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I ake heed young bands of Athens: if you think you can
get an asymmetrical haircut, throw some songs up on
MySpace and then sit around waiting for a label to
throw money at you like some deus ex machina—you
are way off. Deep pockets in the music industry are few and
far between these days, and if you realiy want to make it,
you're going to have to do it yourself. It's phenomenal how
the digital age has provided an unprecedented amount of
opportunities for bands to be self-sufficient, but that also
means a lot more competition. You have got to be savvy to
survive, and nobody knows this better than the hard rocking
and even harder working Baltimore band J Roddy Walston and
the Business.
The debut record Hail Mega Boys might have wrapped up
a year ago, but once the recording was done the real work
began. Drummer Steve Colmus remembers how much the band
had to learn, and struggle, just to get things moving.
"When that record first came out, we were working full-time
jobs and coming home and probably putting another eight
hours into the record," says Colmus. "You have to wear so
many different hats to have any sort of national presence at
this time, especially getting out of the gate. You have to know
how to book a tour; you've got to write the songs: then you
practice them so you can play them live; you probably have to
record them, so you have to have some knowledge of record
ing; then you probably have to do your own press at first, so
you learn extremely rudimentary public relations; then you
have to handle your own finances; deal with a distributor; fig
ure out where you get your merch from... You definitely have
to bust your ass to do it, but, if you're willing to bust your ass,
there's a whole world of opportunity that maybe wasn't there
10 years ago."
So how does an artist learn to be a businessman, too? For
Colmus it was all "trial by fire." He talked with other bands
who were signed, networked with industry types, and then just
dove in head first. "The learning curve is pretty steep," Colmus
admits, "but, I mean, if you're this age and you're in a band,
you've probably been serious about it for a long time, and
you've probably had to learn how to do some of that stuff in
the meantime."
Although J Roddy Walston and the Business are still a
ways away from completing their sophomore record, they have
already considered utilizing all the skills they've learned from
the first album to launch their own label as a means to distrib
ute future releases.
"We'd love if we could find an independent label... but, we
might just start our own label and hire a PR firm and do it our
selves that way, because labels don't necessarily have as much
to offer as they maybe did even five or 10 years ago. There's
really no need to pay someone else to do it unless you really
just don't want to do it."
The irony in all this is that J Roddy Walston and the
Business have a totally different work ethic when it comes
to the songs themselves. While the band is out on the road
constantly, bandmembers don't obsess over the finer details of
performance. These are workhorses through and through, but
this is also a true-blue rock and roll band. Who cares if you
flub a distorted note as long as everyone's having a good time?
"We don't rehearse—ever. Because it just doesn't lead
to better shows for us," says Colmus. "We're not a technical
band... our biggest thing is trying to capture the spirit of a
song, the heart of it. That's the biggest difference between us
and whoever else you might compare us to. Our main concern
when we get up there is haying fun. We don't try to over-think
things or over-analyze things; we just play what we feel."
Colmus adds that it was actually quite difficult for him to
adopt this attitude when he first came on board. "I joined [the
Business] two weeks before they had this weekender with The
Features, and it was going to be packed shows for all three
dates. I was shitting a brick because I had to learn 16 songs in
two and half weeks. With every other band I had been in up to
that point, you practiced your ass off because when you get up
there the biggest concern was playing your part perfectly..."
When Colmus expressed his anxiety to Business guitarist
Billy Gordon, Gordon encouraged him to focus more on having
a good time than hitting every note. "He said, 'you just gotta
get up there and have fun, and that's it. If it's not fun for you
it's not going to be fun for anybody to watch.' It seems obvious
now, but at the time it seemed like a really crazy way to be in
a band—to not have your ultimate goal be to play something
perfectly, but to feel a certain way."
What Colmus eventually learned is how to pay attention
to the moment—the energy of the band and the audience as
a whole—instead of focusing in on each minute drum beat.
Amazingly, the resulting performance never comes across as
sloppy or loose, just simply unadulterated. This is rock and
roll in its purest, most joyous, natural form. There is nothing
premeditated or calculated in bassist Zach Westphal's head
banging. Nothing ironic in Walston's swagger or snarl. It's rock
without pretense, and that free spirit is absolutely contagious.
Just ask anybody in town who's seen J Roddy perform
before. Gordon Lamb was swelling with accolades after he
caught their debut at the Caledonia two years ago, saying their
record "just as often leads me to near tears of joy as it does
beer-swilling adandon." The crew at Tasty World was floored by
Roddy's last performance, leading venue employee Fritz Gibson
to declare that "they are, without a doubt, the finest new band
we've had through here in a couple of years." Go see what a
band can accomolish when they really bust their asses.
Michelle Gilzeruat
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WHO: The Help, Jackpot City,
J Roddy Walston and the Business
WHERE: Tasty World
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7
HOW MUCH: $6
V J
MUSIC
WED 5/7 1/2 PRICE WINE w/
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THU 5/8 IMMUZIKATION
FRI 5/9 BABY'S BLUE SWINGSET
1251 W.CLAYTON ST. - 706-583-85101
RELAX
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wwwjnercuryathens.com
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Open Every Day:
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Directions: 316 West to 1-85 South
Exit 102 East on Beaver Ruin Rd - 3 miles
Left into Kroger Shopping Center
at the corner of Hwy 29
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30 FLAGPOLE.COM • MAY 7,2008
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