Bio rock!

Most students sitting in an advanced MB&B class wouldn't expect that the person sitting next to them also moonlights in a rock band. They might be even more surprised to discover that their professor leads a double life as an immunologist/guitarist.

The Cellmates

For Richard Flavell, however, the idea is not so unbelievable. As the leader of the Cellmates, as well as chair of Yale's Immunology Department, this "bio-rock" pioneer goes where other bands couldn't dare to tread. He and cell biologist/bassist Ira Mellman have penned songs about mitosis, post-doctoral students' aspirations for money, and mouse genetics. The band, which includes Flavell's wife Madlyn, endrocinologist/drummer William Philbrick, neuroscientist/guitarist Len Kaczmarek, and immunology student/lead vocalist Tamar Boursalian, plays mostly scientific events and retreats, though they're open to any audience. But how many bands would have a song with a chorus like "You'll never catch me doing nutrition research?" As for the non-scientific crowd, "I don't think they'd understand the words," Flavell said, "but I think most people don't anyway." In most cases, they tailor their performance to fit the audience, mainly covering songs from the '50s to the present and adding a healthy dose of originals.

Their selection of covers ranges as wide as the group's divergent musical interests, from the Sex Pistols to Phish to the Pretenders, to name a few. "Whole Lotta God" is a medley of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and Tori Amos' "God." With such a repertoire, the band can please any crowd. Probably expecting marginally talented lab rats, Boursalian says, "people are surprised" at the quality of their performance.

Even more diverse than their material is their background and experience. Flavell grew up listening to the Beatles and Cream, playing with a number of bands while spending his childhood in England. Kaczmarek, also from Britain, played Royal Albert Hall and opened for Eric Clapton with his former band, the Exiles. Lead singer Boursalian started in bands in her undergraduate days at UC-Berkeley.

In spite of their differences, they have, as Boursalian puts it, "learned to read each other well." Flavell adds that the band is "entertaining for ourselves, and hopefully for other people." So how seriously do they approach their alternative vocation? According to Kaczmarek, they take it "fairly seriously. We have rehearsal every week when we can, though it's hard to get all six of us together all the time. It's definitely not just for laughs." But since their primary goal is enjoying themselves, as well as showing the crowd a good time, Boursalian said they are "not perfectionist by any means....If I took it more seriously, I'd insist on more rehearsals." The band is a lighthearted "diversion" at times from her other work.

As for their shows, the Cellmates, a live performance-oriented group, play parties and gatherings of friends and colleagues, as well as more formal venues. Fellow grad students frequently attend their gigs, which can develop into somewhat raucous affairs. As Kaczmarek described it, "The audience's response is usually pretty positive. Sometimes they go completely wild and mosh and throw things at each other. The most common way for our gigs to end is for the police to arrive." Why such a lively response to their music? "Usually because we're very loud. We've played the GPSCY [on York St.] and the cops showed up. I think they're under the mistaken impression that people should be studying or something," Kaczmarek continued. Other appearances that tested the tolerance of the neighbors have included the Yale Immunology Department retreat on Block Island, Jackson Labs in Maine, and meetings of the Bristol-Meyers drug company.

How did the Cellmates find each other? As is often true with great moments in musical history, quite by chance. Flavell was sitting with his wife, Madlyn, and Kaczmarek, then chairman of the pharmacology department, at a fundraising banquet. They met Mellman there and as Kaczmarek tells it, "Madlyn struck up a conversation about music and I mentioned I played guitar. Madlyn said, `Oh, Richard has hundreds of guitars.' I replied that I had a few too. Richard called Ira and within a few weeks we had a band." The Cellmates, originally called Medical Waste, thus came together at, of all places, "one of those very formal receptions for a donor giving millions of dollars to the school," Kaczmarek said.

As for the future, Boursalian, who plans to finish school "one of these years," thinks the band can keep going even without her voice up front. She suggests that auditions for the Cellmates become a standard part of the Med School admissions process, to keep their singular brand of music alive. The Cellmates, creators of at least the name of their unique "bio-rock," will regardless remain a legend on the biological symposia circuit, and deservedly so.