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 If
all you know about the New York City band The Rosenbergs
is that they became the much-publicized poster boys for
indie rock by famously rejecting Farmclub.com's TV and recording
contract, then you're missing the point - the band is, first
and foremost, a hard-working pop-rock band for whom music
is everything.
To be
sure, The Rosenbergs aggressively mined the publicity surrounding
their Farmclub refusal - they subsequently signed with Robert
Fripp's experimental label, Discipline Global Mobile, launched
a Napster-sponsored tour, and bundled an "extra" CD with
every copy of their 2001 DGM release, Mission: You that
they encouraged their fans to freely share. But band - and
the attendant publicity they generated -- would simply be
a case of much ado about nothing if they couldn't back it
all up with the real goods: infectious pop-pop songs featuring
hum-able hooks, crunchy guitars, and tight vocal harmonies
that recall bands such as the Posies, Fountains of Wayne
and Jellyfish.
The fact
of the matter is that the Rosenbergs have been paying their
dues since the day singer-guitarist David Fagin, who placed
an ad in the Village Voice, returned a call from bassist
Evan Silverman was convinced by Silverman's mom to give
her son an audition. The two formed the nucleus of The Rosenbergs
and began playing around New York City in 1995, going through
various members until 1999, when ex-Fiendz members Joe Darone
(drums) and Joe Mahoney (guitar) signed on and the present
incarnation of The Rosenbergs was completed.
Last
spring, The Rosenbergs stopped by the StarPolish offices
to talk to editorial director James K. Willcox about forming
the band, their recent experiences, and how they saw the
future unfolding. Then they picked up their instruments
and played an impromptu - and unamplified - set of songs.
Since
that interview, of course, many things have changed. For
one, Napster, so ubiquitous a year ago, is no longer extant.
For another, Robert Fripp recently decided to fold his DGM
label, so The Rosenbergs are once again unsigned. But the
band continues to move forward, heading into the studio
this summer to record a new album with songwriter/producer
Eric Bazilian (Hooters, Joan Osborn, Cyndi Lauper), who
is not only producing the album but who adds his instrumental
prowess to some of the tracks. Once the album is completed,
The Rosenbergs will begin shopping the album - and head
off on yet another adventure.
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Band Chemistry
STARPOLISH: You recently added
two new band members - that seems to be a difficult move for any
band. How do you go about deciding who you want in the band?
FAGIN:
I think
it's probably the number one thing if you can find guys who are
great guys, and that are talented musicians -- then you've really
got something. Because usually it's one or the other, and it's
taken us so many years to deal with that ingredient, the combined
ingredients. Because usually if they're great musicians they're
dicks, and if they're nice guys, there usually is a weak link
there somewhere on stage. So for us, it took us a long time, and
we're still looking, actually -- these guys are just temporary
(laughs) -- and one day when we actually find that, we'll be good.
SILVERMAN:
I think it's really important to remember, especially
being in a pop band, that no individual member is better than
the music. We're all working together and the music is just the
sum of the parts.
FAGIN: Is
that directed at me?
SILVERMAN:
Except David, of course.
FAGIN: It's
like four tires on a car. With three tires, a car can't move.
Everybody's equal … With us, as far as what went wrong with the
other guys, it was basically the usual stuff where we would come
off the road after about three weeks in England and we'd be offered
two shows to like 800 people in Chicago and our drummer would
be like, "Well, haven't we toured enough already this month?"
And that was step number one. The fact that the drummer can't
keep time is always a good sign that the band's never going to
go really as far as you'd like it to. Or, just basic, not willing
to sit with the lights off and have your electricity turned off
if it means going into the studio and using that money for that.
When the chips are down, that's when you know who the real dedicated
guys are, so usually it takes a while to find that out because
everyone comes along saying, "Yeah, I want to play in a band,
I'm dedicated." And then, one seven-hour snow storm drive to Toronto,
and [you're] playing for two people and the sound cuts out or
something and the place next door is packed with chicks and everybody's
dancing and all that stuff, that's enough to get a lot of squeamish
guys going, "That's enough touring for me, I'm gonna go sell shoes
again." Or something. And we've run into more than our share of
that.
