Making It As A College Band

by Kunal Basu-Dutta

If you’ve ever tried to get a gig as a band, you probably know that the local music scene is oversaturated. What does it take for a college start-up band to attain local fame? Read on to hear one band leader’s story about how he went from being a kid with a guitar at Northwestern to taking his band to Chicago’s House of Blues.

I had the chance to interview Danny Leavitt, who is no doe-eyed babe to the Chicago music scene. Formerly of Northwestern’s The Foster-Walker Complex, he’s now the lead singer of a new local pop rock band called The Webelos.

The other members of The Webelos (Neil Candelora, Lennie Dietsch, and Brendan Lazar) were all likewise a part of earlier bands that had a footprint on the local scene. These Chicago veterans have come together to form a powerhouse of “infectious hooks and raucous live shows.”

Pictured below: The Foster-Walker Complex

Danny and I met at Metropolis Coffee. He ordered his green tea latte, and I took a Mexican chocolate.

Kunal: So let’s get straight to business, are you guys recording any new demos?

Danny: Haha, you actually have a little foam on your ‘stache.

Kunal: Oh, haha. Let me grab a napkin real quick

Danny: Basically, we have this EP coming out Model Citizen. We’ve been doing that for almost the last year. A story I can get into if you want…

Kunal: Please, I would love to hear this story.

Danny: Well, let me think. I’ll start at the beginning. Basically, I’ve been playing in Beatles tribute bands for about 8 years now

Kunal: I saw that you were into Abbey Road on the River.

Danny: I’ve been playing George for all 8 years and have met a lot of guys through that. One of the guys, who played John Lennon a lot, he’s usually on the road playing with The Fab Four, was taking a break for about 4-5 months. And we were just all sitting around. My dream has always been to make originals …

A lot of guys in The Beatles industry want to be John Lennon or whatever. For me, it’s always been a cool novelty, especially making money playing music and being in a scenario where everyone loves you. While in the ‘original’ world you have to work your ass off to even get noticed. In ‘The Beatles’ world everyone already knows all the songs. People respond to the suits and stuff and you make money off the bat. It’s very seductive. In my heart, it’s always been about putting my own music out there. Y’know I was a creative writing major at Northwestern.

Kunal: No way. Fiction or poetry?

Danny: A little bit of everything actually.

Kunal: So how did you transition from playing these Beatles bands to your band at Northwestern (The Foster-Walker Complex)?

Danny: I’ve sort of been juggling both, but I met a lot of musicians who play all over the world through it. [The Foster-Walker Complex] had some close calls and cool gigs.

There are tons of bands with unique and interesting sounds. However, if it isn’t in tune with what the fans want, you might just fizzle out. There is this musical collective conscious. Time sort of pulls music wherever it wants to go.

Kunal: I saw that you guys actually played at the House of Blues. How was that?

Danny: It was cool. The great thing is that in the dressing rooms, no matter if you are an opening act they treat you like a star. You get like James Brown’s dressing room with all the signatures. You even get your own cocktail waitress.

Kunal: (laughter) No way.

Danny: Yeah, it’s really nice. But with that band we had a guy who was a radio promoter who played our demos for heads of labels and such. But nothing really took off . . . The music these days is really saturated. There are so many bands trying to make it, so many styles.
To break through is hard since there are so many talented songwriters. But you need to have the right style and groove at the right time. There are tons of bands with unique and interesting sounds. However, if it isn’t in tune with what the fans want, you might just fizzle out. There is this musical collective conscious. Time sort of pulls music wherever it wants to go. Maybe it’s current events or something else.

Kunal: So now with the Internet and its connectivity, do you feel it helps these changes?

I feel like it goes a lot quicker, a culture in a test tube. Information can be accessed so quickly that things evolve even quicker.

Kunal: So it’s hard to keep up?

It makes things very short-lived, I feel.

Kunal: We are talking about the music scene in general throughout the world. But how would you characterize the local music scene? What’s in demand?

With the FWC, I was immersed in the scene. But that was 3 or 4 years ago. Now with the Webelos I’m starting the marketing machine again and to see what’s goin on. It’s pretty diverse. From what I hear about different music scenes and the people I know really like the scene set up here in Chicago. Some people wish they were in San Francisco so they could be closer to labels and scouts. But that’s just physically closer. What you need is an undying fan base, people who are so into your music that they are motivated to tell other people. A&R guys will always come to find you once you get a fan base. Chicago’s geography lends itself to a scene thanks to the colleges and public transportation.

Kunal: Earlier you said, you are starting up the “marketing machine.” What does that exactly entail for you?

