Spend a little time with local musician Evil Bill and you'll notice a number of things about his demeanor: thoughtful, philosophical, observant, understated. But evil? Not really.
"I think it started as a joke," says Evil Bill, a.k.a. Bill Stearman. "The name came from playing open mics, and I started using it for one-off recordings. Then, much later, I started using it when I played out."
Stearman began playing guitar at the age of 18, then served time in numerous punk bands before a three-year stint in beloved local "gypsy punk" outfit Cyclub. There he helped craft the group's sound with his inventive, melodic lead lines and sharp, sometimes atonal guitar blasts.
After Cyclub disbanded, it took awhile for Stearman to re-emerge onstage. "I started playing shows as Evil Bill, playing a distorted junior-sized guitar, with Scott Alden on keyboards," he says. "I put out an EP, Out Of Order, in 2006. I moved twice and returned, and took a year-and-a-half-long break to write."
Evil Bill now plays as a two-piece with Jim Bliss on snare and tom. The duo just recorded an EP, Voids, with Two Tents at Ditentopia in Chicopee. Other former collaborators include Luke Degnan of World's Greatest Dad and Jeremy Dubs of The Bunnies.
Live, Evil Bill is all business, with a stage act largely informed by the countless shows Stearman has witnessed in all his years of playing, attending and organizing performances. "I've been exposed to a lot of music that I wouldn't have thought to go see otherwise," he says. "It has affected my thoughts on performance by way of what—and sometimes what not—to do when on stage. For instance: short, continuous sets; no stage banter; get on and off stage quickly."
Stearman says there is no real method to his guitar madness. "It's rhythm-based," he says. "I like minor scales. I like catchy melodies intertwined with periods of cacophonous noise. I like excessive whammy bar usage and dynamic shifts in volume."
Evil Bill's style is like a food processor, chopping up his wide array of influences—musical, literary and visual—and churning out a nice, tasty puree. When asked about those influences, his answer sounds like a rambling tour of the last century: "Lo-fi and weird music, old rock 'n' roll obscurities. Obscure punk rock singles from the '70s, horror movie soundtracks, children's music, TV themes. I like Spike Jones, Cab Calloway, Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance, rockabilly, girl group, doo-wop, Burroughs, Nietzsche, Kafka, mythology, The Twilight Zone."
Stearman's most recent batch of songs sounds, unsurprisingly, like a great many of these things. Voids' lead track, "Living in a Void," is a stripped-down, Nick Cave-esque affair: raw, a bit menacing; primal, punk energy intertwined with gang backing vocals. "XXX," from the same EP, is a barebones psycho-surf instrumental that would feel right at home as sonic backdrop for a David Lynch film.
"I have periods in which I write several new songs, often conceptually related," he says. "Then I have periods where I pick up my guitar and I'm not even sure what to do with it. I constantly edit new songs—I write songs for people with short attention spans.
"I write songs musically influenced by rock 'n' roll, but I like surprises in music, that moment of confusion when something unexpected happens in a song. I think of each song as an attempt at a concise communication. I like humor and absurdity in expressing a point. My subject matter tends to be about nihilistic feelings, bureaucracy, paranoia in relationships, social hysteria."
Okay, so Stearman might sometimes tread on the dark side—but that doesn't necessarily make him evil. Does it?"
For songs, music and a listing of upcoming shows, visit www.myspace.com/tvscreen.
