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It's tough to describe relatively new Pinellas quartet Futureman to the uninitiated without running the risk of misrepresentation. Collectively, vocalist/guitarist Chris Ferrand, bassist Dan Boyd, drummer Seth Denlinger, and new guitarist Jason Smith produce energetic, infectious, stripped-down rock n' roll tunes with an obvious nod to some of the most popular music of the Eighties; but Futureman pares away the pretense, posturing, and image-obsession that muddied up some truly talented songwriting, delivering lean, muscular hooks and riffage without any disconcerting guilty-pleasure issues. Their new five-song disc, Long Hot Summer (currently available at shows and by mail), sounds a bit like something L. A. Guns might've delivered, had they cared more about Cheap Trick and The Buzzcocks than booze and balling, and their live combination of melody and balls has been known to sway even the most genre-conscious fan.
Focus: Is it true you took a really long time to get your band together, finding the right people?
Chris: No. (laughter)
Focus: Somebody told me you took, like, a year to write all your songs, get everything down, and then you started looking for people.
Chris: Who told you that?
Focus: Somebody at The Tamiami, I don't remember, I jumped into a conversation.
Dan: Yeah, that's exactly what happened, right? (laughter)
Jason: Actually, we don't know if Chris is working out!
Chris: I'm on a trial basis with these guys.
Focus: So how'd you get hooked up?
Chris: I met Dan at Tampa Tech.
Dan: Chris and I went to school together, and I knew Seth from The Hustlers.
[interject lengthy discussion regarding the couple having sex in the Men's Room at The Tamiami during a recent Car Bomb Driver set]
Focus: So you started as a three-piece?
Chris: It was a three-piece to begin with, just because it was easier to organize things like practice, and whatever, with three people. We started looking for another guitar player, but I don't think anyone wanted to play with us anyway.
Dan: People came in and out.
Seth: Well, it started about two years ago...
Focus: You've been playing together for two years?
Dan: Mainly in Seth's living room.
Seth: The first year didn't really count...
Dan: Practice for half and hour, then sit around for four hours.
Chris: We had one or two people try out, and it didn't really work, but when Jason was engineering the CD...I thought about it, but I figured he was always busy, and wouldn't have the time to play with us. But he said, ìI'd be interested in playing with you guys, but you never ask me. What am I, chopped liver? You don't want me in the band or what?î (much laughter)
Jason: I laid the guilt trip.
Chris: He seemed really excited, always calling ìI hear another rhythm track on this song!î
Focus: Was Mikey (Whittaker, of The Hustlers and The Satisfiers) the only other guy who played out with you guys?
Chris: Yeah.
Seth: Wasn't there someone else?
Chris: Well, Dave (of The Hustlers and No Loves, now with Loose Ends) played at practice a couple of times, but I guess he wasn't into it, or whatever, but that was just jamming, something to do, because I was playing drums in another band. Then Dan asked if I'd be interested in playing with him and Seth. Eventually, after The Hustlers broke up, we started practicing more and more.
Focus: Do you worry at all about getting lumped in with a particular scene? You play a lot with bands whose sound is more, uh, ìpunk' than yoursî
Chris: I don't really worry about it. They're gonna know when they hear us, anyway.
Seth: We're not fast enough to be a punk band.
Focus: Some of the songs are. And the CD...it's weird, to me you guys sound more poppy live than you do on the CD, and it's usually the other way around.
Jason: I think it's that the songs we're playing now are newer.
Dan: Those songs [on the CD] have been around for close to a year.
Chris: ëLioness' has been around since we started, it's the oldest song...we've just kind of gotten away from that. Demented, how that happened. (laughter)
Focus: You're a lot less bashful about your ërawk' roots than a lot of bands. Nobody will admit they listened to [Eighties rock], but everybody did.
Seth: Jason hates Poison.
Jason: But I like Nazareth.
Chris: I went through that period where everybody hated the hair bands. [in high school] I was into bands like Metallica, and well, I still am, but I listened to stuff like that a lot, and thought the hair bands were a joke. But...
Dan: They wrote some great songs.
Chris: Yes, they did.
Seth: Strike that from the record.
Chris: The thing is, you're driving and listening to Perfect Hair, and I'm like, ëMan, these are really catchy.í I rediscovered it. I was taken back to fourth grade, when I used to watch Mel Music on MTV and see glam rock videos. (much laughter)
Focus: Where'd you record the CD?
Chris: All over the place. Free Jam Studios was where we laid the basic rhythm tracks, and then stuff at Jason's house...
Focus: You just rented ADATs?
Jason: A friend of mine had some, so we gave him some money to lay down the drums and bass, and then, you know, you could do the guitars and vocals at your leisure, somebody's house or wherever somebody didn't mind hearing loud guitars for a couple of hours.
Focus: How long did it take?
Dan: All summer. May to August.
Chris: I don't know why it took so long. It's all sort of a blur. You just get busy, and then...
Dan: We all had other stuff going on, working, nobody's schedules would match up.
Focus: Does everybody contribute to the songwriting process? When I came in, Seth was playing guitar and Chris was playing drums.
Dan: Pretty much.
Chris: Yeah, somebody will come in with a part, and maybe Seth has a guitar part, so I'll get behind the kit or Jason will play drums while he shows us how to play it. Whoever has an idea just throws it out there.
Dan: Except for Jason. (laughter)
Jason: I haven't yet contributed to the songwriting process.
Focus: Are you the ëTouring Guitar Player'?
Jason: I try to sneak it in.
Dan: He's got a van, that's really how he got in.
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