Thursday, March 5, 1998
Burke draws on Bruin roots to establish its own identity
MUSIC: By reuniting and adding members, band has newfound
success
By Michelle Zubiate
Daily Bruin Contributor
Lounging on the familiar steps of Kerckhoff, enjoying Southern
California weather at its finest, UCLA alumni offer some words of
wisdom on how to survive college life and really succeed.
"If you really want to just hang out and party, then major in
political science," Scott Sellwood says.
"No, economics," Chris Golier says. "I am sure someone got
something out of that major … but you can not go to any classes,
study one week before the final and you’d (still) be set."
Meet the rock band Burke. Three Bruin alumni and a bassist,
they’ve got big dreams, much determination and true Bruin spirit.
Since they graduated in 1993, Burke has not always traveled the
easy road but it is one that is finally paying off.
Burke has recently seen the release of a new album, "Several
Places at Once" (Trip ‘n Spin Recordings), and people are just now
discovering the sound Burke likes to describe as "indie-jam."
"’Indie’ stands for independent label," guitarist Scott Pribble
explains. "’Jam’ would be the kind of rock we play … jam music
like Phish or Dave Matthews Band."
They started off as two members, Pribble and lead singer Scott
Sellwood, playing in a cover band around UCLA and at parties. The
band at first made a six-song demo tape, but soon broke up and
didn’t reunite until after graduation, when they added drummer and
fellow alumnus Chris Golier in Northern California.
Since then, they’ve been writing their own music and playing
around Berkeley at clubs and private parties. In December, bassist
Rich Hayley joined the set, and this past weekend they brought it
down south for Los Angeles’ own Dragonfly club.
You won’t find your typical rock musicians here, however. One
might even call it an oxymoron: educated rock artists. You mean
there is such a thing?
"Yeah. We’re looking for a bigger label that wants to take a
chance on smart UCLA people," Golier says. "We played last night at
the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Talking to all those people
is something. They kind of look down on you (because you’re
musicians), but maybe that’s just business schools in general …
We don’t need the band to survive (and) make a decent living."
Pribble originally came to UCLA from San Francisco but made the
decision to move back up after graduating with a degree in
political science and a specialization in business. Both he and
Golier work for Internet companies in the Silicon Valley. To him,
the whole experience has been a real learning process, from the
live performances to their recent recording endeavor.
"We looked into a couple of recording studios and picked the one
we felt most comfortable with," Pribble says. "We basically went in
saying we were going to be done in a month, and six months later it
was finished. There were some problems. We definitely weren’t used
to taping."
"When you hear yourself on tape, you realize that when you think
it is perfect you are really screwing up and destroying people’s
ears," Golier agrees.
"When you play live you can make a lot of mistakes and no one’s
going to catch it," Pribble says. "When you record on tape you have
to make sure it’s perfect more or less. We had a lot to learn."
Golier admits that UCLA has helped the music career through the
friends they made. As he looks around the campus, he notices the
changes the quad has undergone since he’s last seen it. He also
sees a familiar face.
"That’s (former basketball player) Derrick Martin over there. On
the right," Golier says. "He used to play while we were here. Now
he plays for the Clippers … We still follow the sports. Except
now they are a lot more successful now than they were back then. We
were good except now the school’s actually putting emphasis on the
important stuff like paying the players, recruiting."
"I still have tons of friends from UCLA," Golier continues.
"Scott (Pibble) and I live together up in San Francisco and there
are a huge group of us that go out. It makes it easier to get
people to come to our shows in San Francisco."
And how does the band feel about its new hometown, compared to
their alma mater? "Berkeley sucks compared to UCLA!" Sellwood
proclaims.
Lead singer Sellwood reigns as the band’s most intellectual
individual. Along with the release of the new CD, Sellwood can add
another degree to his list of accomplishments. This year he will
graduate from Berkeley law school with a joint masters degree in
environmental science. He has already been offered a job with an
environmental law firm in San Francisco but he plans to hold out on
the offer until he sees where the band is leading.
He and Pribble both write music for the group but most of the
lyrics come from Sellwood’s own experiences in both life and
nature. Describing the actual sound their band has is a little
difficult.
"I would say we were a cross between mainstream alternative and
an indie-sound. We’re a little low budget," Sellwood says.
"I would say we’re more of a college coffee bar kind of band,"
Hayley says. "If you went to a college bar this is the type of
music you would hear. We pattern more towards that kind of crowd
than to a nose-ring and tattoo crowd. There’s two sides to modern
rock. There’s the grunge side and then we’re more quirky college
kids."
Hayley joined the band recently but the others agree that he has
helped to strengthen their performance and sound. Burke is the
first sort of modern rock band he has worked with, coming from punk
and metal scenes, or "hair galore" as he put it.
"It’s been overwhelming to say the least," Hayley says. "I’ve
been with the band for about four weeks and already have done three
gigs and come to L.A. to play. (Burke is) really a working
band."
The band is held together by a kind of working chemistry that
develops between real friends. They’ve found support in both
friends and family.
"My dad would tell people at his office about us," Golier says.
"Bores them to death. They can’t wait to get out of there and when
they ask what kind of music we play, he tried to regurgitate what I
say. ‘Well, they’re kinda like Smushing Pumpkins.’ He’s funny."
Trip ‘n Spin Recordings
(Left to right) Jeff Lashins, Scott Sellwood, Scott Pribble and
Chris Golier make up the band Burke.