that's when I knew I have a niche for certain music not offered regularly in other bars. It's strictly a labor of love; all the money from the door goes directly to the bands.

"Groups may not get rich at Dinny's, but they will always be appreciated."

Part 2