When you see Monti Amund
son, songwriter, guitarist and
leader of Boys Club, you know
immediately why the Club is
one of the most powerful rock
groups on the Eugene musical
scene.
Boys Club is on the way up,
and Amundson is definitely
ready for the climb. On
November 19, they opened for
the Motels at the Hult Center,
and Paul Dustrud, Hult Center
technical director, says there
are more gigs in store.
Like many local musicians,
Admundson. 28. has been into
the blues from an early age. He
identified Johnny Winter as one
British rock ‘n’ blues invasion,
he admired Eric Clapton, saying
he identified with Clapton
because he was “not particular
iy intelligent, just 'folks’."
Locally speaking, he says that
Jimmy Cochran, formerly of the
Party Kings, is “the baddest
guitar player in town, or
anywhere."
Amundson says that the idea
of rock music not being ag
gressive is ridiculous. His idea
of the ideal rock group was
Boston's Aerosmith, who were
serious, musician's musicians,
as well as having extremely
high energy — like Boys Club.
Amundson says that Boys
while some aspects of the new
musical technology can be used
tastefully, high-tech can be
abused. "How can you be nitty
gritty when your music is pro
grammed?" he asks.
He says that while the band
was naturally interested in pro
ducing professional, commer
cially saleable music, all the
members of the group wero
determined not to abandon their
roots, based predominantly in
the blues and rhythm-and
blues.
Amundson says that all three
front members of Boys Club.
Steve Ibach (guitar). Billy
Barnet (bass) and Cory Burden
Boys Club Is currently recor
ding at Gung-ho Recording
Studio, a 16-track facility
operated by Barnet in Eugene.
They are planning to release
their first album-length cassette
throughout the Northwest in
early 1986. Amundson says that
they are getting airplay on
KZEL and KRXX here in
Eugene.
“We don't see any reason to
go to Los Angeles and become
cynical musical burnouts,"
Amundson says. Satisfied for
now with regional exposure.
Boys Club "knows how to play
the West Coast." he says, ad
ding that if a chance for national
(1. to r.) Steve Ibach, Cory Burden. Billy Barnet and Monti
Amundson are the men of the Eugene's own Boys Club,. They
have an LP-length cassette due early in 1986 and can be seen
monthly playing at Taylor's Tavern. They also will be part of
KZEL's repertoire at the radio station's annual Christmas bash
at The Factory in Sprinfield, Dec. 18.
of the strongest influences on
his performing style.
Surprisingly. Amundson says
he also thought country-and
westem was one of the most ex
citing fields in music today,
naming Waylon Jennings. Hank
Williams and Johnny Cash as
country musicians he admires.
He says that blues and country
and-western are real American
music, though he would not
identify himself as especially
patriotic.
Although he wasn’t par
ticularly interested in the
Club is completely self
contained. “We don’t have
managers," he says, adding that
not too long ago, he told two
record companies to “fuck off”
because of what he called
obscene contractual demands.
Boys Club’s members do a lot
of musical research, and try to
keep on top of the latest trends
in rock. “You get a lot of info
about what people are watching
(on MTV),” he says.
On the other hand, Amund
son agrees with Lloyd Jones (of
the Lloyd Jones Struggle) that
(drums), can interchange bet
ween guitar, bass, and piano,
(bach doubles on drums as well.
Amundson says this is impor
tant when playing in a band
because each member instic
tively knows what the in
struments he's not playing
should sound like.
Versatility is important in
achieving the Boys Club sound,
and keeps band members
creativity alive. Ibach says that
Boys Club was "the only band
I’ve ever talked myself into."
work came along, they would
know when to grab it.
The band members call
Taylor’s Tavern their home
base. They can be heard there at
least one weekend per month,
sometimes two. Also, they will
be appearing at the Shilo Inn in
Springfield on December 15,
22, and 29, as well as at KZHL’s
big Christmas bash at The Fac
tory in Springfield on December
18.
Story by William Homans
Photo by Karen Stallwood
skill and love
—
A wealth of
for his art
Offer saxophonist Carl Woideck the
chance to earn big money by making a
career of something unconnected to
music, and you'll get a quick, maybe
griping, refusal. He'll turn you down because,
though he's not glorifying being pour, he
needs time to work on what he considers his
best form of expression — jazz music — par
ticularly the saxophone.
