Making Music: Undergraduate Bands

Last week, the crowd at Cambridge's Catch A Rising Star learned what the the Harvard Community already knows--the University's rock music scene is alive and well.

Men of Clay, a band made up of three Harvard undergraduates, performed last Wedenesday at the club before a sellout crowd of 150 people. During its set, the band played a cover version of the U2 hit "With or Without You" and a new Sting tune called "Rock Steady." The group also showed off some of its original melodies, including "Deep Blue Glow."

The Rising Star engagement was "very successful," says Benjamin M. Hammond '89, the bassist for Men of Clay. "People off to the side were dancing. [The performance] felt good because people were listening really hard," he says.

Although Men of Clay was the only Harvard band at Rising Star that night, it is far from the only band at the University. While Men of Clay features a fusion jazz sound, Christian and the Infidels say they play "strictly rock and roll." The Rhythm Method concentrates on pure pop music.

Most undergraduate bands get their start playing on campus at house committee parties. The busiest times for bands on campus include Halloween, Valentine's Day and Head of the Charles weekend, says Nevin D. Steinberg '89, who plays bass for Christian and the Infidels.

"Playing for the students here is my favorite part of being in a band because the audiences are really receptive," Steinberg says.

Once bands become better known, they begin playing off campus and can pick and chose among the on-campus parties. When selecting their gigs, the Infidels place great importance on what organization sponsors the event and who is acting as the event's organizer, Steinberg says.

"You have to be careful about the organizers of an event," Steinberg says. "You have to make sure they have their act together in terms of advertising and other stuff so that you can just do your job. "The group will be playing at Lowell House on Saturday.

When playing on campus, the bands tend to play cover tunes--songs made famous by other groups--because students are more interested in hearing music that they know, band members say. "It's tough, because Harvard students don't want to hear original music," says Michael R. Greenspan '88, who plays with Christian and the Infidels.

Says Lowell House committee chairman Megan K. Jenks '89, "We usually hire Christian and the Infidels because they play covers with a few originals."

The Rhythm Method does not cover the music of other artists, preferring to play original tunes and their own versions of other groups' songs, says lead singer John N. Axelrod '88. "We perform covers in the same way that Van Halen does Roy Orbison." As a result, The Rhythm Method generally does not play at Harvard functions.

By contrast, The Quick, a recently defunct campus band, attempted to capitalize on undergraduate music tastes by playing only established hits. The group was founded this fall by members of Men of Clay, because a number of popular dance groups had recently disbanded, and many student organizations were looking for new bands to play cover tunes at their functions.

Sources of Inspiration

The student bands may not get to play very much of their original music on campus, but even so, they spend a lot of time writing and practicing it.

Axelrod says he usually comes up with an idea for a song and presents it to the other two members of The Rhythm Method. The three of them work together on arranging the tune to fit each member of the band in the best way, he says. When writing music, Axelrod says, "We are a triangular nucleus. We are each interdependent on each other. You have to be selfless rather than selfish."

By contrast, the Infidels' original melodies are usually penned by Christian Kanuth '87 and jointly arranged by all the band members, Steinberg says. During the arranging process, "Bass players are important because they keep a piece of music under control," adds Steinberg, who plays bass.

Inspiration comes in a variety of ways, the student composers say. Axelrod says he most often gets ideas for songs when travelling between classes. "I don't need a piano to write music on," he says. However, "Sometimes when you get to a piano it doesn't sound anything like what you thought it would because when you write a song you hear all the parts in your head and the piano is only one instrument," Axelrod adds.

Themes for his songs include: the nuclear arms freeze, the importance of individuality and the disappearance of the institution of love in the modern world. "In order to write a good song it is necessary to take a personal experience that is seen as universal," Axelrod says.

Axelrod and the rest of the band says they are adamant in their resolve not to compromise their originality in any way. The band strives to bring something new and interesting to the traditional "Top 40 radio" sound. "Some people write songs according to the formulas followed by leading pop songs of today," says Axelrod, adding that these people write only to please the commercial market and make money.

"We're not in it for the money. We want to make really good music and get it out to as many people as possible," Axelrod says.

Playing in club gives the artists a chance to show off their own music and, of course, make a little money. The Infidels get $1000 for an off-campus performance and only $850 for on-campus shows, says Andrew E. Bush '88. However, Men of Clay earns $750 for performances both on and off campus, Ben Hammond says. Similarly, The Rhythm Method received $800 when they played last week at New York's China Club, Axelrod says. The money does not go all that far, band members say, because they have to pay about $300 a show for sound equipment.

Finding a Home

Band members work hard for their money. All of the groups practice several times a week and finding rehearsal space can often be a problem. Dunster House has a large basement practice room, but few other houses are similarly equipped. The Rhythm Method has solved the dilemma by practicing twice a week in a rented rehearsal space in Boston, Axelrod says.

Axelrod says his group has tried to remedy the problem. The Rhythm Method recently won $5000 in the national Energizer Battle of the Bands contest and offered the prize money to Harvard to pay for a rehearsal studio. But Assistant Dean for Physical Resources Phillip J. Parsons rejected their proposal because he did not consider rehearsal space for bands a priority. The Rhythm Method is still bargaining with the administration for a space here on campus, Axelrod says.

Getting Started

Undergraduates at Harvard tend to meet people accidentally, and band members are no exception. Kanuth found the original members of the Infidels in 1984 by asking the people he met if they liked music, band members say. And Axelrod says The Rhythm Method's current composition is almost accidental. At first, The Rhythm Method was composed only of Harvard students, but it temporarily disbanded when three of the original four members graduated.

Since then Axelrod says he has performed with a number of different musicians and has "had to ask a few players to leave." Although the members of a band are like brothers, sometimes members are unable to either make the full time commitment or "cut it musically," Axelrod says. "A certain level of professionalism must be kept," he says. Axelrod finally hit on a winning combination with two undergraduates at the Berkelee School of Music--saxophonist Warren Hill and Percussionist David Schommer.

When the group plays live, its "nucleus" is supplemented by studio musicians from the Berk-lee School of Music. These musicians add the bass guitar, a horn section and keyboards to the Rythym Method's music.

Ben Hammond left Christian and the Infidels about a year-and-a-half ago to form Men of Clay when his brother Tom came to Harvard. "I knew that if Tom came here we would form a band together. We had been playing together since high school," says Ben Hammond. Shankar Ramaswami '89, Ben Hammond's squash partner at Harvard, completed the trio when they discovered that they shared the same musical tastes and felt influenced by the Police and the Beatles.

Although the music scene is quite busy, it may be becoming more difficult for Harvard bands to get started.

The College recently instituted a stricter alcohol policy, and attendance at large house committee-sponsored parties has shrunk. The Men of Clay and the Infidels already play at the most popular functions on campus. Since attendance was poor at The Quick's few on-campus shows, the group decided to disband this winter. "The alcohol policy killed the party scene here at Harvard," Ben Hammond says.