Harvard Graduates Form Band

When most people graduate from Harvard, they enter investment banking, law and other conventional careers. But several recent graduates did something else--they founded a rock band.

Since its formation two years ago, Green Fuse, composed mainly of Harvard graduates, has played Boston-area clubs like The Channel, Johnny D's, and Club 3.

The band plays club dates once a week and performs mostly original music. Green Fuse also covers artists like Alex Chilton, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins. The band next engagement will be at Johnny D's on Wednesday night.

Guitarists Michael Ross '86 and Daniel Brenner '86 began Green Fuse when they edited a Let's Go Travel guide for Harvard Student Agencies. Percussionist Melissa Dubross '87, drummer Richard C. Peaslee '88 and bassist Robert Todd, a Tufts graduate, later completed the quintet.

Up in the Air

Despite the apparent popularity of Green Fuse at nearby discos, Peaslee says it is "up in the air" as to whether he will choose music as a career. Peaslee and the other members of the band all hold down part-time jobs to help pay the rent. Peaslee works in a hospital while Ross and Todd proof-read for the Business School and Dubross aspires to attend medical school.

The band members are giving themselves a year to see if they can firmly establish themselves in the music industry, Ross says. Most of all, Green Fuse needs a loyal audience, he says. "We need the support of the Harvard community."

Ross and Brenner are the primary lyricists for the group but the entire band takes credit for the music because it is a "joint effort," Peaslee says.

The music, according to Ross, is "a mixture of everything: a 1960's rock and roll sound with punk and African influences." The lyrics focus mainly on "political realities." And, "emotional responsibilities" are the source of Green Fuse's lyrics, Ross adds.

The band currently is working on an extended play (EP) demo tape with six musical tracks that they will circulate to different record companies in order to secure a contract. Green Fuse also plans to take one of the songs on the EP--called "Celebration"--and create a video. The song is "very political," Ross says, adding that it deals with the present situation in South Africa. The video will include actual footage filmed in South Africa and performance footage taped at Johnny D's.

In addition, group members say they hope to gain backers for a concert tour of the United States this summer.