Join the [Fan] Club Monty’s is ready to make its move BY BOB GULLA

I don’t get excited much in this job. Sure, I can pump up a band that deserves it, get excited about a gig or a particularly good disc, but then what happens? All the ballyhoo just echoes in the distance, in some endless valley, like a yodel whose reverberations keep going until it hits not someone’s ear, but, well, the other side of the valley. In fact, there are quite a few bands around that deserve at least some excitement, but too many of them can’t get it together long enough to sustain any sort of momentum. Too few even know what it takes to be successful, beyond writing and playing good songs. Making it in the music biz is so often so much more than that.

Think about all the pieces that must fall into place for a band to reach an audience. There’s finding the right players, coming together with a single mind with a can-do attitude, writing the best music, playing it the proper way, building a community, working the phones and Websites, knuckle-dragging yourself around on tour, and, finally, getting your most excellent demo into the right hands. And all this has to happen before you go into the studio to make your first real recording.

But it does happen, once in a great while. Just ask Monty’s Fan Club. I mean, talk about a band on the brink. The Cranston bunch, recently named the top No Longer Local Act in the 2005 Phoenix Best Music Poll, is really making things happen. MFC — Justin Muir (drummer), his brother Ryan (singer/trumpet), Steve Aeillo (singer/guitarist), Mike Matarese (bass), and Andrew Borstein (keys/synths/trombone/sequencing) — has been in intense discussions with a couple of major labels, one of which offered them a demo deal which included a bit of cash. They used that cash, at least in part, to make their debut full-length record, The Red Shift.

MFC started back when Matarese and Aeillo were in the sixth grade. Aeillo, a guitarist at the time, convinced his young friend to play bass. ("I wanted to play guitar," says Matarese, "but he talked me into bass. He’s an asshole, but bass is cooler.") And after bringing on Borstein and the Muirs, and blasting through formative years of covering Nirvana, 311, and Rage, MFC has become Rhode Island’s fastest-rising act.

"We know on the grand scale, we haven’t done a ton as a band," says Aeillo, "but we want to get there one day. We’ve been working our asses off forever and we’re not gonna stop now. With all the positive support we get from people at shows and friends we’ve made, we hope to tour and put out records for a long time."

When they embark on the Warped Tour next month it will mark the first time the guys will dedicate themselves to the band full-time. "We’re all either out of school or dropped out of school," Ryan says. "We have no jobs and no money and we’re putting everything into staying on the road and getting our music out to as many people as possible."

The Red Shift, with its incredible lead single "Between the Sheets" (listen for it on your fave local FM station), will almost certainly be MFC’s ticket out. It’s a blazing, meticulously crafted, melodic punk project with great songs, burning harmonies, and stunning arrangements. Welcome to the big time, boys.

"There is a great sense of accomplishment once you’ve poured your entire being into creating new music," says Matarese. Aeillo admits that The Red Shift was made with its share of blood and sweat. "We were literally hurting making this record, probably because we went days editing and recording without any sleep. I had to take No-Doz a couple of times just to finish recording some vocal parts. It was probably one of the most challenging experiences of our life as a band."

Recording with friends Mitch Allen and Gavin Castleton mainly in their own rehearsal space gave MFC plenty of time to tweak the details of the record. But it also lacked the big studio capabilities. "Doing recording on your own has its ups and downs," says Ryan. "The downs are obviously that you lose out on a professional studio sound. But when you do it on your own, the atmosphere of the whole thing is great." Not that the band didn’t splurge. They hit up their hometown for one huge contribution in the studio. "We asked the Cranston High School East Chamber Choir to be a part of our record," Aeillo explains. "We decided, ‘Let’s go for it. Let’s put a fuckin’ choir at the end of one of our tracks.’ We’re proud of where we come from and we thought it would be really cool if we put a piece of Rhode Island on our record."

Now, for local music fans, that’s something to get excited about.

Monty’s Fan Club will celebrate the release of The Red Shift on Friday, June 24 at Lupo’s, with Slik Willy, Bad Larry, Senior Discount, and the Enemy. Showtime is 6 pm. Call 401.351.LUPO.

LOCALS IN NEWPORT

A nice variety of musical styles characterizes the eighth season of the Sunset Music Festival in Newport. The fest kicks off on Friday, June 24 with a smooth jazz-type show headlined by vocalist Peter Cincotti and trumpeter Chris Botti, and continues on Saturday with a night of college rock starring Guster and up-and-coming songwriter David Berkeley.

