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Volume CXXXIII, Number 15 |
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Former Autobahn members reach indie rock glory
MATT LAJOIE
STAFF WRITER
As the bio on their website claims, Bowdoin alumni Chris Bail '02 and Colin Thibadeau '03 and their band the Exchange Students are "not out to save rock and roll; [they] just want to play it."
Humble as this ambition sounds, with headlining gigs in and around Boston, a consistently-growing fan base, considerable radio airplay throughout New England, and a recent write-up in AMP magazine, it looks like the Exchange Students are poised to make their mark on the indie rock music scene.
It all started right here at Bowdoin College in 1999 with the band Autobahn. For those of you who weren't here to witness the band at the height of its popularity, you might have an idea of their lasting presence on campus by the Autobahn t-shirts that still occasionally appear at a Pub Night or off-campus party. Autobahn, which included Bail on guitar, vocals, and keyboard, and Thibadeau on bass, were the "it" band on campus for nearly three years. When Bail graduated in 2002, Autobahn effectively broke up and Bail moved back to Boston. Reuniting with Rob Davol, the drummer he had been in a few different bands with while in high school, Bail continued writing songs and the duo were soon joined by Thibadeau on bass.
After only a few rehearsals, the Exchange Students recorded a demo at Bowdoin in the newly-constructed recording studio at the WBOR radio station. The CD, featuring early versions of the songs "Lies All Aside" and "In Your Car," received substantial airplay on WBOR immediately.
The demo allowed the Exchange Students to begin to play some shows in Boston, as well as to return to Bowdoin to open for Damone and the Damn Personals, all while Bail and Davol had full-time jobs, and Thibadeau was still a full-time student at Bowdoin. Early in 2003, unsatisfied with the demo they had recorded, the band re-recorded the two aforementioned songs and added a new one, "Dear Society," and then, according to Bail, "spent almost half a year doing overdubs and mastering it."
The resulting EP, Don't Ask Us To Dance, is somehow simultaneously dirtier and more polished than the original demo. The sound calls to mind At the Drive-In (mostly instrumentally) and at times Fugazi, but with better melodies. The guitar fuzz, feedback, and vocal swagger have also led to comparisons to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, while the band lists Jawbox, Mission of Burma, and the Pixies as some of their major influences.
The new sound of the EP, with its multiple guitar tracks and backing vocals, seemed to suggest the band's incomplete lineup.
"We were a three-piece for about our first year," says Thibadeau, "and then, citing the ridiculous number of guitar and vocal overdubs we would do on recordings, and our desire to play with someone cooler than us, we added Marco on guitar and vocals."
With Don't Ask Us To Dance receiving significant radio airplay on Boston stations WERS, WBCN, and WFNX (reaching number four on the local charts for a while), the Exchange Students began playing bigger shows. "All of a sudden, record labels started coming to check us out, which was really cool," said Bail, "even though we still haven't signed a record deal."
They have recently been headlining at different clubs as well as opening for national acts such as Dressy Bessy, Young People, and the Natural History. Tonight, the Exchange Students will add Ok Go to that list, as they open the Campus Activities Board-sponsored show in Morrell Lounge at 9:00 p.m.
With momentum building around Don't Ask Us To Dance and these higher-profile concerts, the Exchange Students show no signs of slowing down.
"We're hard at work on a new, longer EP-hopefully six or seven new songs-again self-engineered and produced at Bowdoin and here in Boston," said Thibadeau. "We've also got our NYC debut on March 5; we're going to play in a cage surrounded by roller-skating hipsters in Williamsburg. Yes, it's as cool as it sounds. We're very excited for that. Beyond, who knows, but we've had some great momentum building, so hopefully we can keep booking shows at a fast pace, and start maybe playing some more college shows around New England and [continue to] expand our fan base."
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