Page 6
features
The Pendulum
Thursday, September 9, 1982
Making it big
Talented Triad bands want chance
to play in rock’n’roll’s big leagues
by Doug Norwood
Managing Editor
“Too many bands think
they have to be in a large
metropolitan area to make it
big, and 1 think that is a
mistake,” says “Rocking”
Ron Phillips, programming
director of Raleigh’s
WQDR-FM.
“They say, ‘Hey we’re hot
here; now let’s go to New
York and crack that nut’.
They think that they’ll go up
there and some hot-shot
record executive with too
much cocaine up his nose
will discover them. But
competition is three times as
fierce in a place like that.
“Another way of making it
is a sort of grassroots
groundswell, and that’s why
their chances are as good
here.”
Phillips is voicing the sent
iments of many people in
North Carolina’s rock music
business. While the Triad
(Raleigh, Durham and
Chapel Hill) area is not a
giant in the entertaiimient
world like New York or Los
Angeles, the consensus
among people in the state’s
music business is that North
Carolina is not a detour on
the road to success for
musicians aspiring for rock
super-stardom.
“I’m trying to help these
bands become international
stars,” says Harry Simmons
of Simmons & Associates, a
“management and artist
development” company that
serves many popular area
bands including the Fabu
lous Knobs, Arrogance,
Luky Owens and Revolver,
Treva Spontaine and the
Grafics and Glass Moon.
Obtaining Exposure
Simmons says that each
band requires Afferent serv
ices, but generally his duties
are to “up exposure, in
crease revenues and get some
quality studio material” —
any one of which could
possibly beget the other two.
To this end he employs
many methods. Particularly
useful and important promo
THE FABULOUS KNOBS, who performed here last spring, are one of many bands
with talent and regional popularity. They are above, left to right, Keith Taylor on guitar,
Jack Cornell on bass, Debra DeB^o singing lead, and David Enloe on guitar. Drummer
Terry Anderson behind Enloe in this picture. Photo by Nader Hamidpour.
ting
ing the bands are exposure
on radio and in print. He
says he would rather have
negative exposure than none
at all.
Simmons says he has
found college radio stations
very willing to play the
music of area talent —
music that “doesn’t sound
like Led Zeppelin or Lynyrd
Skynyrd, bands that aren’t
even together anymore.”
Because these bands are,
as Simmons says, “on the
cutting edge” of the music
industry and because “the
South tends to be a tad
behind in acceptance of
change” many ra^o stations
in the region are apprehens
ive about playing their music
But radio stations in the
northeast and as far away as
Washington and Oregon are
playing copies of the Fab
ulous Knob’s record “Hugs
and Kisses.’’ sent to them by
Simmons.
Both Simmons and
Phillips think that the Triad
area is heavily laden with
high quality talent. North
Carolina State, Duke, Caro
lina and the many smaller
colleges in the area not only
have their own radio stations
to air the music but also
offer an environment that is
conducive to this talent and
essential to the lasting pros
perity of the bands.
For example, Athens, Ga.,
is a hotbed for new music,
according to Simmons.
Athens is also the home of
the University of Georgia.
Boston is the “ultimate col
lege town” and also home
for many rock bands,
among them the Cars.
Phillips says a large
“sophisticated, very liberal,
very ‘hip’” campus is sup
portive of musical talent and
innovation. He considers the
Triad to be such a place.
Music Premieres
Another source of expos
ure is WQDR’s Monday
night program “Premieres.”
Phillips says that new
material from nationally
prominent artists is featured
on the program, but “a very
important part is local
bands.”
“It’s a tough, tough busi
ness, Phillips observes. We
get 25 or 30 national releases
a week, and there’s no place
to add 30 new songs. No
one would hear enough to
know what the hell they’re
listening to.”
In screening the deluge of
new music for premieres,
Phillips says he considers
both the quality of the music
and of the recording. Much
of the material is “home”
recordings.
Both innovation and po
tential for popular api^
cont^ on p. 7
Fabulous Knobs reflect on past and future
A young man and woman
were lying on the beach at
Wrightsville Beach, listening
to their softly playing radio
cassette player, when they
were approached by three
young men and a girl.
The newcomers asked if
they could listen to a tape
on the machine; the couple
obliged.
They put a tape in and
cranked up the volume.
To the sound of the loud
music they danced and
fldgeted in the sand, playing
invisible musical instru
ments. These were four of
the five Fabulous Knobs and
they were listening to a new
demo tape they hope will
attract a major record label.
The band had played the
previous two nights at the
Wit’s End, a Wrightsville
nightclub
They would go home to
Raleigh after a couple of
hours of sunning a swim
ming. The next day, they
were to be in Richmond, Va.
“We’re not playing
heavy enough to burn
out,” says Debra DeMilo,
26, the Knobs’ lead singer.
“We’re playing only four
nights a week.”
The band has played ex
tensively in Virginia, the
Carolinas and Georgia.
“It takes a mixture of
humbleness and cockiness,”
DeMilo says of their profes
sion and particularly the
Knobs’ approach to it.
She and fellow band
members guitarist David
Enloe, 24, bassist Jack
Cornell, 26, and dnmimer
Terry Anderson, 25, all ex
ude just such a mixture. The
other guitarist, Keith Taylor
had gone home to Raleigh.
As they talked of fabulous
success that may await them,
self-deprecating sense of
humor came through in their
constant bantering and non-
to-subtle sexual innuendo.
They are their own biggest
fans they say.
When DeMilo graduated
from high school, she went
to three different schools
pursuing a political science
degree and dreamed of going
to law school. She tired of
school, though, and decided
to leave it to pursue a career
in music.
She had sung in church
but had never tried rock’n’
roll. She said black gospel
music and been an import
ant influence in her musical
background, as is often the
case among rock musicians.
The Debra “Knob” of the
stage and the real Debra
DeMilo of the private life
are different, she said. The
latter is more reserved than
the frantic on-stage person
ality.
Anderson’s parents like
his being a rock musician
because he likes it.
DeMilo’s parents “don’t
like it worth a damn,” she
added
They said they will still be
playing together in 20 years,
the only difference hopefully
being that they’ll be a lot
richer.
by Doug Norwood