Weekend of rock: Yale brings in the noise

By Jim Laakso

"You can expect a rock-motherfucking-extrava- ganza" this weekend, according to David Slade, TC '01, vocalist and guitarist for Unodos Vamonos. If you take pause at this statement, it's understandable—especially considering the long-held view that Yale is hardly rock 'n' roll friendly. Yet a mulitude of acts are performing this weekend—including Q and Not U, Arcaro, Unodos Vamonos, David Bruner, and Sam Grossman—which collectively offer a cross-section of artists who are distinctly products of the Yale-New Haven music scene and its struggles. With these acts boasting both talent on a national level and the rebirth of some of Yale's best artists, Slade's proclamation may not be so dubious.

The main event is this Sat., Nov. 11, when the Women's Center hosts Washington D.C.'s Q and Not U. The band has been garnering attention with the release of its first album, No Kill No Beep Beep, which was recorded by Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye and will come out on Dischord next Tuesday. The band's performance on Saturday promises to introduce local music fans to "D.C.'s emo heartthrobs"—a label recently assigned to the band in a cover article of Washington's Snap Pop. Opening for Q and Not U will be Arcaro, whose performance marks the band's return to the Yale stage after an uncharacteristically long absence.

Arcaro's Arcadia

Formed under the name Cassius, Arcaro began when guitarists Matt Dunkel, JE '01, and Joe Grimm, JE '01, started playing together as freshmen. By the end of 1998, the line-up had cemented to include drummer Matt Quinn and bassist Will Noland; a name change soon followed at the request of a similarly-dubbed French dance act. Since then, Arcaro has been a steady presence on the New Haven musical map, playing at the Tune Inn, Rudy's, and even Toad's. This year, however, Yalies haven't seen much of the band—there has been but a single Tune Inn appearance this semester.

Despite its recent lack of visibility, the group has hardly been inactive. "It's not that we haven't been playing live—we just haven't been playing live in New Haven," Grimm said. Dunkel explained that the group has also been working on new music for an album that should commence recording in a month, and concert-goers should receive their first taste of these numbers at Saturday's show.

Additionally, the members of Arcaro and 33.3 have been preparing an instrumental score to the French film "La Jetée," which will be performed Thurs., Nov. 16 through Sat., Nov. 18 at the Cabaret. Calling itself The Lily White, this venture is the latest in a string of collaborations between the two bands. Joe Grimm and Will Noland are full-fledged members of 33.3, and the groups also work together in the "Latin jazz" project Cabeza De Vaca. According to Grimm, the four bands strive to satisfy a shared ambition to "present something that isn't aesthetically unifying." He describes The Lily White as an instrumental project that is "introspective and slow to build...with minor key, low, repetitive passages," music well suited to the "creepy" silent film that inspired the film 12 Monkeys.

Rocking the town

Despite their regular campus performances, Noland, Grimm, and Dunkel all voice reluctance at being labeled a "Yale band," and are aware of their status as one of the few musical groups in the area that has members from both the student body and the surrounding community. Noland is proud of the mix of residents and students that attend Arcaro shows, noting the difficulty that bands often have in attracting such an audience.

Slade, who is from the area, agrees that a gap exists between town and gown rockers. "The Yale and New Haven music scenes are different," he contends. "Yale's is a little bit more fractured. A town's music scene shouldn't have a graduating class, which is one of the problems here."

As a freshman, in addition to budget and administrative disinterest problems, Slade noticed something else that curtailed his ambitions of hosting concerts through Yale. "What repulsed me was the dismay the Administration had at the idea that townies would be involved, whether it be townie bands playing or townies showing up," he said. "Being from the area, it was kind of upsetting to me that my friends, and oftentimes my bandmates, would be frowned upon."

As an alternative, many groups try to throw their own shows featuring Yale and area bands, independent of University funding and control. On Fri., Nov. 10, the Trumbull Buttery will be home to the latest such event, a night of softer, more straight-ahead rock 'n' roll with Bruner, Grossman, and the Slade-fronted Unodos Vamonos.

Unodos Vamonos formed at the semester's start, but most of its members are already well-known to the Yale rock community. Its self-proclaimed "soft, mellow rock 'n' roll, mixed with the old balls-to-the-wall rock ethic that made our nation great" is perpetrated by guitarist/vocalist Slade, cellist/vocalist Ravenna Michalsen, TC '01, and drummer Margaret Miller, TC '01, all of whom played in the now-defunct Trumbull City Heartbreakers. That band originated when Slade and Michalsen joined forces as freshmen, and their continued collaboration lends an air of familiarity to Unodos Vamonos' music. Indeed, the band uses the introspective, gentler rock leanings of the Heartbreakers as a jumping-off point for their own songs. "We'll be playing a lot of the back catalogue," Slade said. "We're gearing up to record an album, which should be about half the old Trumbull City songs and half new stuff."

Soloists pick up the pieces

David Bruner, TC '01, was another alumnus of the Trumbull City Heartbreakers, serving as the band's guitarist before its demise. Bruner will be making his second solo appearance of the school year when he leads off Friday's festivities at the Buttery. Since Bruner performs without a band, there is a folk-rock leaning to his music that was not always readily evident in his work with the Heartbreakers. "I was the most unreconstructed classic rock guy in the group. There were completely disparate influences at work, and I've always been more of a folk-rocker in the classic sort of mold," he explained. "Working so closely with David and Ravenna had a big influence on me too, and my songwriting has started to be a little more complex than just folk rock, or just rock 'n' roll stuff."

As a solo artist, Bruner acknowledges that the Yale rocker must work alone much of the time in organizing shows, writing music, and finding rehearsal space and time, but he praises the support and camaraderie that he received from his old bandmates and the community of student musicians who have an interest in putting on shows.

Unlike Bruner and Slade, Grossman decided to strike out alone upon his arrival at Yale, a choice he had not always intended to make. Friday's spot at the Buttery marks the first full live performance of his diverse acoustic set that incorporates elements of folk, bluegrass, the indie rock of bands such as Pavement and the Silver Jews, and hip-hop.

"Bands don't form organically here," he points out, noting the proliferation of flyers around campus that seek musicians to start groups. "People have their own agendas and don't always want to cooperate...if I had found people who I could have meshed with and formed a band with, I would have loved that." Grossman plays guitar with the campus pop band The Pinups, but with that group on hiatus, he has not met other musicians willing to form a functional band. This fact, coupled with a growing interest in folk due in large part to his involvement in Tangled Up In Blue, led Grossman to write and perform his music by himself.

Self-effacing in both his lyrics and his interviews, Grossman is a self-proclaimed "hack Tin Pan Alley songwriter" who centers his music around "a refrain that's memorable for its inanity and triteness" and describes his earnest yet slyly clever lyrics as "wide-eyed and wise-assed." Sam has honed his singer-songwriter-guitarist skills as a member of various rock bands in his hometown of New York City and in a series of smaller sets the past two semesters. The reaction has been positive enough to garner, even at this early stage, fans moved to sing along at his shows as well as the label of "genius" from Slade.

The almost unprecedented amount of rock being offered to Yalies in the coming days seems to be a positive sign of things to come. What remains to be seen is whether these acts will receive the student and city support that is vital to the creation and maintenance of a thriving music scene. Will potential audiences come out in droves? Or will they fall prey to what Noland bemoans as the attraction of "getting stoned and watching TV"? His bandmate Dunkel maintains that "the kids at Yale want the rock;" with a group of performers this talented, one can only hope that they take the opportunity this weekend.

Graphic by Eugene Wong.

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