Ever come across a band that surprises you? One
of the great things about doing these articles is
getting to hear bands and musicians I’m not
familiar with. Upon first encountering the
self-titled second release from Basement What?,
my initial reaction was “…hey, pretty good
band. Kind of alternative/roots rock
stuff…”
But something clicked, and after repeated
listenings, I discovered just how subtle these
guys’ chops are. Of course, this particular CD
contains the song Basement What? is getting
national recognition for: “My Beer.” This tune is
a frat party anthem if ever there was one. It’s
the jazz influences and nice mix of
instrumentation you’re not expecting that makes
this band worth hearing.
Basement What? are the creation of Dave George
(guitar, vocals) and Nick Young (guitar). The
first incarnation of the band was realized in
1995 while Young and George were both students at
Ball State University in Muncie. In the very
beginning, the band started by jamming with
friends in the basement of one of the dormitories
on campus. According the band’s website
(www.basementwhat.com), it was in the basement of
1104 Wheeling Avenue, Muncie, that George
suggested calling the band “Basement”. Someone
responded with “…what?”, and the rest is, well,
history, according to their site. For a time,
some of the band’s early fans simply called them
“The What?”
Their path followed familiar territory most
bands cover. Local gigs in Muncie, with dates
expanding their base to the rest of Indiana. From
the beginning, though, the band was into writing
their own material. Their first recording
sessions in December of 1997 yielded the debut
project U Listen To What?. Apparently,
this album is now kind of hard to find.
In 2000, Basement What? signed with Thirtieth
Century Records, an independent label out of
Connecticut, and released their second project,
the self titled Basement What?.
Since that time the band has undergone a few
changes. The current lineup now consists of
founding members George and Young, with Pete
Jacobs on bass and Lou Grant on drums.
“The current line-up of Basement What? has only
been in existence since 2003,” said bassist
Jacobs. “Actually, our first gig together was in
December of 2002. This December, we will have had
this lineup for two years.
“Lou and I played in another band [the Shelly
Dixon Band] from this area for about three years.
The way we actually met was that in that other
band we were looking for a guitar player. We
auditioned Nick Young to be in that band with us.
The reason Nick even auditioned in the first
place was because Basement What? didn’t have a
rhythm section. In the process, Nick thought
“…maybe these guys would want to be in two
bands.” Nick approached Lou and I about joining
Basement What? in addition to the band we were
already in. We were a little hesitant at first,
but we went ahead and did it. The chemistry. when
the four of us started playing together. was so
incredible that Lou and I basically stuck with
both bands for a short time, and when the other
started to fizzle out we cut it loose and have
been wholeheartedly pursuing Basement What? ever
since.”
That was obviously an excellent choice on the
part of Jacobs and Grant. They joined a band that
is beginning to garner a lot of national
attention. The aforementioned song, “My Beer,”
has been included on compilation CDs put out by
Billboard Magazine, Oasis CD Duplication and
X102.3 in Fort Wayne (Extreme Essentials,
Volume 4). The song was also featured during
the annual Bob and Tom Radiothon Benefit last
March.
Because of this, Basement What? has received
press from well known music publications such as
Billboard and Rolling Stone, and has been
selected as opening act for bands such as SR-71,
Shinedown, and Seven Mary Three. “My Beer” also
landed in the Top 30 of the most downloaded songs
on what was formerly MP3.com. Not bad for a song
it took George and Young all of 20 minutes to
write.
“It’s a song that’s fun to play, and people
request it all the time,” said Jacobs. “Whenever
we play it, people dance and go crazy.
“But then again, it’s so tongue in cheek, it’s
like if that’s what we’ve become known for, then
if that’s not what we do, it could be a problem.
As a matter of fact, we have some fans who have
been fans since the guys started the band back at
Ball State who don’t like us to play “My Beer.”
They say it’s a dead horse, you’re beating it,
and you guys are better than that.” But it’s
catchy, and people like it, so it’s hard not to
play it.”
There’s no danger of Basement What? becoming a
one-hit wonder though. The current self-titled
project has enough nuance and texture to it to
win Basement What? a whole new legion of fans.
The tracks were recorded sporadically between
spring and winter of 2000. The jazz-flavored
material on several cuts is the work of producer
Ed Collins, who also played drums and some bass
parts. Matt Albro, Basement What?’s original bass
player, is also on the project. Keyboards were
played by Jeff Peterson of the band The Why
Store.
Basement What? are recording again continuing
the same kind of “song at a time” approach
they’ve used before. There’s no definite release
date yet, but the project will probably be
available by the end of the year. And what can we
expect on this next one?
“We’re definitely pop-rock music,” said Jacobs.
“Some bands, especially in this area, seem to be
afraid of those words. They don’t want to be
“pop” because they think that makes them like the
Backstreet Boys. When we think of “pop,” we
think of The Dave Matthews Band, or Train, or
John Mayer, that kind of stuff that is a little
more current. Just anything that’s very catchy
and hook-laden. We kind of orient ourselves to
that kind of stuff. We like the kind of music
that, the minute you start playing a song people
are tapping their toes.”
“Basement What? also concern themselves with the
timing of their local appearances. “We’re doing
something different from what a lot of bands in
this area do,” said Jacobs. “By that, I mean
there’s a lot of bands here who tend to play only
Fort Wayne, Indianapolis or just the surrounding
towns. We basically try to make our ripples
bigger. We play in Louisville, Chicago,
Cincinnati. We play in Bloomington because that’s
where Indiana University is.
“Of course, we play Fort Wayne, but when we do
play here, we want it to be an event. We try to
play a venue in any market only so often so that,
when people see us, it’s been awhile. And it’s
going to be awhile before they see us again. We
only play here every so often because we’re
trying to build little legions of fans in markets
all over the place.
“Fort Wayne is so important to us because three
of us are from here, (George is from Valparaiso),
and we really feel that the music scene in Fort
Wayne is a vibrant, growing, breathing thing. I’m
very proud of Fort Wayne and the music scene
here.”