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Masslive.com - June 15, 2004
By: Kristen Beam

Man, we are such pathetic sellouts.

You may have asked yourself, "What is this Valley Sounds thing at the Iron Horse?" For the real answer, you would probably go to the source (The Valley Advocate is part-sponsor of the event), but for the snarky answer you have come here, to your beloved Sound Check. This Thursday marks the third in the Valley Sounds series, featuring the Bourgeois Heroes, Winterpills and School for the Dead. Recently, I sat down with man-about-town Henning Ohlenbusch,* to discuss the show:

How was School for the Dead approached about doing the Valley Sounds gig?

Henning: As is customary with any Iron Horse or Valley Advocate production, one day I answered my door to camera crews and balloons. Someone in a giant newspaper costume and someone else in a giant horse outfit shook my hand, knocked me over, and broke my legs. Then they covered me with jelly.

- Or they just asked me one day if we wanted to do it.

Does it bother you that this particular show series is sponsored by
Budweiser?

Henning: No. Yes. No. Well, the thing is this. When you are a rock band and you primarily play in bars, ALL of your shows are sponsored by Budweiser or some other beer company. You quickly and sadly realize that your main job is to sell booze. You have to bring in a crowd that will drink or otherwise the bar has no reason to hire you. The bar exists only because of booze and the booze comes from the booze companies.

Come to think of it, we've been working for Budweiser for years and they haven't given us anything in return. What it means, exactly, when they say that they are sponsoring this show, I have no idea. What DOES that mean? We're certainly not getting any money or gifts from them or anything. The tickets are cheaper than usual, so maybe, in essence, the King of Beers is paying for part of your ticket. That's nice of them. Cheers.

One thing that turned me off of the first Valley Sounds show was the obvious pandering of the promoters to the audience. There was a severe lack of understanding that the crowd really didn't want T-shirts and hats. But, I think you're right that if you ignore all of that promo stuff what you've got is a great show with a great ticket price. And that's worth something.

Henning: Wait! They give away hats and t-shirts and stuff? Ha! That's gonna be funny! Will the Duff Guy be there? I had no idea. That's hilarious. Man, we are such pathetic sellouts.

I hope they have suspended the merch giveaways by now, but maybe not. You recently signed Bourgeois Heroes to your Rub Wrongways label. What made you decide to produce their debut album?

Henning: Ah...the Bourgeois Heroes. Yes, they are playing at the huge Iron Horse show, too. They are the newest members of the Rub Wrongways Records family. We are in the process of recording a six song EP tentatively titled Come Out and Play. They're awesome. Great songs, great performers, and cute as buttons.

When will the B. Heroes EP be ready for release? What about School for the Dead? You have a new album coming out sometime this summer. What are the details on that?

Henning: I'm not sure when the Bourgeois Heroes EP will be done. The songs keep growing and growing. If you've seen them live, you know that they are a two piece band with one voice, guitar, and drums. The recordings are somewhat different. We're not trying to capture the sound that comes off of the stage at their shows, we are attempting to rangle the vision in their heads as they play. That means lots and lots of crazy instruments and singing - which means lots and lots of time. There are some string players scheduled to come into the studio in July at some point, so it definitely won't be finished before that.

The School for the Dead album, on the other hand, is finished. It's called, The New You. We are in the process of making a whole mess of copies. We're hoping for a CD Celebration Extravaganza sometime in August. Not sure where it will be quite yet, though. I can't wait to get the album out to folks so they can hear it. It's long overdue.

SFTD seems to do a lot of gigs outside of western Mass. It's also hard not to notice that all of your band members have other bands. When do you guys sleep?

Henning: We sleep 12 hours a night on jewel encrusted beds made of gold. Very uncomfortable.

The members of SFTD are all very busy and dedicated musicians - or are we? Our keyboardist, Ken Maiuri, is on permanent sabbatical from the band since he is touring the world with Pedro The Lion. Guitarist Tony Westcott, is also in a duet called the Parents. Bassist Max Germer is also in The Fawns and Spanish for Hitchhiking. Drummer Brian Marchese is in The Fawns, Lo Fine, Rehab Massachusetts, and The Spoils. I'm in The Fawns and I do solo
shows. Phew.

The bands take up most of our time, but, when I start to feel worn down from it, I just ask myself, what would be a better way to spend my time? I can't think of anything really. The only bad part about it is having to carry equipment up and down the stairs.

Is Ken on this upcoming album?

Henning: Boy, is he! He most certainly is.

*If you must know, it was an email interview. Tickets for the Iron Horse gig are available at School for the Dead; buying directly from them helps the band out and gets you a free chain cd or three. You can also purchase tickets at the door.