Your friendly neighborhood Nightcrawler can't remember the year. But he recalls getting a chuckle out of the fact that he had barely finished his first barley when the topic at the bar swiftly turned—as it always seemed to then—to the area's newest heroes, Staind.
The impetus for the giddiness was the coincidence that the downtown gin mill was named The Tic Toc Lounge, and one could count the minutes with an egg timer before someone seemed compelled to enlighten all patrons within earshot about how they were linked to one of the band members. This would be followed by a series of musicians who would alternately label the then newly signed act as "lucky" or "sell-outs," and ultimately conclude that their band was better. But then there was a new entrant.
"I don't know. I think they're good and they worked hard," a voice from the corner concluded as he produced some wrinkled bills for his tab. "And I hope to join them some day."
That man was guitarist Chris Regan. And considering that his current project, "yardcore" rockers Fear Nuttin Band, have just come back from a reality television show which resulted in a record deal, and he just finished recording his major label debut with legendary producer Terry Date (who, in addition to Korn, Limp Bizkit, Pantera and a slew of other heavyweights, has worked with Staind), it seems that one could use that same egg timer to calculate when FNB will evoke shades of Staind and similarly explode onto the national scene.
The Nightcrawler caught up with some of the boys just prior to the band's homecoming celebration this Friday, Dec. 7 at the Hippodrome. You can check out the full interview in this week's cover story.
*
The Crawler also connected with Eric Paquette, guitarist and singer for melodic rockers Gone By Daylight. Paquette was on his cell phone in the band's van, en route to a New Hampshire gig. As he detailed the lengths to which he and his bandmates go to promote themselves, it shed light on how this fledgling band from Southwick has made a name for itself in relatively short order.
"We started about two years ago," he says. "But after the first year of getting these shows the conventional way with promoters and all, we noticed that we were doing a lot more legwork—and bringing in the most people."
Daylight's bright idea? Renting halls themselves and putting their own shows together, a habit that recently led to a sold-out affair at Pearl Street with an audience of 600-plus.While Paquette admits plunking down dough on self-booked shows has risks, he adds that it's worth it when it all comes together. And there are ways to increase the odds of success.
"We literally are working our band 24/7," he says. "Handing out flyers, CDs, stickers… the Web. We go out to clubs and network every night… and we practically lived at the Big E."
This Saturday, Dec. 8, GBD headlines Pearl Street's clubroom. We recognize local show openers Maverick West, Exit Reason and Agaetis Run, but who's this Eighty Six on the bill? Well, Paquette says they traded shows (another part of their plan) with Eighty Six to get that very New Hampshire gig they were en route to.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
