ARTICLES
02. 15. 06
Manchester Reminder
By SUSAN DZIEDZIC The Reminder
MANCHESTER
-- There seemed to be a glow over The Hungry Tiger Music Club in
Manchester on Jan. 23 from the heat of a powerful rock show featuring
three area bands: Plant Irf, LIVID, and Forline Orphans.
You
would never guess that the young musicians on stage hold day jobs as
engineers at a large local technology firm. There were no pocket
protectors and slide rules in sight during the show, as these bands are
riding a creative wave while they head for bigger arenas.
The
show was opened by Planet Irf, a rock and roll trio from Manchester,
followed by the two headliner bands, which both spent their last night
on a Connecticut stage before their tour to The Continental in New York
City the following Saturday.
These daytime
professional engineers seem to have no problems morphing into intense
rock and rollers when the spotlight comes on. "I always played and
loved music," said Nikkos Baksh of LIVID. "But for a long time it was
more like how people play golf, ski, or hike " a hobby. But over the
past seven years, my
passion for music grew as I grew older. I used to never consider myself
a musician or even an artist, but at 29, the passion for music has so
erupted that I must accept that it is who I am. And yes, I do more and
more feel as though I lead a double life " but only those who are as
passionate or moved by creating and performing music could understand
this."
Blake Luczak of Forline Orphans has
a similar story. "There are obstacles that we face as professional
engineers and musicians. It does force us to lead double lives," he
said. "We have to be able to support our music goals and we constantly
reevaluate our commitments to see if the end justifies the means."
Ed
Fischtner, guitarist for LIVID, is candid about this "double-life"
mystery. "I never thought about how music would fit into my life after
graduating from college and landing an engineering job," he said. "But
when I played with my first band, I was amazed at the positive reaction
we were getting from our audience for music we had created ourselves.
After six years, the attraction of the stage and performing continues
to be overwhelming and addicting. Unfortunately, there’s no middle
class in the music industry; so for the meantime, an engineer I
continue to be, with a passion for creating original rock music."
LIVID’s
style is pure passion in rock and roll. The band just released a
fourtrack CD of originals as a promotional piece, and they are now
laying down the ground work for a heavy gig schedule starting in the spring.
Chuck
Peterson, the versatile, stylistic drummer for LIVID, is looking
forward to performing in more venues in New York. He summed up the
general attitude of the band when he talked about his craft. "I just
have to make music; my goal is to make music for a living," he said. "I
play straight from the heart and no matter what else I ever do, I’ll be
making music until my last breath."
It
takes drive, dedication, and determination - in addition to polished
talent - to make things happen for a band in this competitive arena.
LIVID rehearses twice a week and spends many hours in the recording
studio. Fischtner has definitely mastered that driving ambition and
wants to expand the horizons of the group. "We’re going to be playing
Toad’s in New Haven and the Webster in Hartford sometime this year," he
said, "and we’ll be spending a week toward the end of the summer
touring in Los Angeles."
"We came up with
the name ‘LIVID’ as a process of elimination," explained Baksh. "We all
felt it was a powerful word that described the intensity of the energy
we emote on stage. We’re not a rock band about anger; we don’t mean to imply that, we’re all about passionate rock and roll.”
Forline
Orphans, a four-piece rock and roll dynamo, closed the show and was off
to New York to co-star with LIVID at their show. Blake Luczak,
guitarist and vocalist, Matt Devore, guitar, keyboard synthesizer and
vocals, Jamie Coon on drums,
and Marco Gianni on bass have put together a collection of original
music that puts their cutting edge rock and roll and their dynamic
poetry together in a sum that is even greater than its parts.
"We
met in college," said Luczak, "and we really clicked musically. We even
have one song that’s a reflection of our college experience called
‘Days of Disdain,’ which is the title track of our CD of the same name.
We’re all at a junction right now and our music is starting to change.
We’re striking a new balance; we’re composing to meet our artistic
needs and, at the same time, keep our audiences happy."
"A
lot of our music was written with synthesizer effects," explained
Devore. "We liked the enhancements like strings and synthesized choirs.
But we’ve had to adapt that music for our live show, so our sound is a
little different on stage than on our recordings. Our fans have told us
that our CD sounds like the soundtrack to a movie."
The
musicians in both LIVID and Forline Orphans pointed to a number of
important influences to their musical careers including The Police,
Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Lenny Kravitz, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Each band has its music and schedules on their respective Web sites,www.lividrockband.com, and www.forlineorphans.com
Bass player. Marco Gianni drives the bass for Forline Orphans. Photos by Susan Dziedzic.
On vocals. Nikkos Baksh of LIVID has a hard-driving, energetic bass and vocal style.
Front-man.
Blake Luczak gives the audience a taste of his style of rock and roll as front man for Forline Orphans.
Passionate player. Chuck Peterson plays straight from the heart as the drummer for LIVID.
By night... Ed Fichtner of LIVID wowed the audience with his licks as lead guitarist for the band.
Photos by Susan Dziedzic.
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