MAHONEY:
And I think we've had the same experiences,
too, in the band we were in before as the Rosenbergs did before
us. We had a pretty good thing going but we had members in the
band that just didn't want to do what we had to do, which was
go on the road and work it, work it, work it. And it was great
for us to find these guys because it all worked out really well.
Because everybody's kind of up for the same thing. We know what
we've got to do, we've got to bust our butt to be a band.
SILVERMAN:
When you're joining a band and when you really want to be serious
about it, you just decide, "I don't have a life anymore." And
a lot of people when faced with that run the other way, and they
like to live comfortable, have a nine to five job because they
know that tomorrow they can wake up and go in to work and with
us it's all about taking chances.
FAGIN: There's
so many musicians that we know right now that are playing in bands
that are trying to make records that don't tour, that have comfortable
existences, that have great-paying jobs, which is the ultimate
morphine. It just kind of lulls you into that sense of false security
and then you wake up ten years later and you're just like, "Well…"
And then you're gone. It's definitely something that we definitely
made a conscious decision of and that was, "Let's see if we can
find guys that are willing to do it and willing to get a safe
dropped on their head every day." That's pretty much what it entails.
You don't know what you've got until stuff like that goes down.
It's A Business
STARPOLISH: One of the reason StarPolish
was founded because there are a lot of musicians who are great
at making music, but who are not astute about the business side
of things. A lot of artists really just want to focus on the music,
but don't you also have to realize that it's called the music
business, and that it's a lot of work?
FAGIN: I wanted
to play all my life in school. I was the first one done, I never
wanted to work or do anything like that and I figured, "OK, cool,
I'll join a band, there's no work there." And then it turns out
that it's the hardest thing to do on the planet. If you're
a comedian, or you're an actor, you can say, "I want to be a comedian,"
and then start writing jokes and go out and do your thing. You're
not going to fire yourself. You don't have to worry about three
other guys, most of the time, that are just as talented as you
are at different instruments, or different telling jokes… If you're
in a band and you want to play with four or five guy, you've got
to find those guys. And then you have to find the chemistry and
the whole nine yards and then sit in the van for 16 hours a day.
OFF CAMERA:
You are married [to the band].
SILVERMAN:
It's worse than married because you can't go out with your friends,
you know?
FAGIN: So,
with us, it was… We couldn't just say, OK, we wanted to play,
we met six years ago, and that was it… We tried to do the acoustic
thing and make some demos acoustically and show what we can do
songwriting-wise, and back at the time when we were doing the
label dance, no one wants to hear that. No one wants to hear acoustic
and try to imagine it electric. They don't have the brains for
it in A&R. They can't think
STARPOLISH: So there are no more John
Hammonds…
FAGIN: No,
Michael Caplan was the closest one. He's still a big pop fan at
Epic and he was cool about it. But for the most part, they can't
put two and two together. They can't imagine what it's going to
sound like with a full band. So, we weren't able to do that. We
had to sit there and go every six months putting new ads in the
Voice and every six months rehearsing an entire set that
we had been playing for years or something and back to square
one, back to square one, back to square one.
SILVERMAN:
But it's really funny because we could probably fill up Irving
Plaza with everyone we've tried out for the band.
Pre-Record Label Publicity
STARPOLISH: Before you even had a label,
you were able to score some great gigs for your music, such as
placement on TV shows. How did that come about?
FAGIN: The
way we got it was we just sent it out… There was this thing called
Music Report, which is now astronomically expensive, which
our friend of ours used to get and he was a composer and did soundtracks
and stuff and I would just peruse through it every once in a while
and it's a very legitimate service that actually places music
and they're looking for music and stuff. You don't have to be
a signed artist. But it's really expensive. It's like $700 a year
and you get like a bi-weekly fax of shows and movies that are
looking for music and we sent one in for a new show called Dawson's
Creek or something and that's when John McCullough at Columbia
heard the CD and really liked it and put it on Party of Five
and they used it for Time of Your Life and all that stuff.
