Post by lesley on Feb 3, 2006 10:38:05 GMT -5
Chicago Tribune
February 3, 2006
MUSIC: PREVIEW
INXS' loss is local singer's gain: Epic signing for Lovehammers
By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0602030173feb03,1,2670863.story?coll=chi-ent_music-hed
Could it be the real winner in the televised "Rock Star: INXS" wasn't J.D. Fortune?
Sure, the former Elvis impersonator got the nod to replace the late Michael Hutchence as lead singer of what was once one of the world's biggest rock bands.
But the runner-up, South Side native Marty Casey, wound up with a major-label record deal for his longtime Chicago band, the Lovehammers.
One wonders just how big a creative role Fortune will be allowed to play in INXS. But with Lovehammers, Casey and his bandmates--guitarist Billy Sawilchik, bassist Dino Kourelis and drummer Bobby Kourelis--write and co-produce all the music on their self-titled Epic Records debut. In addition, the band is opening shows for the reconstituted INXS on the Australian band's first tour since the mid-'90s, including a sold-out performance Saturday at the Chicago Theatre.
"When the whole thing ended and I didn't win, I felt like everything was all right with the universe because I have the band that we've been working on over half our lives still intact," Casey says.
He acknowledges that his bandmates "thought I was absolutely insane to do this--and rightfully so" for entering the "Rock Star: INXS" competition last year.
"I never ever performed with anyone else in my entire life and when the challenge came up, I got swept away," the singer says. "I really thought I could walk in there and get a bunch of exposure and walk out the other end with things happening for the Lovehammers. That it turned out that way almost frightens me. After all the time we put in, we deserve our shot. That's all we ever asked: Give us one shot. And here it is."
The door may not have opened if Casey hadn't left his imprint on the INXS competition. His flair in front of the cameras clinched a record deal with Epic. For Casey and the Kourelis brothers, who formed Lovehammers when they were still in junior high school in south suburban Hickory Hills, it was vindication of sorts.
"Instead of us saying to labels, `Please come out to the show in Chicago and I swear we're going to sell it out and I swear you'll be blown away,' they were telling us, `We want to see you guys live, we want to hear your CDs, we want to hear your material,'" Casey says.
Lovehammers had been together 18 years, self-released four albums and sold out local concerts at the Metro, House of Blues and Vic Theatre. Though they made money as headliners and by selling albums at shows, they were $50,000 in debt by the time they signed with Epic from running their own label and slugging it out as an opening band for everybody from Interpol to Nickelback (for which they were paid a paltry $500 a night on an arena tour).
"The rule of thumb for opening acts is the bigger the tour, the less money you make," Casey says. "But we didn't get discouraged. The reason a lot of bands don't make it is because they don't stay together long enough and stick out the tough times."
The Lovehammers won over crowds with sturdy guitar-bass-drums bar-band rock, and big choruses underpinned by the kind of elemental riffs that have been passed down from "La Bamba" to "Louie Louie" through "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
"This industry, a lot of it is built on music snobbery," Casey says. "[`Rock Star: INXS'] isn't really mainlined to people's hearts who are snobbish about music. But then again, our band's music isn't snob music. It's a very meat-and-potatoes mix of South Side Chicago." Now the Lovehammers hope to make their 15 minutes last as long as possible. For Casey, 32, the youngest of six children, the hard work ahead is something he and his bandmates relish.
"All of our parents are still in their original marriages," Casey says. "Talk about just learning how to stick it out and stay together." The band's success has not gone unnoticed at home.
"My dad was a crane operator on a boat, and now he lives on a lake west of Rockford," Casey says. "He prides himself on being a fisherman and just hanging out. You don't get him into the city of Chicago ever. He's been to three Lovehammers shows.
"Now he wants to come see us play in Vegas. There is not a more unlikely character to be in Vegas, but he asked if I could get him two tickets. It blows my mind."
Marty Casey and Lovehammers with INXS
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Chicago Theatre, 171 N. State St.
