In an effort to present you with as many routes to success as possible, I bring
you the Kramdens, an outfit from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, led by
singer-songwriter Chris Chartier. Now, I can hear you saying: "What the frig
does he mean by profiling a band from that godforsaken place? How about
throwing in a Providence band that doesn't get any press?" Well, it's a good
question. I try. I try to focus on area bands, but when an opportunity comes up
for me to introduce you to a band with a story, albeit a short one, like the
Kramdens, hell, I have to take it.
The band, which consists of Chartier, drummer Tom Booth, keyboard guy Matt
Smith, and bassist Jeff Walsh, came together four or five years back, as
remnants of an old, nearly successful band called the Po Boys, in which
Chartier and Walsh served as the epicenter. Their brush with fame came when
they signed with Boston's Cherry Disc label and teamed up frequently with John
Cafferty's band at the peak of their popularity.
After the Po Boys disintegrated, Chartier set up a small recording studio and
stayed involved in the music business. When he and Walsh came together again in
the mid-'90s, they began writing the songs that would ultimately make up the
Kramdens' repertoire. That repertoire? Well, as far as sounds go, it's pretty
unfashionable: a mix of Jeff Tweedy and Paul Westerberg, with flourishes of
Creedence Clearwater and the Band. In fact, it fits the classic definition of
"roots rock," plain and simple.
"It's a pretty good market right now for us," Chartier explains, "because even
though there's plenty of stuff out there, people might be looking to go back to
the roots." He's right. With all the hullabaloo coming from dark and stormy
bands of the hard variety, only a handful bother to play straightforward,
real-life rock and roll, the kind you hear on the Kramdens' new Songs From
the Pumpkin Patch. "We really tried to make it an honest record," says
Chartier, "and I think that comes through."
One interesting turning point in the Kramdens' story comes when the band
scrapped its entire first set of recording sessions because their material
sounded too slick, overdone, and a little sterile. So they returned to the
drawing board, and decided to remake the record at Chartier's own studio,
Factory Recordings, in an abandoned shoe factory in Brockton. "The wood in that
place is old and weathered and it has a beautiful sound," says Chartier. "Of
course, we had no heat, and we still sat up there all winter making the record.
But we feel it came out a lot better, and it's a lot more honest of a
recording."
But as fresh and humble as all that sounds, it's not the story I wanted you to
hear. The story is that prior to releasing the album, Chartier hooked up with a
New York City-based music publisher through a producer he had worked with. The
publisher specializes in placing music on the soundtracks of television shows
and movies. Chartier, 36 and the main songwriter in the Kramdens, signed an
exclusive deal with the publisher, who in turn gets a split of the usage
proceeds after she places it. So far, that relationship has yielded some
significant fruit. Chartier has slotted songs in a few soap operas (One Life
to Live, The Young and the Restless, and All My Children) as
well as the CBS prime-time show That's Life.
Depending on the usage -- that is, whether it plays a featured role in the
show or a background role ("We don't know if it's going to be 30 seconds or
three minutes") -- Chartier earns a reasonably good fee and all he has to do is
feed his publisher usable material. And with Chartier's writing ability -- as
displayed on Pumpkin Patch -- he seems to have little trouble coming up
with quality melodies.
The success here has a multi-pronged effect. First, it allows Chartier to
support himself with songwriting through fees and royalties. Second, and more
importantly, the prominence of these songs helps to publicize the Kramdens. How
often can you reach so many people without even leaving the comfort of your
living room? Not very often. And that publicity certainly helps in all aspects
of getting the word out. Need a booking? Just tell the agent you've placed a
song on network TV. It works. "You could live off this kind of thing,
absolutely," says Chartier. "If I wanted to sit back and write music for
publishing and do nothing with my band, I could probably make a lucrative
career off of it for myself." But Chartier is too good of a songwriter, and he
loves his band and performing too much to write off the whole idea of playing
in a successful rock band. "But I couldn't score film and TV programs for my
career. I couldn't just write music to a scene and be done with my band."
That said, the Kramdens have been plugging away at the
Boston/Providence/Southeastern Massachusetts scenes, attempting to capitalize
on the momentum. Three weeks ago they played Providence for the first time (at
the Century Lounge), and this week they'll celebrate the release of their new
album at the Q Billiards &Sports Club in Taunton, Massachusetts. It will
showcase the band's variegated approach to rock, with some jangle, a little
tenderness, and lots of back-to-basics grit. "It's honest," states Chartier.
"You can never underestimate honesty on a recording. It's the first thing you
notice.
"We could do a million things and go a million ways and have success jumping
on some bandwagon somewhere, but we're from the old school. Before record deals
and big major labels, rock was a different thing. It was always more about the
music. Today, there's not much art behind the flash. We're trying to be really
musical and just concentrate on the songs, rather than the marketing end of it.
Good songs should be marketing enough."
The Kramdens will perform at their CD release party on Friday, October 26.
Doors open at 8 p.m. Call (508) 822-4008.
WANDERING EYE. Kevin Sullivan hosts the Thursday Open Mic Night
at the Newport Blues Cafe on Thames Street this and every Thursday. There is no
cover. Over at the Safari Lounge, we see some greasy rock on the docket this
weekend. Katie Lee Hooker, DJ Fab, Suicide Liquor, and
the Cunning Stunts (a band named after my favorite Cows album) stain the
stage on Friday, while S.O.S., the Roachenders, Run
Like Hell, and the Drunks stumble around on Saturday. On Friday (the
26th) at a cool new room called Area 22 (22 Broadway, Newport),
Blueblood brings the king's noyse.
There's a big-ass Halloween bash happening at the Met Café on the 31st
of October. It goes like this: As the Sun Sets, Advocate,
Backstabbers Incorporated, and 5Ive are solidly booked, while a
few other bands are tentative at press time. Still, that's a ton of art-damaged
heavy rock, perfect to accompany a night of chills and thrills. Wear a costume
and something strange might happen to you. It starts at 8 p.m. and word has it
there will be, yup, candy!
E-mail me with music news at b_gulla@yahoo.com.
Issue Date: October 26 - November 1, 2001
