"Smart-Guy Pop"
Solving for X
by Ryan Williams
Solving For X's self-described 'smart-guy pop' has been getting heard across the nation via college radio and the Internet. You can get their new album 'What Planet Are You' from their website or on iTunes.
Next Show: Thurs, Feb 24 @ Birdy's Live
Listen: What Planet Are You? (mp3)
Solving For X got its start following the inspiration of a Train concert. Bassist Brian Wheat says "At that moment, I realized that Dave (Gee, guitar), Bill (Spencer, keys and vocals), and I should start a band. I mentioned to Dave that night and I introduced Dave to Bill in my basement 4 weeks later." The group had a different configuration at their inception, though. "We started out as a three piece acoustic band called 'Sam-I-Am' (Ed. Note - no relation to the punk band of the same name) and we played covers of new music as well as early 80's alternative music like REM's 'Radio Free Europe', Modern English's 'Melt with You' and the Violent Femmes 'Add It Up'." Soon a percussionist came looking for them. Wheat says Steve Olson found out about them on Garageband.com. "He was a reviewer of one of our songs and I guess he really liked our music, because he sent us an email shortly thereafter asking if we needed a drummer."
Gee calls the group's music "smart-guy pop," drawing from sources like U2, R.E.M. and Counting Crows. That's a popular genre for this area, but Olsen says it can present challenges. "There are an incredibly large number of bands vying for spots at venues in a small area. Finding the right shows, and not overplaying one spot can be difficult. If you don't play enough, you lose your live edge. Going from Indy to other places can also be tough. Even though we have large number of highly talented bands here, people elsewhere don't know it."
Therefore, the band has cast its net wide using the power of the Internet. Wheat says "We uploaded our songs on GarageBand.com and got great feedback and exposure there. We got our CD up and selling on CD Baby and Amazon.com. You can also buy our CD directly from us on our website using PayPal. We have sold CD's to fans in US as well as in Germany , the UK , and Spain . Through CD Baby, we signed up with their digital distribution program. In this agreement, they get our songs on more than 20 digital download services, including I-Tunes and Napster and take a 9% cut. We advertise on Google. We are on MySpace.com and Live 365 radio. We have done a lot but we have really only cracked the surface."
The band has also tried its hand at cracking the ranks of college radio using a combination of Sonicbids and good old-fashioned legwork. Wheat says "The response rate was higher than I expected - we have about 15 radio stations that are playing our music . . . many are streaming it on the web as well. Getting someone to put a CD in rotation is one thing, but getting them to play it often is even more work. The key to this is persistence and follow-up. It takes a lot of time."
The band already has follow-up plans to their debut recording "What Planet Are You." Olsen says "Bill and Brian have been writing material to add to our live show and use towards our next project. I have been working to locate venues to play at outside of Indy, and finding bands to join forces with in putting together a good show from top to bottom." Wheat says "I write most of our songs in my basement. I use a Tascam 4-track that is perfect for laying down drums, bass, and guitars. I tend to write first thing in the morning. I wake up and have a guitar riff or bass line in my head and put it down on the 4-track. I layer in other instruments on top, arrange it in a verse - chorus pattern, mix it and record it on a CD and hand it to Bill for him to take to the next level. Bill writes his melodies in his car on the way to and from work. When he feels good about what he has developed, we put it all together as a band and work out the remaining details."
Solving For X is looking to hit some festivals and other spots this summer, including New York and Wise Fool's Pub in Chicago . Wheat says the band is trying to keep from burning out locations. "We are intentionally limiting how often we play out in any one city. We would rather play a few special shows a year in a city and promote the event to draw in a bigger crowd. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough fans of original music in Indiana to warrant playing that much. We have gotten much more interest in our music from the East Coast." Those trips would miss the charm of a recent local show at Connor's Pub, however. "We were crammed in the corner and the place was absolutely packed with some of the drunkest people I have ever seen. By the end of the night the bar was so thick with smoke, it looked like fog. A very drunk rugby dude from Australia was dying to get up and sing with us - but we ran out of time. But that didn't stop him. At 2:30 am, as we were tearing down, he gets up on the bar wearing one of those big foam cowboy hats you see at football games and he starts singing Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" on the shitty PA system. Soon everyone was singing along and waving their arms in the air. Everyone was totally into it. While this dude was singing, someone reached up and pulled his pants down, but he didn't flinch and kept on singing. The whole evening was surreal."
-- Ryan Williams
Related Link:
www.solvingforx.com