Price: $31.50-$62.50 (sold out); 312-559-1212
February 3, 2006
MUSIC: PREVIEW
INXS' loss is local singer's gain: Epic signing for Lovehammers
By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0602030173feb03,1,2670863.story?coll=chi-ent_music-hed
Could it be the real winner in the televised "Rock Star: INXS" wasn't J.D. Fortune?
Sure, the former Elvis impersonator got the nod to replace the late Michael Hutchence as lead singer of what was once one of the world's biggest rock bands.
But the runner-up, South Side native Marty Casey, wound up with a major-label record deal for his longtime Chicago band, the Lovehammers.
One wonders just how big a creative role Fortune will be allowed to play in INXS. But with Lovehammers, Casey and his bandmates--guitarist Billy Sawilchik, bassist Dino Kourelis and drummer Bobby Kourelis--write and co-produce all the music on their self-titled Epic Records debut. In addition, the band is opening shows for the reconstituted INXS on the Australian band's first tour since the mid-'90s, including a sold-out performance Saturday at the Chicago Theatre.
"When the whole thing ended and I didn't win, I felt like everything was all right with the universe because I have the band that we've been working on over half our lives still intact," Casey says.
He acknowledges that his bandmates "thought I was absolutely insane to do this--and rightfully so" for entering the "Rock Star: INXS" competition last year.
"I never ever performed with anyone else in my entire life and when the challenge came up, I got swept away," the singer says. "I really thought I could walk in there and get a bunch of exposure and walk out the other end with things happening for the Lovehammers. That it turned out that way almost frightens me. After all the time we put in, we deserve our shot. That's all we ever asked: Give us one shot. And here it is."
The door may not have opened if Casey hadn't left his imprint on the INXS competition. His flair in front of the cameras clinched a record deal with Epic. For Casey and the Kourelis brothers, who formed Lovehammers when they were still in junior high school in south suburban Hickory Hills, it was vindication of sorts.
"Instead of us saying to labels, `Please come out to the show in Chicago and I swear we're going to sell it out and I swear you'll be blown away,' they were telling us, `We want to see you guys live, we want to hear your CDs, we want to hear your material,'" Casey says.
Lovehammers had been together 18 years, self-released four albums and sold out local concerts at the Metro, House of Blues and Vic Theatre. Though they made money as headliners and by selling albums at shows, they were $50,000 in debt by the time they signed with Epic from running their own label and slugging it out as an opening band for everybody from Interpol to Nickelback (for which they were paid a paltry $500 a night on an arena tour).
"The rule of thumb for opening acts is the bigger the tour, the less money you make," Casey says. "But we didn't get discouraged. The reason a lot of bands don't make it is because they don't stay together long enough and stick out the tough times."
The Lovehammers won over crowds with sturdy guitar-bass-drums bar-band rock, and big choruses underpinned by the kind of elemental riffs that have been passed down from "La Bamba" to "Louie Louie" through "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
"This industry, a lot of it is built on music snobbery," Casey says. "[`Rock Star: INXS'] isn't really mainlined to people's hearts who are snobbish about music. But then again, our band's music isn't snob music. It's a very meat-and-potatoes mix of South Side Chicago." Now the Lovehammers hope to make their 15 minutes last as long as possible. For Casey, 32, the youngest of six children, the hard work ahead is something he and his bandmates relish.
"All of our parents are still in their original marriages," Casey says. "Talk about just learning how to stick it out and stay together." The band's success has not gone unnoticed at home.
"My dad was a crane operator on a boat, and now he lives on a lake west of Rockford," Casey says. "He prides himself on being a fisherman and just hanging out. You don't get him into the city of Chicago ever. He's been to three Lovehammers shows.
"Now he wants to come see us play in Vegas. There is not a more unlikely character to be in Vegas, but he asked if I could get him two tickets. It blows my mind."
Marty Casey and Lovehammers with INXS
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Chicago Theatre, 171 N. State St.
Price: $31.50-$62.50 (sold out); 312-559-1212
