Local bands keep the rock in tact: Names for Pebbles

By Dan Silk

One of the reasons that most rock music sucks these days is that every band playing it tries too consciously to put their own spin on it, however bland, obvious, or downright torturous that spin may be. There should be a charity that receives a dollar for every compound genre or marketing category that receives a mention in Spin or Alternative Press. That said, it's refreshing to hear someone actually interested in (gulp) playing from the heart rather than forging a new subgenre. And one such person is New Haven's Joey Maddalena of Names for Pebbles.

It would be slightly misleading to say Maddalena is of Names for Pebbles because until January of this year, Maddalena was Names for Pebbles. Started in 1993 with nothing but a love of rock `n' roll and a desire to entertain, Names for Pebbles first appeared on record on a Seattle compilation. Maddalena subsequently released several singles in Japan and California, but it wasn't until he hooked up with bassist Peter Whitney, keyboardist Scott Amore, and drummer Jeff Wilcox that the band began playing shows. While the 7" singles Maddelena put out by himself were extremely poppy, the addition of Amore's mind-numbing keyboard pyrotechnics (he plays a Moog and a Farfisa) and Whitney's interstellar basslines (which he plays on a Fender once owned by a Ramone) has made the band more spacey, droney, and most importantly, loud.

Maddelena credits the Velvet Underground, Jasmine Minks, the Pastels, Syd Barrett, and the Beatles as influences. But the idea of playing rock and roll was Maddelena's biggest inspiration. "I liked the idea of playing rock and roll," he says. "Entertaining people. Rock and roll is all I really care about."

While Maddelena has hardly been seen in public without his Who pin, Maddelena insists that Names for Pebbles are "not a mod band." And while there's certainly a '60s aura to their sound, Maddelena claims Names for Pebbles are "not a '66 rip-off." The band takes is aesthetic cue from the Velvet Underground, because they were "creative and arty about [writing music], not just hits. They didn't limit themselves." Maddelena points out the band "doesn't sound like the Velvets."

One of Maddalena's few conscious objectives in writing for NFP is sincerity. "If I'm going to listen to something, I want to listen to some guy pouring his guts out. Soul music was sung by people who had nothing to lose. It wasn't like, `let's be part of a lo-fi movement!' Not that lo-fi's a bad thing." Names for Pebbles are nothing if not a sincere rock band. Maddalena makes no heady pretensions to innovation or forced attempts at eclecticism; yet the band is one of the most innovative and eclectic bands in the Elm City. The strength of songs like "Names for Pebbles Theme" and "Every Cloudy Rainbow" is in the catchy familiarity of them: you think you've heard them, but aren't sure where.

You can probably be sure that it wasn't in New Haven. Maddalena stresses that he doesn't dislike playing around the city--it's just that there's "too much apathy towards shows around here. One of the reasons I like to play at Yale is that more people will come see us." Still, he wishes more people would come for the music and not just for "a social thing."

Right now, though, the band's focusing on recording rather than playing shows. The band's working on a single for Tout Le Monde Records, as well as some extra stuff just to have around. But when the band bring their sincere, no-kitsch rock-rock to Yale, go, but only because you love rock music played by guys who pour their guts out while playing some of the catchiest tunes you've ever heard.

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