The Jellybricks
A SWEET SUGAR BUZZ
Written by Gerry Ulicny / November 2009
The Jellybricks are just like their name – a little square at first glance, but in reality more like a sweet sugar buzz that’s hard to really get a handle on. Though they have recently received renown for their ‘Ruin Us’ video made using the born-classic video game Rock Band 2 –featured in the uber-alles of music rags – Rolling Stone – the Jellybricks have been doing this for a while. And they’ve been doing it their way.
Even the video, which Rolling Stone refers to as “viral video” due to the grass-roots forwarding effort that made it famous enough for RS to notice it in the first place, is all their own. See the article / video here. Well, I suppose being called “viral” is an OK thing as long as RS does it? Oh yeah, actually, as long as RS says something about you it IS, as they say in Jersey, “all good.” And viral means, well, spreading like a virus. And yes, it REALLY does look like them!!
Getting written about in Rolling Stone was one of the three coolest things that ever happened to the band, says bassist/vocalist Garrick Chow who also acts as spokesperson for the band unless someone manages to distract him. So, anyway, the other two ‘coolest things’ were, possibly, being included on the Paul McCartney tribute CD, Coming Up! (2001), with their version of Take It Away, and opening for the band LIVE in Hershey, PA in 1997. “Well, 20,000 people can’t be wrong,” says guitarist/vocalist Bryce Connor of the LIVE show. There should be a fourth cool thing, which was the time that LIVE watched them play. It was a little while after the LIVE show. They were taking a break while they were playing this little club in York, and next thing you know there were five shots for each of them, compliments of LIVE. The band said excitedly. “We looked over and there they were.” Only drawback: Having to drink the five shots. “Well, not really a drawback I guess,” Garrick said.
Larry Kennedy (front) — guitar, vocals
Tom Kristich (middle, left) — drums, vocals
Bryce Connor (middle, right) — guitar, vocals
Garrick Chow (back) — bass guitar, vocals
Though this band would never go onstage drunk, burning off a couple of shots wouldn’t take them more than a minute. They are undiluted energy. They are power. In fact, these guys are the ones for who terms like “guitar pop” and “power pop” were coined. They leave no doubt where they are going with that, either. They are determined to make it “for real” and not copy anyone.
“We want to challenge ourselves, not to be a conduit for music that other people have written,” Garrick says. “Even the covers we’ve played have been to please ourselves.” Well, yes, but it is a bonus when it’s for a McCartney tribute or similar project (they’ve been featured in a few compilations).
To some people they might sound like the Stones, The Who, and The Kinks all decided to jam together, but they also sound like nobody else. They certainly aren’t any covers-playing band. When they are occasionally inspired to do so, they are more apt to take a song they like and turn it into a song they really like playing. (For example, they do a smoking kind-of-punk version of Baba O’Reilly). “We basically all agreed from the start saying ‘Let’s be our own band, one our fans could be proud to be a fan of,” Larry Kennedy (guitar/vocals) said. “Maybe that’s why we haven’t been a super successful ‘bar band’ but also why if we make it big it will be doing it on our own terms and it will be that much sweeter.” The band accepts requests, but privately they seem to almost resent requests for cover songs. They admit to being unbending when it comes to style.
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We’ve passed every sellout test,” Larry says. “Even though that has, at times, meant passing on some possibilities. We’ve felt we had to walk away when the things offered to us did not feel authentic.” Garrick remembers a time the band walked out of a record deal (he didn’t say with whom) for just that reason. “They wanted us to do some things that just didn’t feel right to us,” he said. “And the truth is if we had signed back then we would probably have been broken up by now.” “Yeah. There are enough mediocre acts out there,” adds Larry. He doesn’t name names, either. This doesn’t mean they aren’t prepared to deliver what people want, or to be their own best salesmen, however. And like some of the greats of old their live and studio performances are different – yet not in qualities – so, if you aren’t sure about these guys then listen to the record (outdated huh?) I mean, ahem … the CD. They are GREAT in the studio and CRAZY GOOD live.
An energetic push on the web (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., an up-to-date website with plenty of streaming music, that Ruin Us video, etc.) Oh yeah – plus a work-the-crowd manner in person, AND a pretty good press kit (thanks guys!!) are all aimed at getting that job done. All in all though, it all just means that for The Jellybricks the real work will always be the music. And they will even fight each other over that, though it’s good-natured ribbing at worst. “We have to find the lowest common denominator sometimes,” says someone, either Bryce or Garret, as the band members tease each other in a huddle.
“But we have Bryce for that.” “Hey,” Bryce retorts. “I bring all the best songs into this band.” Aside, Larry says “He does,” with Garrick adding that he hopes they don’t give the wrong impression when they tease each other that way. They both credit Bryce’s first vocal efforts, which appeared on their third album, Power This, with having earned the Jellybricks a great review in All Music Guide. In fact, both Larry and Garrick said they want everyone to know that they love Bryce, even if they don’t always show it to him.
So, when the Martini Brothers gave the Jellybricks their name 13 years ago, (actually it was Martini Bros. drummer Rej Troup), it may have had something to do with the fact that the Jellybricks do always find a way to “gel” (or is it “jell”?) even when they disagree, or it could have been that they had just had helped Rej with a building project, or it could have been something else. It no longer matters, because by now, so many years later and having just released their fourth album, Goodnight to Everyone, the Jellybricks is who they ARE. Well, they were called “the ‘Bricks” in RS so I guess that’s something too – a nickname?
When asked about the past, “Good Times,” say a few members at once, and this leads to another discussion of what the highlights should be on that Top 3 (or was it Top 4?) list. Jamming with Bill Wyman? No, Dave Davies. Maybe the International Pop Overthrow festivals? Okay guys, what about when you opened for GooGooDolls or Fuel or Barenaked Ladies?
Well, they’d still be discussing it now, but they had to take the stage, and when it’s time for that – it’s all about the music. These guys definitely agree that they agree about that. That is what makes it all come together. And it’s why there are sure to be many more nominations for that list in the future.
Their longevity and great success with the albums (which see a lot of radio play) proves that they have a good marriage as a band — and they also prove that you can do it your own way if you stick together and have the same values. And, after all, isn’t music kind of the same – isn’t there always some disagreement, pain, love, and rebellion?
“Okay it’s hard, but it’s worth it. We love it,” says Larry. “And I guess we’d rather live in relative obscurity than doing nothing but what other people tell us to do.
“Obscurity? Well, boys, it’s WAY too late for that!!
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Photos courtesy of The Jellybricks and the PA Music Scene (Gina).
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