Smiley's Bone singer/guitarist Beys lamentsthat his band can't play at home more often:"Harvard is a pathetic scene all around; a lot ofpeople don't have time to have fun onweekends...Harvard is an awful, awful place formusic. People don't know how to dance or toreact...The only scene here as far as music goesis the finals clubs--mainstream Harvard doesn'thave a good music scene, and the finals clubs areunderground."
Beys'' complaints of a lack of support fromHarvard are echoed by many rock musicians, but hissituations as a member of the mainstream Smiley'sBone is much different from those of hard-core andpunk bands. These bands, centered around WHRB,Dunster and Adams Houses, with a strong off-campuscontingent as well, are taken care of by anenterprising senior named Doug DeMay, and hisorganization, the Harvard Independent MusicSociety (HIMS).
Doug is a self-described little, balding guy inthick glasses with big black 50's style frames. Ashe performs with Mopar at the Happy Hour, he wearsa greenish plaid shirt and jeans. Even though hehas spent his entire day organizing this event, heexerts all of his bodily energy while singing,tensing up while leaning back and hunching down.The veins on his neck pop out angrily, and hisface is strained. He bounces a lot, and jumps. Heturns his back to the audience. He spreads hislegs far apart, one in front of the other, andwriggles. At the end of a song he is short ofbreath. "I'm losing my voice," he laments. Helooks exhausted.
It's no wonder that he is. DeMay, a seniormajoring in economics, is the founder of the HIMS,what he calls "a connecting organization" Histasks include finding practice spaces, gettingshows together, borrowing a P.A. from the UC forvarious shows and connecting bands with hispersonal record label, 100% Breakfast! Records."Everyone was doing their own thing haphazardly,"he says of the music scene before the HIMS. "Iwanted an organization that would get bandstogether."
Last year, 100% Breakfast! released a CDentitled "Detect the Mind Control Helicopters," acompilation of songs by various Harvard bands.DeMay funds his record label with his personalearnings, aided by a UC grant for recording costs.Its releases are mostly of Harvard groups, but heis starting to branch off and release outsidebands as well.
The first 100% Breakfast! release was aseven-inch single by Betty Please, a bandconsisting of Jake S. Krielkamp and Alex J.LeVine, both juniors, along with Gian Neffinger'93 and Oliver Strauch '94. The record found itsway across the country; it was received warmly atBU, BC, Princeton, Columbia and even as far awayas Berkeley. Then someone sent a copy to Europe.The music pioneer John Peel, of "Peel Sessions"fame, played it on BBC radio, and suddenly BettyPlease started receiving fan mail from England andScotland. The record then made its way to Germany,where it also met with success.
Other bands under the nurturing eye of DeMayare Mopar, Fat Day and a first-year band calledHypertrophie Shitstraw. Singer/guitarist John J.Donahue '94, of Toddler, says he was "inspired byDoug DeMay" to take up the guitar and form a band.
Many members of Harvard's rock music communityplan to pursue music after graduation. Fat Day,for instance, plans to tour the U.S. this summer.LeVine, who runs the Quad Sound Studio, says, "IfI don't get involved in the music industry thoughthe band, I will through recording." GeretyFinnian Moore '96 (known simply as Finn) hasalready played the professional circuit as leadsinger last year for Lolita, a successfulBoston-area band. However, He enjoys playing withhis current Harvard group, tentatively calledPushkings, more. "I never got to be friends with(the other members of Lolita) because they weremuch older than I, " he notes, adding, "I'mfinally playing the kinds of music I like tolisten to."
Most Harvard rock musicians knew they wereinterested in music at early ages: Levine boughtthe KISS single "I Was Made For Loving You," atthe age of four, and has known Kreilkamp fromchildhood. Melanie Martinez '95 (lead singer forNeverlovers) was pictured on a girl scout cookiebox playing drums at the age of 12.
Many rockers also played in bands during highschool, most notably Strauch. His New York band,The Sacred Cows, played "shock-tactic free jazz;we wore dresses and masks. Our drummer was founddead in a gutter. I'm not kidding."
Bands form in various ways. Martinez claimsthat the decision to from Neverlovers was madeduring a conversation over lunch. Josh Tosteson'94 tells the story of the addition of a congaplayer (Jeff Pressman '96) to Soma. "He didn'tknow us; he just heard us jamming from downstairs,grabbed his congas, walked right in, sat down, andstarted playing. He fit in perfectly."
Bands share musicians, practice spaces,instruments and equipment with one another, as allof these things are hard to come by at Harvard.Though groups average four hours a week ofpractice time, DeMay and Zach B. Sitter '94 playin both Mopar and Fat Day, Kelefa T. Sanneh '97plays in Mopar and Hypertrophie Shitstraw, Matt A.Donahue '97 plays in Toddler and Hypertrophie andAdam E. Rosen '95 plays in Mopar and Neverlovers."The main difference" between playing withNeverlovers as opposed to Mopar, says Rosen, "isthe songs are a lot slower so it's less physicallytaxing." Rosen says he must exercise regularly to"build up stamina" to play for the more fast-pacedMopar.
Musicians widely lament the dearth of goodpractice rooms. Some bands have had luck in an oldAdams House squash court despite its echoes, whileothers find themselves forced to use the hot,cramped Lowell practice room. "I'm melting,"groans Martinez, "that's how I lose weight."