Get amplified to rock: student bands thrive at Yale

Somewhere inside almost every suite at Yale, there's a guitar or two lying around. Acoustic, electric, six-string, two-string, or what have you, these poor wooden instruments have a tendency to collect dust in a corner, right next to the framed picture of you and your high school sweetheart at the prom. That's right; after a few weeks, you'll stop calling your long-distance lover, and in even less time, you'll forget about your guitar. What you may not realize is that the Yale community needs you and your guitar. Never mind the symphony, the concert band, the singing groups--those are for real musicians. If you're a true rocker, you'll sidestep the establishment and march alongside the small but growing group of rock bands and rock watchers at Yale.

If you're looking to load up the Yale Bowl for a stadium rock extravaganza á la Frampton Comes Alive, you're deluding yourself; audiences for rock 'n' roll gigs generally don't exceed 50 or 60 people, and a lot of audience members will be people from other bands maintaining the scene. The advantage, though, is a tight-knit community of would-be rock stars. Audiences are for the most part understanding. Bands lend each other equipment. Triple-bills start to sprout up. Everybody's happy.

Well, maybe not everybody. For some rockers, there's almost nothing more thrilling than watching or playing in a really good concert. But there are also a lot of obstacles to face. The first is finding a group of like-minded individuals to play with. Compromise is probably the best solution. Sure, if you love Richard Marx and the kid across the hall likes to break things while listening to speed metal, then the two of you are probably better off parting ways. But if you can find some common points of musical interest--a few bands or records here and there that you all admire--it should at least be enough to start experimenting.

Then on to the next hurdle: practice space. Neighbors don't appreciate the thump of a bass drum or squeals of overdriven guitars against their walls, so it's pretty important to have a suitable and comfortable place to play. If you're lucky, someone in your band will be in a college with good practice spaces. Calhoun takes the cake with this one; the college has a spacious practice room with near-sound-proofed walls and decent ventilation. Other colleges vary, some having rooms designed with quieter musicians in mind.

Once you're practiced up and ready to share your rock 'n' roll vision with your fellow Yalies--well, there's another obstacle. There aren't too many on-campus venues for rock shows. Trumbull's Buttery, also known as the Trumbutt, is a perennial favorite. It has a tiny little stage up front, and the room is really skinny, so everyone--band included--is shoved into pretty tight corners. But it has a nice, intimate, trashy feel, and the carpeting helps to absorb the high decibels coming from your drums and amps. The Calhoun Cabaret is more spacious but has none of the sound-absorbing qualities of the Trumbutt; consequently, it can sound like you're in an audio torture chamber. The Morse CD Cafe is similar to the Cabaret, but its popularity for shows has declined in recent years. College common rooms, particularly the one in TD, also work. Just off campus, Naples hosts shows on its recently installed dance floor, already a hit at the popular pizzeria.

Enough with the sticky details, though. Signing out PA equipment from your master's office, making up posters, schlepping your hardware from practice space to gig place--they're all annoying, but the rewards compensate. Otherwise, the campus wouldn't have so many dedicated bands sprouting up and threatening ear drums. The character of the band scene at Yale changes drastically every year, due to graduating rock stars and fresh faces popping up on stage. During the '96-'97 year, the scene splintered into two categories: jazz-funk hybrids and indie/alternative types. While the latter has suffered this year from the graduation of key players and a rise in student apathy, both are still going strong. Different bands target different audiences. The funksters play for folks who want to get down and shake their booties. These bands know their instruments, aim for tightness, and can provide a good time. "Party of the Righteous" and the "Rhythm Method" often embody this kind of Yale rock.

Tight-knit rebels continued to churn out indie rock. Ponderous "Pinstripe," Archers of Loaf-y "Pinata," and postpunk "Sounds of Sex" formed this year, while "The Polio Kids" broke up and "The Old Men," "Geek Love," and Mia Doi Todd, BR '97 (who released her own CD) graduated.

Whatever your inclinations, if you love rock music and you've noodled around with an instrument, get some friends and rock out with them. Disown notions of quality, don't worry about results, and just play. The band scene at Yale doesn't provide the prestige of the Symphony or the Whiffenpoofs, but we're all musicians alike, and we all love what we do. The point is simple: don't let those guitar strings rust--get amplified to rock.

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