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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2004)
NEWS ATTALION BRIEF >tage help i hostage was help between shift cage in a Wednesday, a f the grim real areign captives itants. reculation tlia! or the freedom , including two first broadcast vork Al-Jazeera i the Internet, ligley begging r Tony Blair to nands. se Bush aver was discs n the Texas Air ' failed a physr his father or to get him into Vietnam War, Wednesday, answers came izen questions iciated Press in etailing Bush's negations that ction season, ational Guard pilot status in ig to take the required of al ational Guard e fora pilot to n. p has ; to abort the a stubby-look corkscrewing st the edge of nesday, con> of a quest to e. ind control led from the rOne rolled I it hurtled to-1 ' three time j . It reacW lies over tht i )N Chief ditor Editor tucer riday during ner session Periodicals changes to 1111. A University Id Building. attalion.net; rsement by 5-2696. For McDonald, 78. dent to pick ibscriptions an Express, why ve ing ns Aggielife The Bai i \i ion Page ^ \ * I hursday, September 30, 2004 PAGE BY JULIE BONE ! Luck of the Irish Band of Aggies try to stand out as rockers in country-loving College Station By Kirk Ehlig THE BATTALION Though churning out a band such as The Strokes probably isn’t in College Station’s immediate future, the all-Aggie rock band Shamrock is among the few and proud that are hoping to diversify the country-mu- i sic-flooded landscape of Aggieland. The opening of clubs such as Time Square, which was created as a rock venue for College Station, has been among the first steps towards this goal and has helped Shamrock build a fan base. The band hopes to use shows at the venue to get some exposure and get people hooked. “Just to get people to hear us once ... is our goal,” said Ryan Daven port, Class of2003 and lead singer of Shamrock. The members of Shamrock said even though College Station might [ not have the rock music scene of Austin, the town can be a stepping stone for young musicians. The members of Shamrock, who take a lot of their influence from bands like the Foo Fighters and Better Than Ezra, are no strangers to the local music scene. They’ve been playing here since last year and have already opened for Dexter Freebish. Shamrock plans on moving away | liom College Station at some point, but for now the men are happy hav- | ing their home base here. “Yes, this is a country town,” said Todd Dunlap, Class of 2003 and leadguitarist of Shamrock. “Rather than looking at that as a negative, we kindoflook at that as a positive, (in that) it would be easier if we would stick out more. Whether (that is) good or bad, any kind of exposure is good exposure.” After playing its first show for Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Shamrock has played at many venues in College Station, such as The Groove and Third Floor Cantina, where they met their manager, Toby Scott, the gen eral manager of Third Floor Cantina. “I decided to manage the band because of their extreme talent,” Scott said. “I had many offers to manage very popular bands that were already established but... 1 want to be a part of bringing them up from the start.” Davenport started the band with his high school friend from his home town of Georgetown, Texas, Matt Lindholm, Class of 2003 and Sham rock’s bassist. Davenport, who played the piano for six years as a child, reconnected with his musical roots by picking up the guitar after high school. Lindholm didn’t play an instrument until college. “I didn’t learn anything musically until I got to A&M,” Lindholm said. “And I learned theory and everything here.” Lindholm and Davenport were playing acoustic guitars and getting bored with playing the same chords and notes. So Lindholm decided to getabass and soon after they met Dunlap through Lindholm’s fiancee. Now, all the band needed was a name. Dunlap, a Dallas native, was returning from a hunting trip with his dad when the inspiration for his band’s name came in the form of the street signs the car passed. “1 saw it; there wasn’t even a question — there was a town called Shamrock,” Dunlap said. “It was perfect.” Davenport said that, at the time, the band had no songs and no drum- merand would play any songs they knew, ALL PHOTOS BY RHONDA KRISTYNIK Above, from left: Todd Dunlap, Ryan Davenport, and Matt Lind holm give an acoustic performance at The Groove. Top right: Members with drummer Barrett Hughes at The Groove. Bottom right: Shamrock performs at a private party in College Station. Shamrock will headline at Time Square tonight. “So we were kind of a sham, like we were a pretend band. That’s the real meaning behind it,” Davenport said. A shamrock is a three-leaf clover, but according to the old Irish myth, if you find a four-leaf clover, good luck will come to you. The band found that clover in the spring of 2003 in a member of A&M’s Percus sion Studio, Barrett Hughes. This gave the band its desperately-needed drummer and fourth member. The band, which usually performs mostly original songs and a few covers, is now branching out to cities like Dallas and Houston. The band members say it’s hard for them to classify their own music, and they’re hesitant to call themselves “pop rock” because of negative images in people’s minds of too many mainstream hits or too many love ballads. Davenport said that when he writes lyrics, he’s not out to change the world; he just wants to have fun. He said the skill doesn’t stem from any thing in particular; for him, it depends on what he’s going through, such as romantic situations or college in general. The rest of the song-making process comes from a joint collaboration of the various members creating their parts, whether on their own or at practice, and combining them. “1 wrote (Teel Better’) in the middle of the night, when I couldn’t fall asleep because there was so much on my mind — things I was worried about (or) nervous about,” Davenport said. “It turned into a song about how just writing a song out of the things bothering made me feel OK enough to go to sleep — kind of the therapeutic nature of song writing.” Hughes, who postponed finishing college, said that whenever ». person can live by making music, he can only progress further. » “All I want is to be able to support myself by doing this; whethei I become rich or not doesn’t really matter,” Hughes said. “It’s m}£ passion. It’s kind of like when you have to do music and work or^ the side. It’s kind of hard to juggle both.” Although Davenport, Dunlap and Lindholm have business de^ grees, they don’t plan to let those degrees go to waste. They sea! the band as a business, and they’re using their classroom skills tor promote the band through merchandise and management. Daven-^; port said the members shouldn’t miss opportunities to do what they- love to make money. “We’re young and it’s time to give it a try, and if we don’t do it now we’re never going do it,” Davenport said. “(We would) prob-L ably regret looking back in a few years and saying, ‘we didn’t give it a good college try.’” The band will perform tonight at Time Square and at Rock The Vote at Time Square Lriday. LITE RAC If ACROSS CULTURES That’s Not What I Meant! The academic and professional significance of intercultural communications October 7-8, 2004 George Bush Presidential Library and Museum Highlights October 7, 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. • Chinese American Storyteller Linda Fang. Sponsored by the Bush Museum Storytellers Guild. October 1, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. • Kay and Britt Rice/BRE Exhibit Lecture Series. Sponsored by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. Panel discussion with: 9 Jacqueline Adams, former CBS news correspondent. • Audrey Shabbas, educator for the Middle East Policy Council. • Victor Arizpe, Head, Department of Hispanic Studies, Texas A&M University. World premiere of “Reading around the World” performed by the Bush Library Troubadours. October 8, 8:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. • 2004 Literacy Symposium. Sponsored by the Texas A&M University Writing Center. For more information http://uwc.tamu.edu/events/symposium/index.htnil SPONSORS Texas A&M University Writing Center Education Department, George Bush Presidential Library and Museum SUPPORTING SPONSORS / TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Race and Ethnic Studies Institute Department 6f Multicultural Services Texas A&M University International Programs Office Evans Library www. //c\ cv// ia/ <>t / \mi:.ive/ O 979-822-2222 (t Hall off Fame . All tickets $10 at the door or $8 in ADVANCE AT THE HALL, BASKINS, AND CALENDERS . All tickets $12 at the door or $10 in ADVANCE AT THE HALL, BASKINS, AND CAVENDERS The Texas Hall of Fame encourages you to drink responsibly and always designate a driver. Free soft drinks to designated drivers over 21. # i <
