Bandcamp begins

bc.jpg

Matthew Bair isn't in any hurry.

Sure, the 19-year-old from Seaford has already been writing songs for half of his life and playing guitar for as far back as he can remember. His song "Celebrity," which recently became a staple at Shea Stadium during the Mets playoff run, won the international "Song of the Year" contest in 2004. And his group Bandcamp signed a deal with Atlantic Records and recorded its debut album before he graduated from Seaford High School last year.

But after that initial rush, Bair and Bandcamp did what so many bands do when dealing with the music industry - they waited. They waited for company politics to shake out. They waited for industry reshuffling to settle down. They waited until they felt they couldn't wait any more. On Tuesday, the waiting will finally end, when the band's debut album, "Wanna Dance?" (E.V.L.A.), finally arrives in stores - more than a year after it was completed.

"We're all just really excited to get these songs out there," says Bair, calling from a tour stop in Detroit. "It's been great to see people's reactions. We've lived with these songs for a while, but to most people, they're brand new. That excitement gives them a new life, a new energy that comes back to us."

For Bair, "Wanna Dance?," which was produced by Dave McNair and Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, marks another important transition - from solo singer-songwriter to part of a band, with his brother, drummer Kris Mazzarisi, guitarist Sean Gould and bassist Steve Shebby. "I still write songs, but everybody puts their two cents in; we all work on the arrangements," Bair says. "It grows from a 'Matt song' to a 'Bandcamp song.'" [More...]

PHOTO: Bandcamp is (l. to r.) Sean Gould, Matthew Bair, Kris Mazzarisi, Steve Shebby.

Listen to "Get to You" here

Watch "Celebrity" video on the jump

And "Bandcamp songs" are developing into a sound all their own, with Bair's love of Elvis Costello-styled power pop and Shebby's Motown-influenced bass lines mixing with Gould's churning, indie-rock leaning guitar and Mazzarisi's drumming, which runs from hard-core bashing to Stewart Copeland complex.

Though Bandcamp is currently known for the straight-up peppiness of "Celebrity" and the pretty power ballad "Someone," "Wanna Dance?" shows the band has a more adventurous side as well, in the chiming guitar on "Brightest Dark" or The Police-styled rhythms of "Situation Lose-Lose."

"It all just reminds me how unbelievable it's all been," says Bair, who wrote all the songs on the album while still in high school, starting with "Face of the Planet" when he was 14. "It shows how great a player Kris has become and how things really changed when Sean and Steve joined the band. It couldn't really have been Bandcamp without them."

Harlan Friedman, music director at WLIR/107.1 FM, says "Wanna Dance?" will turn a lot of heads in the music industry, adding that his station is already playing "Celebrity" and "Someone," which have both hit the station's Top 10.

A major album

"Bandcamp is putting out a major label album without the help of a major label," Friedman says. "Matt's songwriting is timeless, the band is rock solid, and almost every song on the record could be a smash hit. It will be very exciting and fun to watch the world's reaction to this record."

WLIR's support of Bandcamp is unusual in these days of tightened playlists and corporate song promotion. Because the station is owned by the Morey Organization, instead of one of the massive conglomerates that dominate radio, Friedman gets a chance to try out local bands and see which will click with his listeners.

Despite that support, it's still rare for an unsigned artist to break into the station's Top 10. "It does happen from time to time - in the past, Nine Days, Stage and Ryan Star's solo material, Jill Gioia, and most recently, Alexa Ray Joel, is about to break our Top 10," Friedman says. "A great song is a great song whether it is released from a major label or a local unsigned artist."

Bandcamp feels the same way, which is one reason they decided to release "Wanna Dance?" on the new indie label E.V.L.A. instead of waiting for another major label deal.

"We didn't want to wait until the songs didn't feel right for us any more," Bair says. "Records No. 2 and 3 are practically done already."

Stories that transcend time

However, "Wanna Dance?" isn't in danger of feeling dated any time soon. "There's a lot to it about being in Seaford and being in high school," Bair says. "But it's about so many different stories and times. It's not about any one thing. I think every song speaks for itself and that they could be about anyone, from 13 to 30."

Bair says the band is equally at home with specific songs such as the Soul Asylum-ish "Cammanns," about his trips to that Merrick park, and more universal love songs such as "Thinking About You."

"Cammanns" is Bair's nod to Bruce Springsteen, a "way to give a hometown reference and also write about real places and real things the way he does." And "One Day" may be Bair's first rock anthem, where he sings, "I don't want to get a real day job 'cause I don't want to live in the real world. I don't want to act my age or turn that page just yet."

"One Day" is a song about being on the edge of change, something Bandcamp knows all about. "One day soon, I'll start a revolution, I'm gonna make a contribution just to show that I can," Bair sings. "But I'm not ready right now."

Once "Wanna Dance?" hits stores, though, Bandcamp may have to get ready pretty fast.

WHEN & WHERE Bandcamp plays the YMCA Boulton Center for the Performing Arts, 37 W. Main St., Bay Shore, 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12 through the center box office or boultoncenter.org. "Wanna Dance" will be in selected stores and on iTunes Tuesday.

Comments (1)

OMG!!! Bandcamp rocks!!! I went to a competition on June 5th, 2007 and they performed there!! I got their autogragh!

Post a comment


Please enter the security code you see here

Search Backstage Pass

Recent Posts

Popular Tags

(view all)

Categories

Feed Subscription

If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching ''. [What is this?]

Subscribe to feed RSS feed   |   Subscribe to feed ATOM feed

Video

Archives