If I’ve told the story once, I’ve told it a hundred times. I’m a young man of 24, standing with three of my cohorts in a venerated space, in front of one of the most respected musicians in Springfield, whom we all have just met. We knew he was a man to be respected and he has now collectively posed to us a question and we are desperately searching for an answer. The RIGHT answer.
The question was simple
The answer was not.
“Boys. Why do you wanna be in a band?”
Even our young, undeveloped (dumb) brains knew that this was a critical moment. We were all being tested and our future with this individual, perhaps our entire future as musicians, hinged on this response.
Before any of us could answer, we were mercifully waved off.
“Boys. I’ll tell you why you wanna be in a band.
Three reasons:
Make Money.
Meet Girls.
Sleep In.”
And he was totally right.
And no greater distillation of the rock 'n' roll ethos has ever been expressed.
I’m sure this was a back pocket line. Almost certainly said a myriad of times over to impressionable musicians who weren’t even born yet when he thought it up. But it has stuck with me for over 20 years and is possibly one of my favorite introductions to a person I have ever had.
The man: Lou Whitney.
The space: The Studio.
Otherwise known as “The Studio - Springfield,” its original location from 1994 to 2017 was in a modest space directly adjacent to the former Outland Bar (now Hour House) on South Ave, downtown. Collectively, its current owner and proprietor, one Mr. Eric Schuchmann, estimates that over 7,000 recordings have been made there. Mostly (and most importantly) by any number of local bands cutting their teeth and receiving invaluable experience making real records.
But, as previously mentioned in this column, Wilco recorded there, Jonathan Richman (formerly of The Modern Lovers) recorded his entire sophomore solo effort there (with a crack team of Springfield musicians), and local boys turned international Bluegrass sensations The Hillbenders recorded their breakout reimagining of The Who’s Tommy there as well. In addition, in conjunction with the former local station Channel Z, any number of up-and-coming national bands would do “live” sessions there when they were in town playing shows in the mid-late 90’s (to be broadcast later on the station). Notable names include Lisa Loeb, Semisonic, Superdrag, Dishwalla, Better Than Ezra, Eve 6, and No Doubt!
The Studio’s story has changed, but it still continues. Lou died in 2014, and after a few years it moved to its current location on the south side of Springfield. As it would happen, the person now at the helm of this longstanding institution was also one of the young men standing in front of Lou desperately searching for an answer that fateful day in 2004. At the time, Mr. Schuchmann was simply a young guitar player with an interest in audio engineering. When Eric expressed this to Lou, he invited him to work there and learn the craft saying, “If you stick around here long enough, you could probably own the place.” Turns out, Lou was right about a lot of things.
We’ll see you next week.
