X Listener X-travaganza

X Listener X-travaganza
Takes on the Chameleon

By Lisa Hummel

Insane Clown Posse. Isle of Q. Dust for Life. 6gig. Diffuser. The names read like a who’s who of modern rock and they are coming to the Chameleon Club in Lancaster. For the third time in as many years, 105.7 the X is welcoming the dawn of a new year with a listener appreciation concert. To be held January 13, the X Listener X-travaganza has the promise to be yet another successful station-sponsored event. And the only way to get into the X-travaganza is to win.

The X-travaganza is welcoming some of the best in the industry, and while the Detroit-based rock/hip hop Insane Clown Posse — possibly the most well known of the five bands, the group is infamous for their on-and-off stage antics, painted faces, and ardent fans — is perhaps drawing the most attention, X Program Director Claudine DeLorenzo wants listeners to know that the show — and the music — will be great from the first note to the last. "It’s more than just an Insane Clown Posse show," she said, "there are four other great bands."

Here’s an in-depth look at two of them:

6gig
"It might seem like an overnight success if you aren’t in the band — getting together, getting signed, releasing an album in less than a year-and-a-half, two years, but to us it felt like it was a long time coming," said Walter Craven vocalist/guitarist from the Portland, ME-based 6gig. All veterans of the music scene, 6gig — Craven, guitarist Steve Marquis, bassist Weave, and drummer Dave Rankin — have been steadily making a place for themselves in the industry in the short time they have been together. Signed to Ultimatum records in April, 2000, the band first drew the attention of the label some five months after they joined forces. At the arrangement of the label, 6gig was offered the opportunity to open for the Goo Goo Dolls, a date that was only the band’s fifth show. And things have been looking up for the band ever since.

In October, 6gig released Tincan Experiment ("It’s heavy, but with melodies," said Craven), a 12-track disc that features the single, "Hit the Ground," which is currently receiving significant radio airplay, a fact that pleases Craven and crew. "It’s great," he enthuses, "we’re really excited about it."

Along with the release of their debut effort, the band has embarked on a tour, playing clubs throughout the country. "I love it," said Craven. "I love to go out, see different places, meet new people. It’s great." And he is anticipating the band’s stop in Lancaster for the X-travaganza. "We’ve never played the Harrisburg area, and I think we’ve only played Philly once, so we’re excited," said Craven. "We’ve played like 12-15 radio shows in the past few weeks and they’ve been great. It’s a great opportunity to play in a large room in front of a big, enthusiastic crowd, I love it. I’m excited. I’m definitely looking forward to it."

And the name? "You know, it’s hard to come up with a name for a band that really fits who you are and what sound you’re trying to deliver. I’m kind of a computer geek and I have a computer with a 6-gig hard drive and that just stuck in my head and I mentioned it and they thought it was cool and that was it," Craven said, laughing. "There’s really no great story behind it."

Diffuser
"After this show in Michigan, a girl went up to our guitar player and she just said, ‘you know, it’s been a while since a diffuser band came to town,’ and we were like, ‘what the hell is a diffuser band?’ and she said, ‘it’s a band that basically comes to town as a virtual unknown and steals the show from the headliners and basically diffuses all of the hype,’" said Tomas Costanza. So that’s what a diffuser is. But who is Diffuser? The New York-based quartet is another band on the rise who has also played the name game. Originally Flu 13, the band — guitarist/vocalist Costanza, guitarist Anthony Cangelosi, bassist Lawrence Sullivan, and drummer Billy Alemaghides — changed their name last year in light of the recent onslaught of similarly named bands. "It was largely due to the fact that there are too many name/number bands, like Matchbox 20, Blink 182, there’s so many of them, so we decided, ‘let’s change the name … kind of give the band a sense of rejuvenation.’"

As Flu 13, the band had more than made their mark in the independent scene since their 1994 formation, drawing legions of fans and releasing a number of recordings, including their 1998 full-length debut, In the Foul Key of V, an album that earned rave reviews for the band and, in turn, caught the attention of the major labels.

Injury Loves Melody, slated for release on Hollywood Records early this month, is the band’s first major label effort, and while the move from the independent to the mainstream industry brought about quite a few changes — musically and professionally — Costanza has welcomed them without hesitation. "It’s a huge change. When you’re on a major label it’s more organized, the goals are different, you want to reach more people, you have money — that’s the biggest change … You want to be able to have enough money to live healthy and, after a while, you just want to be able to reach more people. So there’s a huge difference between independent music and major label music, artistically and otherwise."

Along with the name change, the band also decided to revamp their Flu 13 sound, making it a little more "universal." "Basically what we wanted to do was take the dissonant side of the band, the indie side, the rawness of Flu 13 and kind of meet it in the middle, bridge the gap, so to speak, with a more universal sound, more structure, better hooks, all of that … and we’re really psyched with how the record came out."

Included on the album is the single "Karma." Currently receiving airplay, "Karma" can be found on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack and can apparently count the film’s star, Tom Cruise, among its fans. He, as the story goes, liked the song enough to request having it on the album. And while the success of "Karma" has helped solidify Diffuser’s place in the industry, Costanza is not planning on counting any of his proverbial chickens before they hatch. "We’re not out of the woods yet, we’re rising on the charts, everything is awesome, but when our record comes out … obviously we’re going to sell records to keep that going," he stated. "But it is surreal, it’s like ‘wow, we’re almost there.’"

Planning on touring in support of the album through next winter, Costanza admits he and the band love life on the road and, after playing at Springfest a few years back, says they are more than looking forward to returning to the area for the X-travaganza. "We’re excited because part of the reason we got our record deal is of that station. We were playing on Long Island like three years ago and Claudine, the Program Director, popped into a little, shitty club we were playing … and I told her we were just about closing in on our record deal and sent her a demo and she started playing it — she just basically opened up the flood gates and that’s when everyone started jumping in so, yeah, they were responsible. So I’m psyched, because Claudine helped us and I’m excited to go back. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing."

Amazing, indeed. And more than just fun for the musicians, with five great live acts, the X-travaganza should be a terrific event for the guests of honor — the fans. "Everyone is really excited about it," said DeLorenzo. "It’s our way of giving back to the listeners."