Roses n' Thorns

Before each performance, Emerson Rose lead singer Andrew Bean scans the crowd and thinks about how to make the audience love his band. There are no pyrotechnics, no fog machine. Their stage presence is their only special effect. The five men of Emerson Rose keep it simple, and let their pure rock n' roll captivate the crowd.\n"We don't parade around and say we're doing something very innovative, but we are doing something that people haven't done in a long time," Bean, 22, said. "The simplicity of style is what we want to get out there, and we take pride in entertainment. People come to see a show. If people wanted to just listen to music, they could stay home."\nBean said the challenges of being a struggling musician make hard to balance the band with other aspects of his life, such as school and personal relationships. He is a senior studying English, classical studies and history.\n"It's tough, because we play Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and I have to commute and come back for classes. It's physically an endurance test." \nBean and guitarist K.C. Carson have been in a band called "Driven" since 7th grade, and drummer Padraig Boyle has been a part of the group since 11th grade. With some line-up changes, the band's name changed as well, to "Breakdown." With more additions to the band, they decided to change their name again. Three years ago, Carson's brother, Michael Alexander, joined as bassist. Four months ago, 28-year-old guitarist and IU alum Jim Crabtree joined the band. \nEmerson Rose is currently working on an 11-track CD to be released in early July. "We're producing this ourselves. It's very hard to get a record deal," Bean said. \nOnce the CD is released, the band will focus on promoting their record and getting bigger, more diverse live shows. They want to land a record deal and make music for a living.\nThe CD will be called "Dead on Arrival" and Bean said though it sounds morbid, the title reflects the personal aspect of their profession. "We don't get to have very personal relationships with people," because of the heavy time commitment of being in a band, Bean said. \n"You have to put your personal feelings aside when you're in a practice room or at a gig. You're not a person, you're a group, you're Emerson Rose." \nBean stressed that the success of Emerson Rose depends on the group contribution. "If you're not doing something that's for the band, or you're not performing up to par, it makes the entire entity look bad."\nThe band surrounds themselves with supportive people. "A lot of times we'll get flack about (wanting to be professional musicians)," Bean said. "If everyone believed that, there'd be no music, there'd be no actors, and so you have to ignore that, you have to separate yourselves from these people."\nBean is the primary lyricist of Emerson Rose, and has help from Alexander and Carson. "Songs have come out of daily experience, but I wouldn't say they are autobiographical. Obviously there's pieces of you in the song, but it's like anything else, I'm wary of anybody who says it's completely them. There's an aspect of fantasy in it," Bean said. \n"A melody line will come into my head, I'll keep humming it to myself. Sometimes I'll put words to it. K.C. might be playing a guitar riff, and I'll say 'play that again,'" Bean said. "We work on writing stuff that's consistent with what we love to hear ... the kind of music that we'd want to hear on the radio."\nTo Bean, good music is catchy and really interesting. He said the way it interacts with you determines if the music is good.\nEmerson Rose plays about half original songs and half covers in a four-hour set, usually in bars in the Indianapolis area, Bean said. The band's dominant musical influence is Led Zeppelin, whose songs the band covers, as well as songs by Tom Petty, Aerosmith, and requests from the audience.\n"We are all a product of rock n' roll and all of that manifests itself through us," Bean said. "That's the music we love." \nBean formerly played rhythm guitar, and now is the lead vocalist. "I'm a completely different person onstage," Bean said. "I'm very energetic, I'm always moving, I get very wide-eyed a lot of the times, I'm very aggressive. (I want) people to know that I'm looking at them." \nNor does Emerson Rose want to look like they walked in off the street. "We do a lot of tight button-up shirts. Most of us wear women's jeans because male cuts are very baggy," Bean said. "We wear eyeliner. We're, in a lot of ways, androgynous sometimes."\nBean said audiences have formed misconceptions about Emerson Rose based on their appearance. "I think especially playing in rural Indiana that happens. But once we start playing, it's all apologies after that," he said.\nBean described lead guitarist Carson as his polar opposite onstage. "He's very spacey; he'll sit there and have a cigarette that defies gravity hanging out of his mouth," Bean said. "He pulls into himself when he plays. He's very mysterious. He emanates something, a rock star kind of swagger." Bean said Carson wears cowboy hats and boots onstage. "He looks like he came off the range, with his beard all over the place," Bean said.\nAlexander, Carson's younger brother, has been playing bass for 3 years and also harmonizes with singer Bean. "After a while, you get more comfortable (onstage). You stop trying to copy your favorite artist and do your own thing," Alexander said. "I love playing live, there's nothing like it."\nGuitarist Crabtree, graduated from IU in 1999 with a degree in general studies. Bean said Crabtree went to an Emerson Rose gig once and said he has always wanted to play that type of music, but could never find the right band. He learned their songs by listening to their CD. \n"I'm usually wary of adding new members because it's hard when you have a group dynamic and a relationship that works," Bean said. "Jim's still finding his niche performatively. Musically he fits in perfectly." \nOnstage, Crabtree focuses on keeping a balance between physically getting into the performance, and giving a strong musical effort. Crabtree has been in various bands for the last 15 years, and fulfils the role of "utility guy." \n"I fill in spaces and make everything sound bigger," Crabtree said. "I play rhythm guitar and lead, going back and forth with K.C. and as of last night, I sing backup."\nSenior telecommunications major and drummer Boyle's nickname is "the Crazy Man."\n"He's pretty insane, actually," Bean said. "I think you have to be pretty insane to play drums, because you're just hitting things over and over," Bean said. At shows, Boyle's numerous tattoos can be seen on his arms and back, because most of the time he is shirtless. \n"He's very animated," Bean said.\nTo bring their four-hour show to an end, Emerson Rose plays a Led Zeppelin medley with "Whole Lotta Love" cutting into "How Many More Times" then "D'yer Maker" and then back to "Whole Lotta Love."\n"We want to give a show. It's fantasy," Bean said. "We want people to have escapism, to feel like "whoa," this is strange and new and wonderful -- and I've got to come back"