Page 54, The Evening Telegram, Saturday, January 9, 1993
Arts/Entertainment
Road to success no mean feat
Meanstreak jumping “face first” into music scene
By TRACY BARRON
Telegram Staff Writer
Out of the underground music scene of Mount Pearl has emerged a five-member rock band that’s determined to break out of the smoke-filled night clubs of Newfoundland.
Meanstreak has been playing the bar circuit for four years. Its members are only now of legal drinking age.
“We’ve been playing for a long time, having to lie about our age to work,” said drummer and keyboardist Jason Campbell.
As the five band members filed into a downtown St. John’s pub for an interview, the bartender leaned over the counter to ask if they are old enough to be there.
But age hasn’t seemed to hamper the band’s development. Meanstreak opened for Canadian bands Trooper and Helix in Newfoundland and put out their first recording, In Your Face, earlier this year.
HEADING TO AWARDS SHOW
Now the band is preparing for their off-island debut at the East Coast Music Awards’ (ECMA) showcases in Halifax in February.
“We’ve never been off the island and we can’t wait,” said lead singer Sean Basha, a broad smile coming to his face. “We will go up and kick butt.”
Meanstreak has been called the hardest working group in Newfoundland. The band spends the weekends playing bars doing cover tunes to pay the bills, and jumps at every opportunity to play benefits and free concerts for added exposure.
“If you want to play professionally and you want to make it, which is what this band wants to do, you’ve got to go in face first,” Basha said. “We do a lot of benefits and it pays out. We’re not making anything, but who cares? It’s going to pay itself off.”
CHANGED MEMBERS
Meanstreak hasn’t been without growing pains. Six weeks ago two members were fired in response to weaknesses pointed out by industry people at a Music Industry Association (MIA) showcase in St. John’s in late October.
“We were to a point where we weren’t doing anything anymore. We were going backwards,” said guitarist Dave Caines, asking politely if he could smoke.
The remaining three members — Caines, Basha and guitarist Rich Haigh — have since hired Campbell and bassist Mark Reccord.
DETERMINED
Mount Pearl rock band Meanstreak has regrouped and is hoping to turn heads at its off-island debut at the East Coast Music Awards.
The current band members now unanimously agree the changes have improved the band’s sound and chances. The five, only together for a little over a month, will head back into the studio by March to remix In Your Face and put it out on CD before heading out across the country.
“Before, Sean was the only singer in the band, and that’s not a band,” Campbell said.
“It’s going to be a lot different,” Basha added. “It’s going to be a lot more interesting.”
For now though, the band is concentrating on turning heads at the four-day ECMA conference. They have a five-song shot at impressing some of the bigger names in the Canadian music industry. They also intend to make themselves visible offstage, shaking hands and handing out tapes to any industry people who will listen.
“I’ll bug everyone from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed,” said Basha, to the laughter of the other band members. “We’ll tuck them in. They’ll remember Meanstreak.”
PROMOTIONAL PUSH
Basha, who at 19 is the youngest of the five, is no stranger to promoting the band. He wrote a $40 Meanstreak cheque to go to the MIA conference in October. The cheque bounced, but not before most of the nearly 25 national industry people had copies of Meanstreak’s tape.
Since then, the band has received favorable reviews in mainland entertainment magazines and have collected a pile of fan letters from Montreal to Vancouver.
“I’ve been playing for so long with the same guys that I got this thing in my mind that it’s going to happen,” Basha said. “There’s so many people telling us we’re going to make it that they can’t all be wrong.”
“This is the last stage now,” he said, referring to the new band. “I think if this band can’t make it, if we can’t turn somebody’s head now, then we never will.”
“Optimism is everything,” Campbell added.
“You can never stop [promoting?] yourself. We’re up for anything that will help us out,” he said previously, sliding $5 across [the table?] for a favorable story.
KICKED OFF ISLAND
Of course being a young band — no one is over 20 — Meanstreak finds its share of trouble. [They?] was kicked off St. Pierre [last?] being rowdy, effectively cancelling all scheduled Newfoundland [gigs?] on the French Islands.
Basha blames the ban on [a fishing?] dispute between Newfoundland and France at the time. They [didn’t?] break a window, but were [asked to leave?] the island before it was [resolved?], he said.
“There’s eight guys, and [other?] guys and bands were [doing?] stuff,” he said, smiling.
Meanstreak will be at the Avalon Mall Jan. 15 to [?].
Fans of the fivesome can [join?] Meanstreak Fan Club, 12 [?] ery St., Mount Pearl, NF, A1N [?].
Photo caption (partial):
The members of Meanstreak are (from left) Dave Caines, Jason Campbell, [Shawn?] Basha, Rich Haigh and Mark Reccord.
— GREG LOCKE/The Evening Telegram