Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 22, 1993 TAG: 9306220129
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
And so did the Seattle "scene," which has become America's bastion of alternative music, just as Minneapolis was before Seattle and Athens, Ga., was before Minneapolis.
Alternative scenes are fickle like that.
In Roanoke, Chris Clark shares a common allegiance with bands like Pearl Jam and the cities they help put on the musical map.
Clark, 22, has a passion for music - and knowing that his spin on the current beat is not what the record companies think will sell, he has taken matters into his own hands.
Into his basement, actually.
Clark has started his own studio and record label, Rebel Tone Records. And although Roanoke is far from becoming the next Seattle, he says Rebel Tone is at least the faint sign of a pulse rate in an otherwise lifeless music scene.
Clark took to alternative at Cave Spring High School, where he graduated in 1989 and followed the sounds of R.E.M., The Cure, The Smiths and other alternative rock.
He formed a band, Third Degree, that occasionally got work at college parties and a few nightclubs. He says the group was nothing to brag about.
"We could tune our instruments and start and stop together."
After a year away at college, Clark returned to Roanoke and formed his current band, The Mockingbirds. Clark is the group's drummer.
He says The Mockingbirds has a unique sound - a blend of punk rock and old-time country and bluegrass. Clark calls it "Appalachian rock."
Clark and company did what many bands do. They made a tape and sent it off to the record companies.
Virgin Records took an interest, but wanted to hear more. Virgin sent money enough for the band to record and send off another round of material.
"We photocopied the check they sent us and everything," Clark said.
But Virgin didn't bite. "I thought the tape was good," Clark explained. "They didn't."
Likewise, Clark says he didn't much like the big-label experience "It kind of left a bad taste in our mouths," he said.
Smaller, independent labels didn't offer much either. "The problem with the smaller labels is they'd love to put your record out, but there isn't the resources."
Or, he says, they are focused on promoting their own local scenes and not much else. "It's real exclusive."
So, a year ago, Clark launched Rebel Tone Records.
"The label was born out of necessity," he said.
It started first as a way to promote The Mockingbirds.
The band went to Memphis and recorded four songs in the same studio where some of the group's favorite albums have been recorded, including "Pleased to Meet Me" by The Replacements and parts of R.E.M.'s "Green."
"In the life of our band, that was probably the greatest week in our lives," Clark said.
The most expensive, too. The group is still in debt. "To someone who doesn't have the passion for it, it's enough to make us seem like fools."
Clark brought the masters back to Roanoke, and chose two of the songs, "The Train Song" and "Four Walls," to be pressed into a 7-inch single by a company in Nashville.
He also tacked on a cover version of the standard, "Wreck of the Old 97," that the band recorded in his basement.
Rebel Tone quickly grew from there.
Clark added three other bands - Grind, Pleasure Void and The Fathe - to the label and pressed their singles. His theory was that additional bands would give the label some legitimacy.
Grind and The Fathe recorded their singles at Southwest Recording Studio in Roanoke, but Pleasure Void was recorded in Clark's tiny basement eight-track studio.
He followed with mass mailings of the records to college radio stations and commercial stations that feature special alternative music programs. He also hit some underground music publications.
Clark says the 7-inch single format is the same way bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana first established reputations. "There's a big 7-inch vinyl market," he said.
Rebel Tone has not gone unnoticed, either. Alternative Press magazine reviewed The Mockingbirds' single and called the band "everything R.E.M. ought to be and aren't."
All of the Rebel Tone acts have been played on the occasional radio show and now the label has been picked up by an alternative music mail-order catalog that is distributed nationally.
This is only the beginning, predicts Billy Tresky, Grind's lead singer. "In about seven years, Chris is going to be a big record executive. He's going to own the Dominion Tower," Tresky said.
Clark isn't shooting that high.
Despite his efforts, he doubts Roanoke will become the next Seattle. He says Roanoke's alternative music scene is not active enough to get noticed.
"When the return address on your envelope doesn't say Chapel Hill or Atlanta or Boston or something like that, it's tough," he said.
Still, he isn't complaining. Rebel Tone, so far, has accomplished everything he wanted it to do.
"As long as we don't confuse fiscal success with personal success, I'm happy with it."
by CNB