It's showtime

State of Corruption live up to the Hype

by Bob Gulla

Back when State of Corruption first emerged out of North Providence High School in the early '90s, they were admittedly . . . well, clueless, a bunch of kids who knew nothing more than their love of music and their desire to be onstage in front of an audience playing it.

"I thought we were putting on something special back in 1991," says rapper Mike L. "But we were so naive. We played our first gig ever not knowing that our electric instruments needed cabinets; we played through two little house speakers." The noise was so bad that DJ Thrill's primitive turntables skipped non-stop and he had to play most of the show "faking it. We were a talent show act that tried to become a real band," says Mike. "No one took lumps like we did. We were loudmouth kids who didn't know what we were doing."

But that didn't stop them. SOC kept at it, working it every chance they could. From those callow early days, they grew a fan base seedling by seedling. They learned what it meant to entertain; they developed their own style and they stuck with it. Today, they are one of the city's premier bands, an elite aggregation that gave themselves enough time to nurture their vision. "People have come to respect the fact that we have a whole show going on now," says Mike. "We've always been big fans of Nirvana and that school of showing up and playing. But we also like Kiss or Van Halen with David Lee Roth for what they did on stage. You may not like their music, but you knew if you went to the show you'd be entertained."

That's exactly what SOC has done since the release of their debut, Backroom Sauce, back in 1997. Now they have even more grist from which to entertain in the form of their brand new disc, The Great Hype Agenda, the release of which happens at a party this weekend at the Met and Lupo's. It's called "The Backroom Music Fest," and it will be co-headlined by SOC and their brothers-in-arms, shed. And there will be a whole slew of awesome bands showing up to show off, including Moshall Law, Freakshow, Times Expired, Donnybrook, Slugworth, the Blackstone Valley Crew, and many more.

Anyway, back to SOC. Though they're looking forward to the CD release and feel hopeful about the band's future, Mike L. admits that even for a top local band like SOC, morale has been an issue. "We've been fighting that problem for a while. We all have jobs; we've been trying to make it work like this since we started playing. It's tough to keep it going. I see a lot of bands that opened up for us along the way, like Staind and Godsmack, become the very biggest in the country, and here we are back in Providence."

The problem, Mike figures, is radio. And I'll agree. Where Staind and Godsmack received heavy local airplay back home in Boston to garner attention and blast off a career, local commercial stations, though well-meaning and keyed in, don't exactly maximize their exposure of local music. "All it will take is one band to break through the door and I believe that one will take the rest through with them."

If any band deserves the honor of being the first through that door, it's SOC. They were doing the rap-rock thing with two MCs and a DJ way back in 1993, before anyone was doing it on a commercial level. "A few years later, people started coming up to us and saying how we sounded like Limp Bizkit or whatever, but we'd been doing it for a long time already. I've been rapping in front of a rock band since 1991!"

L. has been rapping alongside his boyhood chum Fasad since they were five. "We've always wanted to do something like that," Mike says, "to write like N.W.A. We couldn't wait to do it and get onstage. But sometimes I think now that we're getting older and our fans are getting younger, do I still have the shit? Can they relate to us?"

Well, if The Great Hype Agenda is any indication, the band's faithful audience will be more inclined to relate to this one than their popular debut. "It's weird because you never wanna refer to what you did before as bad. But the new one's a lot deeper. On the first CD, we wanted to hit major points lyrically, politically, and stuff -- `I don't like this or that.' But as you get older, a lot of the songs get more into personal issues. Like `Certified,' for example, is about having panic attacks."

If Mike L. doesn't want to refer to his early disc as "bad," then let's go the other route and talk about how good The Great Hype Agenda really is. Merging metal with rap, it explodes with rhyming dexterity and power chords, elevating SOC into a league with Papa Roach and P.O.D. It's a huge leap for a band that has a ton of ideas and are just now learning how to sort through them. If it's logical to refer to a band that's been together nearly 10 years as one with a bright future, well, then, there you have it. SOC's just getting started.

"We've finally learned how to be the band we've wanted to be," says Mike. "We're not a band looking for a gigantic contract, just some sort of support, like a better van or something. I mean, Godsmack opened for us. We played whiffle ball with Staind when they opened for us. Something happened. It's a weird thing. But I really think it has to do with radio support."

Without radio support getting the word out, the misconception about the Rhode Island music scene continues unchecked. With a little more help, who knows what could happen? "If radio pushes one of us, that'll call attention to the whole scene. Then we'd put other local bands on our bills and expose everyone else. That's the key to boosting morale. Then you'll see what happens."

The Backroom Music Fest is this Sunday, August 5 at Lupo's and the Met Cafe. The day begins early at 2 p.m., and $10 gets you all that music. Pick up The Great Hype Agenda while you're wallet's out.

WANDERING EYE. How's this for enterprising? Every night this summer, the tireless folks down at the Newport Blues Café are hosting live music. That's dedication to da blues, and a great idea, considering that nothing could be finer than a stroll down the boulevard on a balmy night, a good dinner, and a few nightcaps with a rockin' blues backdrop. Get rid of the tourists and now you're talkin'. Eh, at least you can act like a local. Throughout August, the Café will be hosting acts like Paul Geremia (7 p.m. on the 5th), Toni Lynn Washington (12), Roomful alum Sugar Ray Norcia (14), James Cotton (15), Michelle Wilson (16), the Band alum Levon Helm (17), and none other than Johnnie Johnson (18). In fact, with the formidable mix of regional and national blues talent coming through that place, I'd consider camping out behind the bar. You may not smell so good, but you'd save on the cover.

E-mail with music news at b_gulla@yahoo.com.