Home: New York NY and Dunster House
Concentration: Visual and Environmental Sciences
Where he wanted to go for spring break: Providence. I wanted to get a tattoo of the "Real" seat that they put on dairy products.
What happened instead: I called and got in a fight with some obnox-ious old guy who wouldn't tell me how much it would cost. I'm kind of scared they'd recognize my voice if I went in and then do something weird to me.
Most recent job: Driving the Harvard Shuttle Bus. I'd been driving the bus since freshman year.
Why he quit: I think they're trying to get rid of student drivers--they want to get rid of the radios.
Favorite radio station when driving: Actually I hate the radio. You have to be a DJ and driver at the same time and I always felt this psychic pressure to please the passengers.
What he did for his last shuttle run:At about one in the morning I drove my roommates into Boston took them to IHOP. Then I planned the most dangerous and scary ride possible for my roomates. We almost crashed.
Risky spot on his last run: Peabody Terrace--they have those speed bumps, which we took pretty fast. It's also pretty icy. I had to slam on the brakes and my roommate slid halfway across the bus into the railing.
Ramifications of his joyride: I haven't gotten in trouble yet. They don't know yet. They could fire me, but I already quit.
His attitude: I'd be proud to get in trouble. This is the kind of thing I'd be happy to look back on when I'm 80.
Reasons for his lack of concern: I haven't really done anything else that risky here at Harvard. This was a kind of premeditated recklessness. Interview Elisabeth A. Mayer Photo Dan Lessin
Two different shows in two different realms ofHarvard, both received with decided approval. Butlast Friday night was an anomaly. Although enoughgroups certainly exist to keep the student bodyentertained--Betty Please. Fat Day, HypertrophieShitstraw, Mopar, Neverlovers, Pushkings, Circusof George, Smiley's Bone, Soma and Toddler, toname few--Harvard bands are rarely heard byHarvard students.
Seda Yalcenkaya '95, who transferred here fromBrown last year, voices a common frustration: "Myproblem is that there is no one particular place Ican go to listen to them...At Brown, for example,they have a student-run, college-funded bar calledThe Underground. All Brown bands play thereregularly, so you know where to go to listen tothe music. Here you only know about gigs if youknow the people who will be playing."
Many Harvard groups concentrate on getting gigsoff campus, at clubs and bars. The Square'sofferings consist of The Black Rose and the Top ofthe Hong Kong; further out there are The MiddleEast, T. T. the Bear's, The Paradise and TheCauseway. One band, Circus of George (formerlyknown as Rank and File Pilot) has appearedoccasionally at Wellesley.
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."
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