Empty Head proves sound travels well

loading...

FORT KENT — Don’t ever tell members of the Maine rock band Empty Head long-distance relationships can’t work.

On the eve of the release of their first full-length studio CD, “Who’s Talking … Who’s Listening,” the band’s five members are spread from one end of the state to the other and booked solid every weekend from now through January.

Empty Head is Bryan Clapp, lead vocals; Doug Clapp, bass guitar; Keith Martin, lead guitar; Tim Flanders rhythm guitar; and Mark Dugal, drums. All have connections to the St. John Valley as residents or former residents.

All five have day jobs to support their music habits and are cautiously optimistic this could be the 4-year-old band’s breakthrough year.

“There’s been a lot of things happening in the last year,” said Doug Clapp, the arts and drama teacher at Fort Kent Community High School. “Top radio stations in Boston have been playing cuts off the new CD and so have stations in the Portland and Bangor areas.”

His son and fellow band member agrees. “This CD is taking us to the next level,” said Bryan Clapp, who lives in Portland. “It could allow us to not focus so much on the club scene and maybe get us into opening for some large acts that come to the area.”

Along with gigs in central and southern Maine, Empty Head recently performed in the Boston area and is slated for a show in Portsmouth, N.H.

“When we first formed we were calling clubs for bookings trying to get our foot in the door,” said Doug Clapp. “That ended about a year ago and now the clubs are calling us.”

It all makes for a lot of traveling, especially for Doug Clapp and for Martin, who lives in Presque Isle.

“We logged 34,000 Empty Head miles last year,” said Doug Clapp.

For a drama teacher by day and rocker by night, it can be a crazy life. “Some of the other teachers ask me how I do it,” said Doug Clapp. “I teach drama with rehearsals on weeknights and travel with the band on weekends. I don’t even notice it.”

It’s not unheard of for Clapp to leave from Fort Kent after work in the afternoon, drive to Portland, play a gig, drive back to Fort Kent immediately after and be back in the classroom the next morning as if nothing had happened.

“If the other guys are closer to the gig, they go and set up and Keith and I run in right at the start and begin to play,” said Doug Clapp.

“Sometimes the other guys will play acoustic for the first few songs while Doug and I tune up,” said Martin.

For a year, the band drove around in a used ambulance. Even without lights and sirens, they often found themselves waved through traffic or beckoned at accident scenes.

“We’d have to tell people flagging us down, `No, we’re the rock band, you don’t want us to help,”‘ said Martin.

“Breaking down on the side of the road became a way of life,” said Doug Clapp.

“I think we are cursed. I have never known a group of people to break down as often as we do,” said Flanders.

“We have a lot of great fans who help us out, put us up and feed us,” said Dugal. “I don’t know why, but there is some kind of connection between the band and the people who dig our music.”

Living geographically separate lives can make for some interesting rehearsals.

“We discuss what songs we want to learn and each player learns their own part,” said Martin.

“When you’ve been together as long as we have, you start to read minds,” said Doug Clapp. “Keith and I rehearse together and we all communicate by e-mail.”

“I’m happy we can continue to exist. I feel good about the way we play now,” said Bryan Clapp. “But imagine if we could be closer together and rehearse as a whole band all the time — the sky would be the limit.”

For Bryan Clapp, the band allows for more than simply performing. “Music is the only way I tend to express myself,” he said. “There’s always the day-to-day drudgery, then there’s the music.”

At its beginnings, Empty Head played clubs and halls in the northern part of the state, but found it hard to find an appreciative audience for their original style and songs.

“People in the north are into the classic rock songs and want bands to cover those,” said Doug Clapp. He said they have found a growing audience in the clubs and bars of the southern part of the state in teens who liked the band’s originality from the start.

“In southern Maine, it’s amazing how many in the audience are from the Valley. It’s almost like a reunion for them when Empty Head plays in town,” said Doug Clapp. “There’s a certain amount of Valley pride there.”

As dedicated as those fans may be, sometimes it can downright weird.

“We got a call on the answering machine one day from a person who had to tell us their baby was born to Empty Head music,” said Doug Clapp. “You start to worry about your worthiness at times like that.”

Fans also keep track of the band on its Web site, www.emptyhead.org.

The new CD remains true to the band’s commitment to originality. It features 10 tracks written by band members and shows the members’ influences from Led Zeppelin and Metallica to Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam.

Doug Clapp vividly recalls driving though southern Maine last year, flipping on his car radio, and hearing “Spin,” a cut from the new CD, coming over the airwaves from a Portland station.

“That was crossing some sort of line for the band,” he said.

“The whole rock ‘n’ roll thing is just part of an image,” said Doug Clapp. “Young people want their bands to be rebellious and their heroes to be death defying. Players of rock put that on as a costume. As a band, we like to have fun and are pretty wild in our own way.”

Wild they may be, but within limits. Most do not drink at all and none of them smoke.

“I hate that whole drug, sex and rock ‘n’ roll thing. I’ve never had the desire to do that stuff,” said Martin.

“This whole rock ‘n’ roll thing is really like having a split personality,” said Dugal. “My students love it. We did an acoustic thing for them and they really got into it.”

It’s all in keeping with the message behind the band’s name. Empty Head: a Zen philosophy of getting rid of preconceived notions and ideas.

“We’re not only a decent band, we’re nice guys, too,” said Bryan Clapp.

Empty Head unveils “Who’s Talking … Who’s Listening” at a release party at The Asylum in Portland on June 30. The event is open to all ages.