Cast Iron Mister: a Down East listening experience

Cast Iron Mister is a “garage band.” It may not be the only one rocking the rafters of a cold, damp shelter intended for cars, but its members claim it is the only rock ‘n’ roll band with its own CD on Mount Desert Island.

It’s certainly one of few that has recorded an album of original material.

It’s definitely the only group that would put a picture of a pair of boot-clad feet planted in the midst of lobster bait on the cover of its debut recording and then ask the unmusical question, “Who are you and what stinks?”

Cast Iron Mister is composed of five men who grew up in and around Tremont. Two are teachers, one is a fisherman, another heads the maintenance department at the local golf course, and the fifth and youngest is a full-time musician. They grew up on AC/DC, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, and the grunge style birthed beneath the Space Needle of Seattle.

Out of necessity they are primarily a summer band, according to Ben Hodgdon, a social studies and math teacher at Tremont Consolidated School who is a vocalist with the group, even though he doesn’t consider himself much of a singer. During the winter months, he has composed new material for a second album Cast Iron Mister hopes to record this summer.

Last year Franklin H. Price, who is now teaching English in Brazil until next month, Tony Menzietti, who works at Kebo Valley Golf Course, and Wayne “Cooly” Rich started “banging around in Tony’s garage,” said Hodgdon. “They asked me to come sing with them and we practiced once a week through August and into September. Jake came aboard in October, when we made the CD. … It was thrown together rather quickly.”

Price, who plays guitar and bass and also sings, contributed to all 10 of the songs on the album and was the sole composer for seven cuts. He is the “ringleader” of the band, according to Hodgdon. Rich plays bass while Frederick plays lead guitar and Menzietti plays drums, pounding out the beat that drives the band’s music. The drummer also plays every weekend with County Line, a Southern-rock band with a following Down East.

Menzietti was content with the group’s Monday night jams in his garage and said he was reluctant to make a CD. The last one he’d worked on turned out to be “a miserable time. No fun at all,” he said. “But this time, it was great. It turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had in music.”

The name of the band was as unplanned as has been most of the group’s work. During one of the early practice sessions in the Menzietti garage, a band member asked if he could set a soda can on a old cast-iron stove. Menzietti replied, “You can’t hurt that. It’s cast iron, mister.” Somehow, the name stuck, according to Hodgdon.

The title of the CD grew out of a similar moment in the same setting. Menzietti’s garage is also home to the litter boxes for the family cats. A visitor inquired, “What stinks?” and the cat owner countered with, “And, who are you?” Price, the English teacher, put the two together.

Band members balked at putting a photograph of cat litter on the cover and opted for a picture of fisherman “Cooly” in his rubber boots surrounded by herring. Mainers make the connection immediately, even if it does seem odd that musicians would imply that what lies inside the CD box might “smell” the same.

The songs on the album are edgy, their lyrics raw. Recorded in just under 30 hours of studio time, the album does have technical flaws. But, somehow, its unpolished style is also its strength. Price’s songs are full of hard-edged images that are part of life Down East.

“Bring on the snow, let nothing grow. Let the cold hard ground be as icy as my heart,” begins “Cold Hard Ground.” “Let the winter start, let the water freeze like the ice that’s in my veins, frozen pain remains. Let the cold hard ground be as icy as my heart.”

“Ago” and “Crazy” tell stories of lives ruined by too much alcohol and too little love. “Kingdome” captures “late night at the Texaco, the coffee smells good. The clock is ticking just as it should, train horn night time steel on steel on wood. Everything I said, she misunderstood.”

Menzietti is looking forward to Price’s return and, perhaps, performing around the island this summer. He said he especially enjoys playing original music with Cast Iron Mister, since he plays only “covers” with County Line.

“I’m gonna push for another CD with [Cast Iron Mister],” he said. “These are a bunch of great guys and it’s a pleasure playing with them. I’m ready to open the garage back up to them again this summer.”

Listening to “Who are you and what stinks?” is like sitting in a lawn chair in Menzietti’s driveway during one of Cast Iron Mister’s Monday night jams. It’s a real experience.