Looking for the way in

They have a dream. \nAs is the aim of many unsigned musicians, Mode St. wants to play for a living. After three years of ups and downs in the tumultuous world of bar hopping, rehearsals and demos, the musicians of Mode St. hope that their first professional, original CD will open some doors.\nAnd they love playing cover songs.\n"You learn a lot about writing songs, about playing songs ... how songs should feel," says lead vocalist and guitarist Nick Estes. Drummer John Gray adds that if it worked for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, it is good enough for Mode St.\nIndividuality can even be obtained in covers, as has been shown by Rage Against the Machine, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Keyboardist Bill Walters, a senior, says he hasn't heard other bands cover the songs they do, which at Jammin' on Walnut included one by Geggy Tah. \nIt has been debated among musicians whether the bar scene is detrimental to local music. Bars typically require a set with many cover songs, and bar patrons are usually more concerned with having fun than listening to music. Some musicians feel they should be able to play their own material, and they appreciate audiences who come to hear the music. Mode St. insists that bars play an integral part in the local scene.\nWalters says the band members are fans of music, theirs or otherwise. Playing is the important part. \nYet Mode St. is not just another cover band. One of the group's original tracks, "A Bar Scene," off Write it Down, will appear on the Live From Bloomington CD this spring. Last year the band received another local promotional boost after winning the battle of the bands at Kilroy's.\n"Its not just the bar hoppers, necessarily, that we like to get to be our fans, but also true music lovers ... people that really analyze and listen to music," says Walters. \nPunching the local band timecard, Mode St. has played most Bloomington venues and a few around the region. Locally, the band's favorite is The Bluebird. \n"There's still ... a poster in the Bluebird with one of my parent's bands on there," says bassist Sam Sturbdum. "So I'm a second generation Bluebird musician, which is kind of funny." Sturbdum's parents have been in various bands in the past, and he started helping out as soon as he was old enough to carry an amp. \nWalters initially was forced to take piano lessons as a child, later switching to something he considers more fun, the keyboard. Estes grew up listening to music and playing on his dad's guitars while Gray picked up percussion through school. \nMode St. draws influences from many sources including Martin Medeski and Wood, the Rolling Stones, Hendrix and Ben Folds Five.\nAs far as shows go, the band enjoys the exchange between audience and band, but that is not all that matters. \n"My favorite point is when the four of us totally click," says Sturbdum. "The times we are all right in sync and everything's perfect, it doesn't matter to me sometimes if there is anybody in the audience or not, if we're playing good stuff and we know it ... it's so much fun." \nSo even without a large crowd, the guys can be happy. Estes also presented the point that often you have to build a crowd and can't expect people to just show up. \nMode St. will be throwing a CD release party tonight at the Cellar Lounge, 123 S. Walnut St. With 10 tracks of a feel-good, multifaceted sound, Write it Down will soon be available in local stores.\nAs for making it?\n"It'd be like winning the lottery twice," says Sturbdum. \nMode St. will play Friday at Uncle Fester's, 430 E. Kirkwood Ave.; Feb. 22 at Bluebird Nightclub, 216 N. Walnut St.; March 3 at Uncle Fester's; March 22 at Kilroy's Sports, 319 N. Walnut St.; and April 5 as part of Live From Bloomington. Write it Down will soon be available at Tracks, 415 E. Kirkwood Ave; 4:20, 107 N. Dunn St.; and the Den, 514 E. Kirkwood Ave.