1991 Grovers Battle of the Bands
September 8, 1991
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
By Alexander Stevens
After a difficult year on the club circuit, Mr. Flood’s Party was back on home turf last weekend for the Rock and Roll Rumble at Grover’s. And this time, they wanted to win.
Exactly one year ago Mr. Flood’s Party enjoyed a rather meteoric rise to local fame, making the finals of Rock and Roil Rumble at Grovers in Beverly. It was quite a surprise, since the five-member band had been playing together for only about eight months. But since then, it’s often seemed that Mr. Flood’s Party can’t get no satisfaction.
Since then, they’ve had an up close look at the local music scene. They’ve dealt with record producers, agents and Boston club owners, and it’s an experience that’s left them a bit wide eyed and disenchanted. They’ve discovered that for young musicians, it’s a business that makes few dollars and even less sense. “It’s a terribie business,” says guitarist and Mister Flood founder Glenn Young. “But we think we can beat it. We don’t want to join it.” They’ve been courted by professional management, only to see the agent disappear without a word. They’ve made a 45 record, but now struggle to get it on the air. And the amount of money they make from their gigs hasn’t even put a dent in their $10,000 investment in equipment so when it comes to getting satisfaction, they find it only on stage. That’s why they were primed and pumped last weekend at the 10th Annual Rock and Roll Rumble at Grovers. Entering the finals, 26 bands had been pared to three in the quest for the first -place prize of $1,000 plus an extensive promotional package designed to help launch the band. Good news came early in the night - Mister Flood’s Party had drawn the coveted final performance spot. That meant they had a couple hours to kill.
Waiting For Results
Grovers is not the kind of place you’d take someone for a romantic date. The Beverly rock club is dark, loud and packed. Things aren’t any better downstairs, where the perfomers’ changing room is a musty, tiny, graffiti covered room that smells of old smoke. Young, 21, and Chris Shaw, 20 cousins and founding members of the group try to get comfortable on the torn and tattered furniture. It’s a little after 9 p.m. on Saturday, and in about two hours their band will take the stage in this final round of competition.
Upstairs, through the ceiling, the first group, Color Blind, is already hard at work: With an accent on harder rock than Mister Flood plays, the sound of the first group, a mix between Meatloaf and Axel Rose, pounds through the ceiling. Young listens for a moment and then turns to cousin Chris. “They sound better than they did last time.” Chris nods.
“We usually make it a point not to be here while the other bands perform,” Young says. “It’s better for the nerves.” Last year they were happy and surprised just to make the finals This year winning has become more of a focus. And they like their chances. “I think we’ll win” Young says. “I think you have to have that kind of attitude.”
The cockiness may be the result of some interesting successes between last year’s rumble and this one. After making the finals last year, the band decided to concentrate on producing and recording a three song demo tape. Tyler Nichols, an upstart record producer in Newburyport, songs and wanted to press two of them into a 45 for his new label, “Nirvana Records.” Nichols absorbed the expense of cutting the records, designing and producing the record jacket, and even trying to distribute it to record outlets and radio stations. The record is getting air play (although not as much as they’d like) on local college radio stations, and they’ve even heard it on WFNX, the Lynn-Boston radio station. The two songs on the 45 “1000 Words” and “Captain Tripps” — are as indicative of the group’s work as any undeniably middle of the road rock, but softened by harmonies and lightly seasoned with sounds from the synthesizer.
With four members of the group writing songs, their subjects cover a range of topics and emotions. They admit that often their songs are a reaction to pop culture — “Captain Tripps” is the title of the first chapter of the Stephen King novel, “The Stand,” and “Cable 53” is a stream of consciousness commentary about everything on TV. Admirably, the group defies easy labels. While they count The Beatles among their influences, comparisons are more likely to be drawn to such contemporary rock groups as REM, U2 and The Cure. “Hopefully with an alternative twist,” Young says. They also say they’ve been inspired by Boston based rock groups like O Positive and Heretix, groups they’ve admired and performed with at Grovers.
Lessons From the Trade
Meeting local bands they’ve always admired has been one of the highlights of the last year, but there have also been low lights. After cutting the 45, they made a concerted effort to play as many Boston clubs as they could. While they got the thrill of playing a Boston rock landmark like the Channel, they also suffered the ignominy of playing to an empty house. In addition, they started to see the steamier side of the business. Lesson number one: club owners can be a pretty heartless bunch. They know there is a much bigger supply of local rock music than there is demand, so owners are pretty much able to cut their own deals. The result is one of the new gimmicks: “pay to play.” Bands are expected to purchase a certain body of tickets, say 300. Then they sell the tickets themselves, so the club gets the money guaranteed up front. “But then you end up playing only to your friends and the other bands’ friends,” Young says. “And we’re trying to broaden our audience.” Even the arrangements at Grovers may leave something to be desired. As a performance space, the stage is cramped and unforgiving; and when you split the performance fees among the four or five members of the group, it works out to little more than singing for your supper that night. Still, local bands scratch and claw over each other for the chance to play at the nightclub. And established local acts still can’t get themselves into clubs to show their stuff. Club owners often don’t care how good a band is — they just want a band that will draw people into the club.
It’s a credit to Mister Flood’s Party (the name is drawn from the title of an Edwin Arlington Robinson poem) that they have become a draw at Grovers. They can pretty much work there at will, but because they don’t want to over expose themselves, they decide to play only about once a month at Grovers. Meanwhile, the search for other venues continues.
And The Winner Is …
By the time 1:00 p.m. rolls around, the audience has swelled to a packed house. Mister Flood’s Party has the ideal performance spot third and last. The audience is primed and buzzed, and the band will be fresh on the judges’ minds when it comes time to vote. The group gets quite a howl as they are announced. They take the stage and break into “Cable 53.” The rhythm section is anchored by Jay Lefleur of Danvers, on drums, and Kevin Levesque, 20, of Peabody, on bass. Young and Shaw quickly become absorbed in their instruments, Young occasionally grabbing the spotlight with a hard driving guitar riff. But mostly it’s lead vocalist Jaime Bernard in the spotlight, bending and swaying to the rhythms of the song. People don’t really dance at Grovers; there’s not much room for it. At this point in the night, they are mostly crammed up against the front of the stage And it’s a very receptive house. It’s a frenzied, final 45 minutes to the 10th Annual Rock and Roll Rumble at Grovers. Drenched with sweat, Mister Flood’s Pa: has given its all, and the I appreciates it. Moments before the winning band is announced, the crowd breaks into a chant of “Flood, Flood, Flood,” only to be met with an ech from the Still fans of “Still, Still, Still.” But this night belonged to Mr. Flood’s Party
“And the winner is…Mr. Flood’s Party!”
In a buisness that knows so few rewards and many bitter disappointments, the young band of five finds itself in the midst of a sea of people. They collapse into a group embrace, beer spilling over their heads. The last year has given the young musicians perspective and caution about the road that lies ahead. But for now, all perspective and caution are lost. This is Mr. Flood’s Party, and the celebration has begun.