It’s tough because I’m kind of the mastermind behind The Webelos. And it’s not because I’m the songwriter, lead singer, and all that. It’s all about getting the word out and getting to know your fans. Social networking sites like facebook, twitter, and myspace help out a lot. There’s that and obviously getting the shows.

Kunal: Speaking of getting booked, how hard is it? And is it different from when you were in college?

I definitely feel like it is a lot easier now. Before you would have to call or email and then do 2 or 3 follow-ups before the venue or manager would even listen to you. Now I just send an email and they listen to us the first time and give feedback.

Kunal: Do you think that might be because of the name of the bands all of you guys are connected with? I know you were with The Foster-Walker Complex, Brendan and The Ivories, The Ladies and Gentlemen with Lennie and The Clergymen with Neil

Wow, you got them all. And yeah, I feel like all of us have already established ourselves within this community so most of the people already know us. When we were all starting out, without a reputation, it’s always a lot harder to get gigs. You just need to persevere though.

Kunal: Well, all of you guys are band veterans, so how do practices normally go? And is it hard to meet?

We can’t meet all the time. All of us work and have different schedules, so it can be hard to line practices up right. But we try to get in at least 2 or 3 solid practices a week. And it may not seem that way but whenever we practice I try to keep everything in line and going forward. I’m like the taskmaster. I always have these goals in my head that I want to meet. Since we don’t practice all the time, all my ideas build up and that is why I try to keep the practice going without just soloing and going off on tangents all the time. I don’t think a good band can work like that. All that fancy stuff is what many bad bands and musicians do.

Kunal: They try to cover things up with a lot of frills and such. Is that what you mean?

Yeah. I feel that good music and musicians don’t need that. I mean there are some people who can do that, like John Paul Jones.
I love that you’re a Zeppelin fan because I’m a huge Zeppelin fan myself. But while I was reading your info page I noticed that you guys “honor the forefathers of rock.” Who would you consider to be these forefathers? Who inspired you guys to rock out?
Well, this may sound a little clichéd, but I am in a Beatles tribute band. So I would definitely have to go with the Beatles. While some name drop, I’ve been playing them for 8 years and really do love them.

Kunal: Haha, the Beatles connection is solid and not just a name. Who else?

Elvis Costello comes up. He is one of my favorite songwriters of all time.

Kunal: And what about now?

I’ve always been on the ‘respecting good songwriting’ side of things. Ben Folds is one of my favorite artists—clever artist, clever lyrics. Honestly, I have also always loved jazz so anything with a knowledge of chords, changes, and progressions is appealing.

Kunal: What exactly are your future plans for The Webelos?

My dream has always been to make it, quote unquote, in music. That’s most people’s dream I feel. But you have to learn to be humble and know why you are doing it. The main reason I am doing this is because I have to; it’s in my blood. Creating things, doesn’t even matter what, and bringing an idea to life is what I live for. And so that is why I do this whether or not we make it to the top.

Kunal: You clearly hope to though.

Yeah, I’m gonna pull out as many of the stops as I can. But it is one of the toughest things, especially emotionally. Being the leader of a band is one of the most difficult and challenging life lessons. You are constantly learning how to deal with this fire, this drive and how to balance that with rejection and disappointment. You have to keep your focus on that fire to create. Even if you don’t go anywhere, you have to realize the reason you do this is to express these ideas that are chained in your mind. It’s weird and hard to describe.

Kunal: I feel something similar with poetry. Whenever something enraptures you and you try to convey and describe it immediately to capture how I feel.

Something like that. Y’know, it’s weird. Sometimes I’ve had that debate about life and what is the meaning.

Kunal: So what is your meaning of life?

Well the standard response is “to be happy.” And I kind of want to get to that place but for me and creative people, one of the points is to produce. To manifest your sense of worth is connected to expressing yourself. Contributing to humanity and all that. It isn’t for everybody because to each his own.

Kunal: So lots of college students feel this similar fire. My roommate, for one, seems to have it. And he, like thousands of others, try to get bands together but are missing a needed person, like a bassist. How do you propose that college kids, or anyone else for that matter, go about finding members?

It took me about a year to find members for my current band (The Webelos, in case you forgot). In fact, we are still looking for a female vocalist. First of all, when I was in FWC it was a lot easier. College makes it easy. You have email mailing lists for the dorms and programs and I just sent out emails on the ones I was a part of. For those I wasn’t a part of, I got friends to forward the emails. It wasn’t as hard, but it did take a while. My main advice is to never settle. The key is to finding the right guys so keep looking until you find the right guys.

