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Rochester music interviews
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
Now, where was it that the Jet Black Berries were before they were so rudely interrupted? They were rocking. That was two decades ago, and the band had just put out its third record, and had a songs on the soundtrack to the latest zombie sequel, Return of the Living Dead. But by then lead singer Kevin Patrick was living in New York City.
"We couldn't tour," says drummer Roy Stein. "The label we were on was disappointed, because they had funded the record, and it just fell apart."
But now, the Jet Black Berries are returning from the dead as well. Someone at Bug Music, a songwriting publisher that administers the work of musicians from Johnny Cash to Wilco, and which oversaw the publishing of the soundtrack for the Return of the Living Dead, remembered the Rochester band after all these years. Just three hours after Stein sent a link to the company from the band's MySpace page, he heard back from Bug. That's unheard of.
It's not a record deal; it's a distribution deal, from a company that knows how to get music to the makers of TV shows, movies and video games.
"I know they really like the music," Stein says. "They're not promising us the works, they're just trying to help us get it out there. We're not like The Sunstreak or The Hoodies," he says of two young local bands pushing for national recognition. "We can't go out and play 200 shows a year for multiple reasons. We physically couldn't take it, and we all have families and house payments."
After a shakedown cruise last month at the Bug Jar, the Jet Black Berries have a gig Nov. 13 at the Lovin' Cup, celebrating the release of a three-song EP, which Bug is helping release. Bug and the band plan on a full-length album by the spring. The new music features all of the original members, except for Patrick. In his place is a talented 28-year-old singer, Johnny Cummings. "The other guys in the band are 30 years older than he is," Stein notes ruefully.
In the '80s, the Jet Black Berries grew out of an earlier group, New Math: same guys, different sound. Likewise, this Jet Black Berries resurrection also sprouted from New Math, which re-convened after 20 years for last year's Scorgie's reunion show. The event filled the German House, and inspired the band to start creating music. But once again, they set aside New Math in favor of Jet Black Berries, and for the same reasons: "New Math didn't represent the dark sound we liked," Stein says. "Jet Black Berries was psychobilly Americana, a real western kind of sound, but it was demented. The sound is darker. And the name's cooler."
For more, check www.myspace.com/jetblackberries.
