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Do IT this week: Layering
Band members live in 3 different states, but are making music
By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Saturday, Jun 06, 2009
The Whiskey Drifters never officially broke up.
Even as some band members moved away, they exchanged reassuring words about how they'd find a way to keep the act alive.
''But in the back of my mind, I thought it was over,'' Mike Bianchi, lead vocalist for the five-piece group, admitted as he nursed a beer at Bricco's in downtown Akron.
Now he shakes his head over the wonders of modern technology, and the magical chaos of how band members can cut a CD while living in three different cities.
''It's crazy. It really is,'' Bianchi laughed.
And there has been an unexpected bonus of going their separate ways: the music scenes of Chicago and Nashville — where three band members relocated — moving their sound in exciting new directions.
Their first music video, for a song called The Life, reveals a bluesy vibe and lyrical artistry far afield of their straight-up hard rock days.
''We found inspiration in the towns we started acclimating to,'' said lead guitarist Mike Altier, now based in Chicago.
Once heavily influenced by the likes of Guns N' Roses and Aerosmith, the Whiskey Drifters rose to some prominence in 2005 and 2006, when they developed a loyal following that won them repeated recognition in Akron Beacon Journal ''favorite local band'' polls.
They headlined at the Cleveland Music Festival and got the call to open for national acts Velvet Revolver, Buckcherry and Gilby Clarke.
But when discussions with two record labels failed to produce a contract, Altier decided to pursue graduate school at DePaul University in Chicago.
Before the dust from his heels had settled, rhythm guitarist Steve Lester and drummer Dave Altier packed their bags for Nashville. (The Altiers are brothers; Lester is their cousin.)
''There's a stigma about Nashville being country and western, but there's so much more to the scene down here,'' Lester said. ''There's jazz and rock, and a real focus on song-writing. That's what attracted us to it.''
Meanwhile, Bianchi and bassist Dan Ball remained rooted in Akron.
While the lifetime friends visited each other and enjoyed a few nightclub jam sessions together, the Whiskey Drifters remained basically shelved until last year, when Mike Altier was approached by a producer friend who wanted to add a music video to his portfolio.
Altier volunteered his band.
The group had written a song called The Life while still together in Akron, but had never recorded it. So the band members quickly learned the art of file transfer protocol (FTP) as they passed around a sound file through cyberspace, adding their instruments and voice.
''That's when I really noticed how much our new cities had influenced the music,'' Altier said.
The producer loved the song and agreed to shoot it, and the band assembled in Chicago for filming.
Afterward, the band decided to make the song a cornerstone of a new LP called The New Swing.
Currently, about nine songs are in various stages of development, floating through cyberspace between e-mail accounts or sitting on an FTP server.
It's a process that can start with something as simple as a lyric in Bianchi's head.
He might call Mike Altier in Chicago and sing a few bars, and they'll collaborate on a verse and chorus.
Altier will experiment with his guitar and e-mail the sound file to Lester and Dave Altier in Nashville, who add drums, rhythm guitar and/or keyboard while completing the song's structure.
The Whiskey Drifters 'The Life'
The evolving song gets sent to Akron, where Ball can add his bass and Bianchi can overlay his vocals.
One song can make the rounds several times as band members share their thoughts on its development.
While Bianchi and Mike Altier were the primary songwriters when the Whiskey Drifters were whole in Akron, being apart has enabled other band members to contribute to the process more freely.
''When everybody is in the same room and you're trying to come up with an idea, some people don't speak up and other people get shot down,'' Bianchi said.
But now that the musicians just add an idea to the sound file without explaining it first, ''there's no chance to shoot it down until you hear it,'' he said.
''Steve will send us a guitar track that has never been us; a little more country twang. But we like it,'' Ball said. ''And Mike is going a little more softer. He became more artistic and we bent to that and became more lyrically advanced. We're not just writing songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but about life experiences.''
Dave Altier added that time — as well as being apart — has made the music stronger.
''We've evolved and matured personally. We're a little more weathered, experienced,'' he said.
To be sure, being a ''digital band'' has its challenges.
For one, they can't practice together.
Ball can't stop from chuckling when he realizes that when the band gets together for shows now scheduled in Chicago and Nashville this summer, the musicians will be performing music they have never played together.
Also, this new creative process can take time.
Everyone has day jobs to pay the bills, so it's not unusual for someone to sit on a song for two or three weeks before moving it down the line.
''But I think it works,'' Mike Altier said. ''I don't think every band can do it that way . . . but because we have such strong roots together, it's easier for us to do it.''
In the end, the advantages seem to be winning this balancing act. And having people on the ground in three different areas of the country helps promote the band and broaden its network.
''We've got a July 15 show at an exclusive club in Chicago where some big name people play,'' Ball said, ''and we would never have made that contact sitting in Akron.''
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
The Whiskey Drifters never officially broke up.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Canton, OH
Posted 12:12 PM, 06/06/2009
YAWN. . .
chicago, IL
Posted 06:00 PM, 06/06/2009
amazing how digital transcends state lines, even musically
Posted 06:04 PM, 06/22/2009
Great article! Excellent band! Love their video for "The Life" on youtube. Slovensko sounds tired of being unsuccessful.
