Want to see a high-energy performance with obscenely loud Rock, onstage pyrotechnics and exploding bombs? Yes, Mötley Crüe is coming to town this summer. But you could also check out a Lazy Rocket show.
Lazy Rocket is a local three-man band. Their very diverse selection of music ranges from some original Rap songs to Rock and Power Pop tunes. It even includes some acoustic songs.
The band's name is symbolic. According to lead vocalist and guitarist, Dave Wheeler, "It's like a paradox in one term because a rocket is anything but lazy and being lazy is anything but acting like a rocket."
Dan Horn, master bassist, says the name has meaning for the band, "It's kind of like a slacker hoping to move up."
Drummer Tobe Donohue takes it a step further.
He says the name is more like a description of the band's personality.
"We're taking our time, but we're going to the moon," he says.
Actually, Lazy Rocket was not the band's first name. They were previously known as Section 8 (and then just S8). They changed their name because of an overabundance of similarly-named bands.
The members of Lazy Rocket got their start fairly young. The three grew up in Clifton together (as "street vagrants") and began as a Beastie Boys-style Rap group in their early teens.
They say they discovered and got hooked on music together because there was a drum set available at Donohue's house. Once they got a taste, they each found their niches and worked on perfecting the act. As their interests and tastes grew, their sound shifted from Rap to Rock and ended up an indefinable mix of sounds that is now Lazy Rocket.
Lazy Rocket's influences range from Run DMC and Public Enemy to Spinal Tap and Led Zeppelin. If you can imagine music that truly embraces this wide range of influences, that's the Lazy Rocket sound.
One of the most profound influences for the band was a producer the guys worked with in Los Angeles, Robbie Nevil. If that name seems familiar, it's because Nevil has already done his own stint as a Pop star. Children of the '80s will likely remember his biggest song, "C'est La Vie." He worked with the band as executive producer for a few songs and showed them the ropes of the industry.
"He was somebody who had already been where we want to be, so we respected him a lot more," says Horn.
Each of the members agrees that Nevil was instrumental in helping with the band's development and professionalism. While working with the producer, the band also managed to shoot some video on top of the recording.
Currently, the boys are working with locally-based producer Mark Santangelo of EIII Records on an album to be released at the end of the summer. Lazy Rocket is also planning a tour for early fall to promote the release of their album. The group's debut disc will include mostly new tunes, with a few Lazy Rocket favorites like "I Will Stay" and the acoustic "Gots To See Her" thrown in as well.
For now, you can see the band regularly at local venues like The Mad Frog and The Overflow. According to Donohue, the band has a short attention span, so they try to keep their performances very up-tempo and try to change speeds by including some of their old favorite Rap songs. Lazy Rocket shows are, according to band members, "really loud," and they include pyrotechnics and a big stage presence.
"We're borderline head-banging, but without the big hair," says Donohue.
LAZY ROCKET's next local show is at The Mad Frog on July 28. You can see and hear the band on the Web at sound.lazyrocket.com.
