To be in a band. What is it about a guitar that instantly ups one’s mojo? Every where you turn it seems like there’s some aspiring musician trying to break into the business and claim their 15 minutes of fame. Are these bands in search of success or instant sexiness? In an attempt to explore the enigma of the college band The Mirror went in search of some answers. We got in contact with Collapse Computer, an on campus indierock band.
Thursday night, The Mirror office. Interview time and place set. Now what exactly is indierock?
We went straight to the source, the Yoda of music, Nick Mercadante, WVOF’s music director. “Indie rock is too broad to define, it’s totally created by the band itself, so it can be a broad range of musical genre. The main thing would be that it’s much more real then the rock music major labels produce.” Not the most helpful definition, we can only really expect that five “real” band members will arrive at the interview.
But it was four members of Collapse Computer that showed up for their chance of a lifetime, an interview with the A’E editors of The Mirror. Fred Daniele, Jared Stagg, Paul Berti and Brandon Campbell filed into the office ready to convince us that they were the real thing, they were the band that could make it, they were not in search of “The Rolling Stone” magazine, they were on a quest to make music.
Yet, one could not help but notice that these four, (the fifth, Van Hartley was unable to attend), seemed readily groomed for fame; their style differed from the average Abercrombie/Jcrew clad 20 something. Lead singer, Fred, looked like a member of The Hives, while Jared, the lead guitarist, looked like the lead singer of The Strokes. Brandon Campbell, the organ player, topped off his trendy look with a hat straight off the head of Britney Spears. A little more laid back was the bassist, Paul Berti, sporting the T-shirt and Birkenstocks.
Jared Stagg and Paul Berti are full time students at Fairfield University. Balancing academia with the obligations of a band would seem cumbersome to most. But watching these four interact, it became clear that the band was more like therapy, less like an obligation. However Brandon seemed apprehensive about the band growing in fame. He was clear to state he loved the band, but he was unsure about the possibility of additional responsibilities that come with a record label contract, the destination that their road may lead.
But the band is determined to expand their fan base and their catalogue of songs. Stagg spoke optimistically of the future, saying “We hope to take our music someplace. We are currently recording our first demo and are looking into recording our EP in a studio in Bridgeport that may just clean out our bank accounts. The encouraging thing is we are getting some shows at some pretty essential places to our career such as Niagara in NYC without a demo. All shows have been booked off word of mouth from kids that have seen us play.”
Collapse Computer has been together for a year and a half. All the members knew each other from being in pervious bands, and wondered what they would sound like if they all played together. When they all got together, they knew the sound they had was a good one, and Collapse Computer was born. Fred Daniele came up with the name.
“I’ve been through many names, in other bands and stuff,” said Daniele. “There’s no real meaning behind (the name). We’ll probably have to make up a meaning for it to make the story more interesting,” he says.
“I don’t like computers, so it fits my life,” says Berti.
But how does a band become a band? For every wannabe guitarist, how many actually know how to play? For every group of guys who claim to be a band, how many actually know how to compose music? Skeptical of the ability of the band we grilled them on everything, from how long they play, to how often they practice.
Fred Daniele convinced us this was more than an after school hobby for him. Music is what he does, this is who he is. “Right after High School, I took two years off to pursue stuff with another band. This is it, I write the songs. Right now I’m focusing on trying to make this work.”
Musically, the band is extremely experienced. Besides being in several other bands, all the members of Collapse Computer have been playing their instruments for quite a while.
So what exactly happens at a practice? How feasible is it that five 20 year olds get down to business and have intense practice sessions?
“Our practices consist a bit of waiting in the beginning for all of the members to arrive. Sometimes we find out at the last minute that one member is not coming and these practices either end up with creative ideas of new songs or we jam for a while and then joke around. The majority of practices consist of a bit of recording, practicing our set and mainly beer.”
After a while of sitting there it became apparent that we were not only interviewing the band, but we were falling victim to their sarcasm. Berti and Campbell seemed to be the prevalent comedians. Berti asked that we make sure to let his fans know that he was once in a real fight. Campbell shared the life story of his pants.
Stagg, seemingly quiet and shy, breaks his silence when asked about playing live. “Playing live is the greatest. I never get nervous before shows, I just get really excited to go out there and play. I was so into it last time my finger started to bleed from playing so intensely.”
We can’t necessarily tell you what to think of Collapse Computer’s music, but we can confidently tell you that these guys aren’t a random group of guys claiming to be in a band in order to woo the underclassmen girls at a keg. This band is actually coming from somewhere, and seems serious about trying to make it work.
“We’re just trying to do something different, and make some good music,” says Daniele. “We hope people check us out.”
“Everyone is uncultured until they hear us,” says Stagg.
Is that enough though? While the enthusiasm of the members for their band is apparent, it is not enough to carry their band to the next level. To expose their band to a broader music society, they will have to get a manager and an agent. No matter how experienced their music careers may be, they need someone to get out there and sell them.
So go see the band play tonight at the levee. Do they have what it takes? Are they fluff or are they substance? They’ve got the start, and we’re eagerly awaiting to see if they have what it takes to push through to the next level.
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