One nice facet of the dockside music celebration, beyond the atmosphere and well-chosen acts, is its habit of giving local artists the opportunity to open the gigs. In past years, local folks such as Becky Chace, Bill Petterson, Mary Ann Rossoni, and JP Jones have all enjoyed choice bookings at the Fest. This year, Ryan Fitzsimmons, JJ Baron, Barry Russo, and Greg Hodde and the Blue Miracles will all get a chance to shine in front of large audiences. Russo will open for Dionne Warwick on Wednesday, June 29, while Hodde warms up for the Temptations on Friday, July 1, Fitzsimmons appears with Ben Folds on Saturday, July 2, and JJ Baron shares the stage with perennial fest-closer Livingston Taylor on Sunday, July 3.

"It’s a fun festival to do," says John Fuzek, who has played the main stage as an opener a few times and has also worked the second stage outside the main tent, where artists provide entertainment for the folks eating and drinking before the show. "Everyone, the artists, staff, and audience, are all friendly, and the audience is very receptive. They have cameras on the performers so the audience can see better from far away, so you get projected onto a big Jumbotron-type screen which is pretty cool."

Tickets for the Sunset Music Festival are on sale at www.newportfestivals.com or can be purchased through the Newport Yachting Center box office at 401.846.1600.

JODY GIBSON, 1929-2005

Our condolences go out to Kate and Joyce Katzberg, good friends of the local music scene, on the death of their father, Jody Gibson, the one-of-a-kind singer, songwriter, parodist, raconteur, maritime preservationist, and Newport legend. According to his obituary, "Jody started playing music as a child in Greenwich Village, mentored by Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. During his Air Force years in Great Britain, he recorded for Parlophone. His A&R man was Sir George Martin, who later produced the Beatles . . . Jody is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Jody was an 8th Degree Black Belt in Shoju Kempo Karate and a 5th Degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate . . . He is in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Jody made hand-carved and gilded signs for Newport businesses . . . He was a Veteran of the Korean War, serving in the United States Air Force as a Chief Air Traffic Controller in Japan, Korea, England, Great Britain and the USA."

"Some will remember his absolutely unique, and hilarious, appearances at Stone Soup in its early years," adds local folk champion Richard Walton. Sounds like there’s a lot to remember in such a luminous lifetime. There will be a memorial service on Thursday, June 30 at 4 pm at St. George’s Episcopal Church on Rhode Island Avenue in Newport.

WANDERING EYE

Steve Blount from WaterStreet writes in to inform us of a really excellent night of quality, dance-crazy local music on Friday (the 24th) at the Century Lounge. WaterStreet, the Hooker Street Band, and the Lingo will all play, so those looking for a sweaty night out would be risking little paying the cover charge. Two-thirds of the Amazing Mudshark — Everett Pendleton and Michael Cahill — play in another band called the Loomers (www.loomers.com). Their first time in Rhode Island will be on Friday at Judge Roy Bean’s in Bristol. The Loomers are an original band (and have three full-length CDs out), but they occasionally pull out some old-school soul and disco.

On Saturday (the 25th) at the Church Street Coffeehouse in Warren, there’s a big showcase by the Rhode Island Songwriters Association. "An Evening of Ocean State Songwriters: The Women of RISA" will serve as a counterpunch to the recent Stone Soup RISA soiree that featured "the men." This time, estrogen is in the house, with Mary Ann Rossoni, Allysen Callery, Lisa Martin, Joanne Lurgio, Marjorie Thompson, Mardi Garcia, and host Jan Luby. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more info go to www.risongwriters.com.

K-Rex Struts, Hawkins Rise, and Grandizer Punch play the Blackstone on Saturday in a really sweet triple bill.

Finally, our best-est wishes go out to Otis Read, who recently had a stroke. His close friend and bandmate Phil Edmonds explains that the stroke was caused by a hole in his heart — something we all have at birth. But while most of ours close up, Otis’s stayed open. By the time you read this, Otis should be home, following a battery of tests, and the prognosis is good. Yet it’ll take a while till he’s healthy enough to get back to his musical thang. Get well soon, O.

E-mail your music news to big.daddy1@cox.net.