Kunal: Well, we’ve been here quite a while and I appreciate you coming here to talk.

Oh, no problem.

Kunal: So just a couple of last questions. Nothing deep like the meaning of life, but would you mind giving some extra details about The Webelos like how did you came up with the name and get together.

The quick backstory. While part of The Foster-Walker Complex, I joined a site called gearsluts.com

Of course, I had no choice but to laugh at this point.

It isn’t what you think it is. It’s guys who are sluts for recording gear. I met Alan Crane through this. He owns this amazing studio in Orland Park, and he loved my music so much that we became great friends. He just lets me use his studio now.

Kunal: Is that where the Webelos tracks have been recorded?

Yeah, that’s where we made Model Citizen. While recording the original tracks, everything was a work in progress, even the names. In fact, Brendan, who plays drums now, is the only one still in the band. It was a lot of my musician friends and me spending late nights in the studio. I played a lot of the other instruments, especially the toy piano. I thought it was the best thing I’d made. Then I started the process of craigslist and finding guys. I found Lennie, a terrific guitar player. He comes up with really melodic stuff. And we are starting to explore that because he just joined. He and Neil, our bassist, aren’t actually on the EP since they weren’t there. We’ve actually only been together for 3 or 4 months. We just did our first show at Martyrs.

Kunal: How did that go?

It went great actually. I was nervous and it was raining. I thought we would lose people. But we had a good crowd and we did some cool stuff. I started off in one outfit. Then halfway through we did something called the Webelos Salute which is where Brendan does this drum roll and we salute these flags with big W’s on them. Well under my outfit I had a boy scout uniform.

Kunal: So the Webelos Salute and, of course, it’s the old acronym. But why scouts?

Well, I wanted something to convey our style of music. I see it us as fun, pop rock, and unapologetic. I wanted something nostalgic to bring it back to boyhood days. That connotes the fun wonder years and my music is sunny and fun. It’s humorous and not too serious.

Kunal: Speaking of boyhood, in your description there’s the line that “we all have parts of our past that we’re not proud of.” I was a marching band geek, played the sousaphone

No way. I played the alto saxophone.

Kunal: That’s awesome. What else made up your past?

I was always the kid in the gifted program which isn’t as big a thing here because of UChicago and Northwestern, but in high school and middle school it really made you stand out and get picked on for it. In junior high I pretty much wore Beatles shirts every day. This was just when I was starting to play them and be a part of the Beatles bands. I also was a runt of a kid; I didn’t really hit my growth spurt until late in high school. But I always had this attitude of being myself and that’s what I want the music to be. Just fuck it and be yourself would be the driving attitude here.

Kunal: I can dig. Final two questions. First, what shows are coming up for you guys.

Well, we just had the Martyrs show which was our first. But our next big show is May 1st at Abbey Pub. It starts at 1 pm I believe. And it is part of something called the International Pop Overthrow. There are going to be a lot of pop rock bands, especially from Chicago, and we are all going to play like a 30 minute slot or so. And our official EP release should be in a little over a month, probably in June sometime.

Kunal: Last question. If you could jam with anyone, other than The Beatles

Haha well I would have obviously picked them.

Kunal: Haha yeah, I know. But other than them, who would you jam with?

I am a big fan of Bruce Springsteen. Whenever he is on stage, he just has this energy. Have you ever seen some of his old stage shows?

Kunal: No, not really.

You should check them out. It’s nonstop energy and he just dances and sings all over the entire stage. Or if it were in a studio, then maybe Bob Dylan. Dylan just writes so well and the words have so much meaning.
Kunal: Well, thanks for the interview Danny. I really do appreciate it.

Thank you man.

Kunal: And I will definitely be there at the Abbey Pub. Good luck.

We shook hands, ended the interview, and then went and had a regular chat with a mutual friend before heading our separate ways.

Clearly, Danny is a creative and artistic individual with a deep, fiery passion for what he does. Luckily, he does it very well. I am glad that our generation still has individuals that cannot only articulate how they view life and their passions but also strive hard to accomplish them. In the process, we, the public, are gifted with something wonderful—music that is unashamed to be ‘hooky,’ beat driven, and fun. Even if you aren’t a fan of the music, you must admire Danny and the rest of the scouts for pursuing their dreams and following their beliefs. It is not a question of whether these guys will make it. It is a question of when. I can’t answer that one, but I hope it is soon for this bright-eyed scout can’t wait to rock out. And in case you were wondering what “webelos” really means, it means “We’ll be loyal scouts.” I know I will. Scout’s honor.