There are lots of opportunities, but at the same time, it's very
much a political ball just as anything else is. If you're on a
major label, you'll get the big publishing deal and you'll get
your music placed. That's what happened with Fisher, basically.
The record wasn't selling, it wasn't doing very well and Farmclub
just pushed the button and then it's on Ally McBeal and
they're playing with Duncan Sheik and all that stuff. So, that's
good for them, and they're really great, but if you have that
kind of backing, obviously it's going to be a heck of a lot easier.
At the same time, it's a roll of the dice. If you're sitting there
in your house, what have you got to lose? Just find out who your
connections and contacts are and if you think your music's worth
its weight just send it out.
Musical Influences
STARPOLISH: So, who were your
influences?
FAGIN: The
Posies were a huge influence, and Fountains of Wayne as well.
Sometimes it's funny… we were talking about how sometimes people
compare us to like the Raspberries or something or bands that
we've never listened to. I like Alex Chilton's Big Star, I think
he's good, I never bought a Stax record or a Big Star record ever.
And I grew up on Journey, and Ratt and Dokken and all that stuff
back in the '80's so I didn't get into REM until like Out of
Time came out and then I went back and listened to Murmur
and Fables and I was always a late bloomer as far as the
pop side goes. So, we never really consciously tried to be those
guys or anything, but it's definitely something that took a while
to grow on me, because I just grew up in Jersey listening to the
usual classic rock bands and stuff like Foreigner or something.
Triumph.
SILVERMAN:
We all have radically different influences. I guess when we're
working on a new song we just bring this craziness, put in on
the table. And everything falls off except what the song needs.
STARPOLISH: What about you other guys?
OFF CAMERA:
Barney (laughter).
SILVERMAN:
My favorite rhythm section is Fugazi's rhythm section. And I'm
always a firm believer that when you see a show… Like, when I
see a show, I want to be killed, ya know? I want to be totally
blown away. I want to be like, "Wow, this band was so good, so
tight." And, so I think that working with Joe, he's a really good
drummer, and he's also willing to put the work into it. My main
influence rhythm section-wise is really Fugazi and the way they
do things.
MAHONEY: I'm
very close to a lot of the stuff David listened to, a lot of the
top '80s stuff…
FAGIN: Except
he's worse -- Krokus, Schenker, Blue Oyster Cult…
MAHONEY: But
I took the heavy metal route. Yeah, what's wrong with Blue Oyster
Cult?
FAGIN: They
had two good songs.
MAHONEY:
Yeah, so I was into a lot of UFC, UFO,
Thin Lizzy… A lot of the heavier stuff, but I also listened to
a lot of Triumph and I must admit I liked Ratt…
FAGIN: He's
the only one that can put in Night Ranger's Greatest Hits.
MAHONEY: Oh
yeah. I was a big Night Ranger fan. So that's my background. I'm
really a metalhead.
STARPOLISH: That's great - you
don't hear about [Triumph guitarist] Rik Emmit being cited as
an influence very often…
DARONE: I come
more from a punk background. Pop punk. But I like a little of
everything that these guys are listening to. I also like progressive
rock a lot and Jazz. Pretty much anything. All's one of my favorite
bands.
STARPOLISH: Do these different influences
cause some major fights in the tour van?
FAGIN: No,
we have a good system. What we do is whomever drives gets to listen
to the radio or the CD or whatever they want. So if you're doing
the dirty detail of driving, you can pick the music and stuff.
And Evan has a portable CD player…
SILVERMAN:
Which I forgot. I'm just realizing now. EVERYONE: Ohhhhh….
FAGIN: I was
wondering why… He doesn't bellyache usually, because you turn
around and he's got the headphones on.
SILVERMAN:
Yeah, he turns on the '80s shit. I'm just like…I listen to Joni
Mitchell or something.
FAGIN: Jonatha
Brooke right now is my favorite. I think she's awesome.
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