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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1983)
a * BQ ~0 o. ? ^1 S “ § is ns. F—■ « . <•— ctf ^ = ° -S-S S ;= 7I 2 m o E—« -*^ c 3 - - rt-^r.-r- a S Mi /^ r 5 not LA but they're local and th Local bands. Many people don t even know such groups exist in this city. College Station and Bryan have not been known for producing good, commercial groups. They haven t been known for producing any bands. But this may be changing. While interviewing the people at Koadrunner Productions and members of bands, we discovered something. We discovered the music com munity — rock, country and jazz — is much larger than we ever dreamed. And some of them are close to success. We’ve tried to include as many bands as possible. We apologize if we left a group out of the issue. We were unable to reach some groups, such as Sleeper, and others of which we simply had not heard. As we talked to people, one common problem stood out — lack of places to play. Clubs here have found that they can make plenty of money with disc jockeys. Unless you want to road trip, clubs with DJs are the only places to go. Maybe with a little exposure, some of the bands we interviewed will be successful. We wish them luck. Texas Nuggett Band by Charles P. Dungan Battalion reporter With four years of Brazos Valley dance halls behind them, and only one original member left, the Texas Nuggett Band finally is starting to get the recognition it wants. The band is competing for a spot on the upcoming Brazos Gold record, which features local coun try and western bands. The band is one of 34 finalists selected from the original 150 entrants. Recent ly the group was approached with an offer from a major booking agency in Austin. The band was one of two that played at the chili cook-off held in conjunction with the Labor Day muscular dystrophy telethon. It also has opened for several name acts including David Frizell and Shelley West. The schedule for the Texas Nuggett Band is so tight that its regular rehearsals have been dropped. The dedication of the band members is the reason behind the new recognition. They had a meeting two and a half months ago, when outside jobs began to interfere with the band’s sche dule, and decided to devote ev erything to the band’s success. “We re going to do whatever we have to do to make it,” says Lloyd Cox, the band’s lead vocal ist and rhythm guitarist. Lee Martin, bass player, is the only member holding a second job. He is a welder in Bryan. Rob Parnell, harmonica, has to juggle his playing and studying time. He is a building construction major at Texas A&M. The others have given up their jobs in favor* of music. Cox is a former air condi tioning technician. Thom Spence, the lead guitarist, was a carpenter, and the drummer, Brad Taplin, was a meat worker. The final member of the band is its female singer, Sonya Brewer, 18, of Navasota. She met the band in April when they were playing back-up for the solo acts in the Wrangler Country Star Search held at Graham Central Station. She sings only on Sunday nights, but says she is thinking of working full-time with the band. Country and western music makes up most of the Texas Nug gett Band’s show, but the band does not like to be categorized as strictly C&W. “We’re a variety band,” Cox said. “We play some rock ’n’ roll, some jazz and some rhythm and blues. The band could really be a good rhythm and blues band if there was an audience for it. They love to play rhythm and blues.” The Texas Nuggett band was formed four years ago at The Music Booth, a College Station store which no longer exists. Cox, store co-owner Brady Booth and drummer John Catalina were the initial members. Catalina owned the band’s PA system, so when his wife suggested the Texas Nuggett Band as a name, he seemed to have the most votes in the matter. The band has a handful of ori ginal songs, all of which have been written by Cox. He says he has been writing songs since he was 13 or 14 years old. “I started to play the guitar after I started writing, ” Cox says. “The two just kind of went together”. The band’s goal is to record some of its material. Cox said that when the band has the time and money, it is going to start record ing in Dallas. One of the band’s songs has been entered in a contest for a place on the Brazos Gold album, which is being produced by Road Runner Productions, a local stu dio. The final judging has not yet been announced, but the TNB is in the final 34 selected from