On the record

The Complaints and Fat Buddah finally get it all on tape

by Bob Gulla

Fat Buddah

It takes time to nurture a band, to develop a songwriting style, to envision a creative aesthetic. It takes money to get studio time, record some songs, and press a CD. And it takes guts to put it all out there for the (figurative) world to hear. A couple of local bands, the Complaints from Cranston and Fat Buddah from Providence, have finally seen their stars align and have managed to write, record, and release their debut discs. If you've ever done it before, you know it's no walk in the park. And that's why both bands will be celebrating the occasion with an earth-shaking show and star-studded party.

Fat Buddah: Ohm (Self-released CD; Modulation Cosmonaut Publishing)

Joe Bartone's a musician, which means that he has to have a real job to make a living. Bartone's real job, one of them, is to play experimental and improvised music for interpretive dance classes at Roger Williams College. Sometimes that involves banging on a tambourines and moaning, sometimes it means lighting up crazy techno beats, or stomping his foot while playing guitar a la the early Delta bluesmen. "You learn on the fly whether something works or not," says Bartone. "If you see the dancers aren't getting it, you've gotta get something together pretty quick."

Logically, then, Bartone found that a lot of ideas from this kind of focused improvisation were worth exploring. Hence, Ohm, Fat Buddah's debut album that stems, at least in part from the composer's work in dance class. Together with bassist Ryan Clausius, guitarist Tom Tsouris, and drummer Brendan Ormsby, Fat Buddah traverses an interpretive soundscape of powerful, Cure-fired pop and synth- and sample-driven chaos. Throughout the album, Bartone's presence looms large, with cynical rants and attitude-heavy performance art. To its credit, Ohm is trend-free, reflecting nothing of the music scene's current climate, local or otherwise. Rather, Bartone sees the world in all its inconsistencies and imperfections as a colorful source of inspiration.

Songs like "Bianca-com" finds the entire world meeting at one pornographic website; the spoken-word driven "Honey of a Drop" is evocative and daring, while the more conventional "Happy" feels like solo John Lennon on quaaludes. "Living in Providence," a sarcastic bender that cleverly illustrates some of the city's cheesy enchantment, and the funky tech-tronica of "High Art Low Life," are songs Bartone wrote for an independent film, also called "High Art Low Life." Fat Buddah's eclecticism and brazen artistry on Ohm have attracted the attention of a number of labels but nothing's nailed down as yet. "I'm not sure how far I can take this," says Bartone, "but I'm really interested in the whole process of the business of music. We'll just see how far it can go. It's my entire intention of doing this for a living."

Fat Buddah's CD release celebration will take place on Friday, October 1 at the Century Lounge.

The Complaints: Fear (Self-released CD; published by Dean Petrella Songs/BMI)

In a way, Dean Petrella's new disc is a throwback to the rock-based singer/songwriter acts of the early '80s, when guys like Tom Petty and Graham Parker, along with bands like the Del Fuegos, True West, and the Replacements were working out meaningful songs with ragged rock fringes. Fear, the Complaints' debut disc finds Petrella and his trio -- which also includes bassist Chris Cruz and drummer Anthony Marotti -- searching for and finding a clear and crackling sound, heartfelt enough to appeal to straight-on rockers and tough enough to grab the attention of harder-edged guitar fans. "People sometimes compare us to a '90s version of Petty or to bands like Buffalo Tom or the Smithereens," says Petrella from his Cranston home.

Produced by the band and Phil Greene, recorded at Normandy Sound in Warren, and mastered at Masterdisk in New York City, Fear sounds as good as any local release I've heard. Petrella's guitars crunch on songs like "Peculiar Way" and "Body Farm," while Marotti's drums really crack on "Screams" and the gritty "Plastic Heart." The disc is blissfully short at 28 minutes, allowing for songs like the slashing title cut and the melodic "I Won't" to resonate.

A veteran of the local music scene, Petrella's grateful for the fact that his latest project seems to be taking off. They've already garnered airplay at over 20 stations around the country (including WHJY), assisted by a radio promotions organization, and they've sold quite a few CDs at shows. "At this point, I'm booking and handling everything myself, and we're getting all kinds of work," says Petrella. "We're gonna stay on our own and see how it goes, how much we can do without help." Having just completed another jaunt to NYC where they played the city's CMJ Music Marathon, the prospects of local and regional press opportunities, and a number of high profile gigs on the horizon, the days in which Petrella and the Complaints will be able to go without help seem numbered. And now that the CD will be officially available at Newbury Comics, sampled on-line at www. thecomplaints.com, and bolstered by radio, it seems the Complaints at last may have little or nothing to complain about.

The Complaints CD release party is slated for Saturday, September 25 at the Met Cafe.

Got some points of interest? Contact b_gulla@yahoo.com