And learning to improve on that expres
sion, through the many musical avenues he's
chosen to pursue, is paramount with Woideck.
Any compromise on this matter would seem
ludicrous, even under serious financial
constraints.
Another "art for art's sake" tale? Maybe.
But the 38-year-old musician says his link
to jazz music as an art form, temporarily
thwarted by his early haste to be good over
night. is having positive effects on him as well
as the community.
"I'm a late starter." Woideck says of his
appreciation for jazz as art. "I'm 38 and at a
point where I wish I was 25 or something, ar
tistically and technically.
"I wasn't really willing at the beginning
to do the work hard practicing. I stopped
taking lessons after a few lessons and wanted
to be self-taught. So I tried to teach myself, but
I found out that I was making for a lot of holes
in my playing, my knowledge of music and of
the horn.
"For a long time it was very frustrating. I
don't think I sounded good because 1 simply
wanted to be good and have fun without doing
the work. I wanted the immediate expression
and talent." he admits.
When he was 28. and fed up with the
second-rate musical caliber he desperately
wanted to avert, Woideck came to Eugene for
schooling at Lane Community College He says
that to help him become a respectable jazz
musician, an academic discipline was essen
tial So, he look Iwo years at LCC and two at
the University's School of Music.
The rewards were fruitful. Everything he
now does is music-related, and his work is ex
tensive: He teaches jazz history at LOC, gives
private lessons to budding saxophonists, plays
in the Eugene Jazz Orchestra and his own "In
The Pocket” jazz trio, and has a weekly radio
slot on KLCC-FM called "Focus on Jazz."
But while all the work may look like a
strong capital gain. Woideck says the balow
middle-class income simply buys him enough
time to support his habit, and his habit is art.
„ "If i make enough money to take care of
security, a roof over my head and my health,
money is rtbi that useful to me if it gets past
that break-even point where I have less time
Story by Eric EoBoff
Photos by Karen Stallwood
and energy to do things that are important to
me," he says.
"There are certain people who spend their
time making money. They come home and
they're tired, and so they spend their money
on consumer gadgets. Hut for me. I figure
money should buy you time."
For artists and musicians like Woideck.
having enough money to buy time often
depends on how popular or conducive the per
forming arts climate is in certain cities.
Woideck says artists' potentials are somewhat
limited in Eugene because there are always too
many musicians for the number of working
nights available to them.
Woideck is here because he has admitted
ly made a trade-off between "good quality art
and good quality living."
"Some artists are not that interested in the
quality of life. They'll live in a rat hole in New
York because New York is a fantastic place for
art," Woideck explains. "They'D go through
that and they'll become somewhat closed-in
creatures, and at one point creatures fearful of
being mugged or something. They’ll lower
their horizons and a lot of quality of life issues
for their art;"
Between the time spent working to secure
bare necessities and time spent actually enjoy
ing the quality of life in Kugene. Woideck says
he's working to improve himself as an artist —
a musician with a message to tell.
And for him. that involves polishing the
way he presents himself and his music with
what he's actually communicating through his
saxophone.
"For me. it’s a question of working on my
technique without losing sight of what I call
the poetics of art. what I'm trying to say," he
says. "Technique has never been my strong
suit, but 1 need it very much to tell my story.
"And to do that I'm interested in looking
at the similarities, the commonalities among
all the arts, which come down to the poetic
aspect of art, the aesthetic part of art.. .you
know, like to listen to something and be able to
say. 'Wow. that's art.’ "
How does Kugene benefit from having so
meone like Woideck around?
He says that regardless of how his
students musical tastes may differ from his
own, he can at least give them a working
knowledge of the history behind the different
styles of jazz. And because the styles of jazz are
eclectic in Kugene, he says, his students can
enjoy knowing and appreciating the roots to
each jazz style on any evening out.
"1 see my students in the night clubs digging
Continued on Page 8B
couPOi^%%mwra«im|
Order your glasses between
Dec. 12th & Dec. 31st, 1985
and choose one of
the following FREE:
★The lint of your choice on plastic leases.
or
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Glasses must be paid in full at time of order.
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BY THEN, WE MUST SELL OUR EN
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