the original 150 entrants. Another option open to the band is nationwide hotel touring. David Kerr of the Country Talent booking agency made the offer to the band, including the possibility of touring in Canada. The Texas Nuggett band plays every Sunday night at the Holiday Inn South in College Station and now will be playing at Northgate in Bogie’s on Monday and Tues day nights. Warren Archer Band by Rebeca Zimmermann B.itt.ilion sluB The Warren Archer Band...or is it the Warren Archer Group? Even the band members aren’t sure of the name— that’s how new the group is. But the name isn t as important as what the group is trying to do. The band has acquired a manager — who also manages Freddy Fen der — from Houston. The mana ger, Huey Meaux, set up and fi nanced a recording session for the group at Sugar Hill Studios in Houston about a month ago. Band members recorded three original numbers in four days. Now, they’re waiting. Waiting to hear whether one of the three major recording labels who ex pressed interest in the group will sign them to a contract. “The fuse is lit,” says Mike Maloney, drummer for the band. “It’s just got to burn it’s way to LA and back.” “Were optimistic, says bass guitarist Buddy Sledge, “but we don’t want to be overly opti mistic.” Archer already has achieved a smidgeon of fame. He recorded a video of “Things Aren’t Always,” one of his original songs, in April. The video got second place in the June 8th MTV 7 Basement contest and is receiving some late-night airplay on MTV. After he made the video, he formed the band (about three months ago) and began recording. The band quickly learned that a lot of hard work goes into record ing with a studio. Members spent four days recording three songs. “We put in 20-hour days, Sledge says. “We would call it a day at 7 a. m. The band members slept for about four hours and went at it again. While recording, the musicians only contact with the outside world was through a parking-lot monitor in the studio. Lead singer Archer, lead guitarist Don Hutchko and Maloney previously were mem bers of local bands that folded this summer. Archer and Hutchko were with Albatross and Maloney was with Fusion. The keyboard player, David Little (a.k.a. D.B.), was studying to be a conductor at Sam Houston State University. His classical training is obvious in his keyboard parts. Little, 23, and Archer, 25, are working on the band full-time. Maloney is a senior agricultural economics major at Texas A&M. Hutchko, 29, teaches guitar les sons at Musicians’ World, and Sledge, 26, works as a consultant at Musicians’ World. The band’s music is difficult to label. It’s rock n’ roll, but it’s not heavy metal rock. “We don’t know what to callit,” Sledge says. “We re not really a particular flavor,” Hutchko says. “We try to do different stuff.” Archer calls it commercial Top 40 music. He says the music is a little like Steely Dan and jazz- influenced music such as that by Gino Vanelli. The group has been influenced by a variety of music. Sledge en joys listening to jazz, Hutchko to rock. Maloney probably will be a Neal Peart fan all his life and it shows in his drum solos. Whatever the label, the hi members are enthusiastic ab their material. When writ songs. Archer works with Hut ko and D. B. to develop a cone and a melody. Then Maloney; Sledge write the rhythm and b line. “It’s complete freedoi Sledge says. "Nine out of times, the first input is right, click just right. He says the mt hers expect each other to writ part that complements the oti musicians. The band s members en themselves thoroughly. They I to kid around and pick on e; other. But there’s more to band than good times. The band’s concern with i positive attitude toward the ftiti shows up in its music. Memb agree that what Sledge calls i “dreary, gloomy, cut-yo mother-with-a-chainsaw” lyric: some rock have no appeal for 1 group. “You don’t need violence a evil to sell your music,” Malor says. “There’s enough energy in n to amuse yourself without v lence,” Sledge says. A line in one of the grou songs, “Plastic People,” sums members’ attitude best: “I wont how pur children will see through their eyes. ” “I use a little philosophy in i lyrics,” Archer says. “I try to { some kind of message in it. ” Sledge describes the ban philosophy well: “There’s chance of hope if you look for Don’t hurt anybody to do it.” Hutchko says the group is wo Singer Kevin Bomar, guitarist Terry Do sey and keyboardist Mark Wilson ofRac itt tune the instruments before a sessioi