It's been
said that you can tell a
lot about people by looking
at the company they keep.
So what, then, could you
say about a band that's
collaborated with members
of Kiss, Fountains of Wayne
and The Cars, opened for
Alanis Morissette and Ashlee
Simpson and honed their
craft at Berklee School
of Music?
Well,
you could say they're conversant
in all 57 varieties of pop-rock.
You could say they're as
unlikely to be pigeonholed
as any band around. Or you
could simply say "yeah!"
as you pop on Greetings
From Imrie House, the Lava
Records debut from The Click
Five, the Boston-based quintet
that's managed to grab all
the brass rings mentioned
above - all in less than
two years together.
"We
all love melodies,"
says bassist Ethan Mentzer.
"If I can't sing it,
I'm not crazy about it.
I like songs that are so
damn catchy that you wake
up in the morning with them
in your head. When I started
playing the guitar at age
12, I wanted to listen to
music where you could really
hear the guitar - bands
like Green Day and Weezer
and Stone Temple Pilots
became my favorites, so
when the direction of this
band started going towards
rock, even though the songs
were pop, it only felt natural."
Greetings
From Imrie House collects
11 timeless power-pop confections,
odes to both the good, clean
and naughtily winking sorts
of fun. They capture the
former in the sunny tones
of the artfully sleek first
single "Just The Girl,"
and the shimmering "Catch
Your Wave" (which layers
Beach Boys-styled harmonies
atop a contagiously jittery
new wave melody) and dive
into the latter on the young
lovers lust-fest "Friday
Night."
The quintet
- none of who is older than
23 - stands out from the
current pop pack on several
levels. First, there are
those snappy suits (a look
that dates back to the days
of playing mod covers during
off-time at Berklee). The
more important distinctions,
however, come in the aural
realm - in the ringing five-part
harmonies that vein just
about every song, and in
the alternately peppy and
atmospheric keyboard parts
contributed by Ben Romans.
"I'm
a keyboard player trapped
in a guitar player's body,"
he laughs. "I think
it's almost comical what
we do with keyboards, maybe
a little off the wall. It
may shadow a band like The
Cars or something and we're
aware of that, but in the
making of this album, we
got introduced to a lot
of really cool stuff from
around 1977-82 that we really
weren't aware of before."
Quick
learning and stellar instincts
earned The Click Five -
originally known as The
Click - the endorsement
of several musicians who
were active during that
golden era, notably Paul
Stanley of Kiss, who co-wrote
the strutting "Angel
to You (Devil To Me)"
with Romans, and Elliott
Easton of The Cars, who
blazes through the guitar
solo on the track.
"We
went to see Kiss the day
before Thanksgiving of 2003
and then we got to have
Thanksgiving dinner with
Paul, which was an experience
in itself," recalls
Romans. "Paul and I
sat down to write and it
went amazingly well. He
taught us a lot about being
onstage and about songs
- a lot of people forget
that someone like Paul Stanley
doesn't just write Kiss
songs."
The Click
Five's members learned a
lot about songcraft while
playing in a wide variety
of high school bands, shifting
from covers to originals
and from style to style.
The core of the band solidified
under the roof of the apartment
building that lends its
name to their debut, a place
that Romans remembers as
"a rock and roll frat
house" with a dozen
residents, intermittent
heat and a lobby adorned
with a huge replica of The
Who's logo.
While
they were all in different
bands at the time, they
gravitated towards each
other after discovering
how huge a swath of musical
common ground they shared.
And even some they didn't-
as guitarist Joe Guese remembers,
"We had to study a
lot of jazz at Berklee,
and while it's a noble style
and I certainly learned
a ton about the technicalities
of my guitar playing, we
all really wanted to play
music that just gets people
out of their seats."
The only missing piece was
a frontman - a problem that
drummer Joey Zehr thought
could be solved by recruiting
childhood pal Eric Dill,
who'd just finished a stint
at Purdue University.
"From
day one, we decided that
this band was going to be
our lives - priorities number
one, two, three and down
the line," says drummer
Joey Zehr "I don't
even think we realize how
successful we are at this
point simply because our
method of operation was
to have a huge goal but
then achieve hundreds of
small goals to get there."
The band
cut its teeth on Boston's
notoriously tough club scene
(including a three month
residency at the legendary
Paradise rock club), promptly
winning over tastemakers
who put them on arena-sized
bills with acts like Alanis
Morissette, Rod Stewart
and Fleetwood Mac. "I
was a little worried when
we were booked to do those
last two," admits Romans.
"It was for people
my parents' age, but it
went over great. I guess
a lot of the older folks
thought it reminded them
of something from their
past."
They fared
just as well when they played
a one-off show with teen
sensation Ashlee Simpson
- who later tabbed them
as one of the opening acts
on her 2005 North American
tour. "That audience
is very young and enthusiastic,"
says singer Eric Dill. "What's
cool is that they're looking
for reasons to like you,
not reasons to be aloof."
Produced
by Mike Denneen (Fountains
of Wayne, Aimee Mann, Letters
to Cleo), Greetings From
Imrie House opens the door
to 11 inviting reasons to
be fond of The Click Five
- from the soaring balladry
of "I'll Take My Chances,"
to the sensual throb of
"Resign" and the
starry-eyed pining of "Pop
Princess." And to prove
those pop history lessons
stuck with 'em, they even
include a cover of the Thompson
Twins favorite "Lies,"
which would make any new
wave fan proud.
"That's
the song that probably got
us to turn in the direction
we're in now," says
Romans. "We were almost
kidding about it, saying
'let's pretend we're in
New York in 1978,' but then
we realized it's a really
great song. Working that
out helped us stop worrying
about being the coolest
band in the world, and to
just start trying to be
the best."
Eric Dill
- Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Joe Guese - Lead Guitar,
Vocals
Ethan Mentzer - Bass, Vocals
Ben Romans - Keyboards,
Vocals
Joey Zehr - Drums, Vocals