Taking Care of Business

Classic Rock Sounds from a Forward-Thinking Band

originally published May 7, 2008

Take heed young bands of Athens: if you think you can get an asymmetrical haircut, throw some songs up on MySpace and then sit around waiting for a label to throw money at you like some deus ex machina - you are way off. Deep pockets in the music industry are few and far between these days, and if you really want to make it, you're going to have to do it yourself. It's phenomenal how the digital age has provided an unprecedented amount of opportunities for bands to be self-sufficient, but that also means a lot more competition. You have got to be savvy to survive, and nobody knows this better than the hard rocking and even harder working Baltimore band J Roddy Walston and the Business.

The debut record Hail Mega Boys might have wrapped up a year ago, but once the recording was done the real work began. Drummer Steve Colmus remembers how much the band had to learn, and struggle, just to get things moving.

"When that record first came out, we were working full-time jobs and coming home and probably putting another eight hours into the record," says Colmus. "You have to wear so many different hats to have any sort of national presence at this time, especially getting out of the gate. You have to know how to book a tour; you've got to write the songs; then you practice them so you can play them live; you probably have to record them, so you have to have some knowledge of recording; then you probably have to do your own press at first, so you learn extremely rudimentary public relations; then you have to handle your own finances; deal with a distributor; figure out where you get your merch from… You definitely have to bust your ass to do it, but, if you're willing to bust your ass, there's a whole world of opportunity that maybe wasn't there 10 years ago."

So how does an artist learn to be a businessman, too? For Colmus it was all "trial by fire." He talked with other bands who were signed, networked with industry types, and then just dove in head first. "The learning curve is pretty steep," Colmus admits, "but, I mean, if you're this age and you're in a band, you've probably been serious about it for a long time, and you've probably had to learn how to do some of that stuff in the meantime."

Although J Roddy Walston and the Business are still a ways away from completing their sophomore record, they have already considered utilizing all the skills they've learned from the first album to launch their own label as a means to distribute future releases.

"We'd love if we could find an independent label… but, we might just start our own label and hire a PR firm and do it ourselves that way, because labels don't necessarily have as much to offer as they maybe did even five or 10 years ago. There's really no need to pay someone else to do it unless you really just don't want to do it."

The irony in all this is that J Roddy Walston and the Business have a totally different work ethic when it comes to the songs themselves. While the band is out on the road constantly, bandmembers don't obsess over the finer details of performance. These are workhorses through and through, but this is also a true-blue rock and roll band. Who cares if you flub a distorted note as long as everyone's having a good time?

"We don't rehearse - ever. Because it just doesn't lead to better shows for us," says Colmus. "We're not a technical band… our biggest thing is trying to capture the spirit of a song, the heart of it. That's the biggest difference between us and whoever else you might compare us to. Our main concern when we get up there is having fun. We don't try to over-think things or over-analyze things; we just play what we feel."

Colmus adds that it was actually quite difficult for him to adopt this attitude when he first came on board. "I joined [the Business] two weeks before they had this weekender with The Features, and it was going to be packed shows for all three dates. I was shitting a brick because I had to learn 16 songs in two and half weeks. With every other band I had been in up to that point, you practiced your ass off because when you get up there the biggest concern was playing your part perfectly… "

When Colmus expressed his anxiety to Business guitarist Billy Gordon, Gordon encouraged him to focus more on having a good time than hitting every note. "He said, 'you just gotta get up there and have fun, and that's it. If it's not fun for you it's not going to be fun for anybody to watch.' It seems obvious now, but at the time it seemed like a really crazy way to be in a band - to not have your ultimate goal be to play something perfectly, but to feel a certain way."

What Colmus eventually learned is how to pay attention to the moment - the energy of the band and the audience as a whole - instead of focusing in on each minute drum beat. Amazingly, the resulting performance never comes across as sloppy or loose, just simply unadulterated. This is rock and roll in its purest, most joyous, natural form. There is nothing premeditated or calculated in bassist Zach Westphal's head-banging. Nothing ironic in Walston's swagger or snarl. It's rock without pretense, and that free spirit is absolutely contagious.

Just ask anybody in town who's seen J Roddy perform before. Gordon Lamb was swelling with accolades after he caught their debut at the Caledonia two years ago, saying their record "just as often leads me to near tears of joy as it does beer-swilling abandon." The crew at Tasty World was floored by Roddy's last performance, leading venue employee Fritz Gibson to declare that "they are, without a doubt, the finest new band we've had through here in a couple of years." Go see what a band can accomplish when they really bust their asses.

Michelle Gilzenrat

WHO: The Help, Jackpot City, J Roddy Walston and the Business
WHERE: Tasty World
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7
HOW MUCH: $6