Mr. Marco's V7 Reaches for the Stars

Spaceraser

Story by Pete Dulin, Photography by Phil Peterson.

Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The mystery of what will come next is part of anticipating new work from a band or filmmaker or painter. Will we encounter a minor progression or an all-out shift in style? Given the adventurous instrumental orientation of Mr. Marco’s V7, the speculation about what comes next will have odd makers in Vegas wondering. The band has veered away from its origins as a “rockabilly lounge act that played odd time signatures” and attracted swing dancers circa the 1997 release, Cowtown Ballroom Sessions. The followup, La Musica Surreale from the Midwest, recorded in 2002, is a Turkish whirligig replete with a swirling carousel of horns courtesy of Mark Southerland and Kyle Dahlquist, sexy subterranean tones, prog rock cacophony, and epic, rhythmic romps. Five years later, Mr. Marco’s V7 reaches for the stars with the imaginative and funky new album titled Spaceraser.

New Addition and Direction
Both the music and the band’s attitudes have evolved over the years past fleeting “hipster” status. In the early incarnation of Mr. Marco’s V7, the band played annoying live music purposely. “We used to play McCoy’s,” says bassist Johnny Hamil. “Because we were hip for a time, we played loud and dissonant music to drive kids and Westport drunks away so our fans could have seats up front.”

Today, the current lineup presents a relaxed persona and image from CD packaging to self-identity. Marco “Hair Party” Pascolini, Johnny “License Bolt” Hamil, Mike “Creeping Death” Stover, and Kent “Precious Metal” Burnham do not take themselves too seriously as the pseudo “superhero” nicknames of these band members suggest. During a photo shoot at Succotash in the River Market, the band dressed in suit jackets spray-painted in bright colors, struck poses, and cracked jokes at everyone’s expense. A good-natured attitude reinforces their jovial rapport as a band, but they should hardly be cast as a carefree party band that merely wants to rock out. On this album, they rock with a conscious emphasis on composing and performing music not easily pinned to a genre. For fans familiar with the band’s previous album, the absence of horns is a key difference on Spaceraser where the band explores creative frontiers, both personally and collectively, with a fearless nonchalance.

It’s a testament to the dexterity of Hamil, Pascolini, Stover, and Burnham that they not only play their instruments well, but also coax a phenomenal range of sound from guitar, bass, and percussion. Stover is the sonic X-factor, adding trippy Moog, pining lap steel, and eerie theremin for aural flourish and mood alteration. “I started playing lap steel in a country style at a couple of practices,” says Stover. However, he pushes that instrument into a range that accents the rest of the parts and broadens the band’s scope.

“We got a big boost with Michael that allowed us to go in a new direction with our sound,” says Pascolini.

“A new paradigm,” cracks Stover.

When Stover joined the ranks, Hamil had quite a few of the songs written for the new album with a fake synth sound. “It kind of grew dirtier when Mike joined,” says Pascolini.

Infinite Cosmic Groove
These four guys absorb influences from endless sources, interpret notions and definitive ideas, beam the elements into the musical ether, and recombine them into fluid, densely layered songs. Each musician draws from an idiosyncratic grab bag of music tastes as part of the process. Hamil, a classically trained jazz musician, says, “When I write, I’m influenced by early rock, but I go back to the music of my childhood. Everything is relevant. Bartok is just as important as Black Sabbath.”

The songs have no lyrics, a choice that is not a drawback in Hamil’s opinion. “Music without words is more open-ended and infinite,” he says. “Words are confining.”

In this spirit, the band refuses to limit itself with regard to style, form, and genre. Mr. Marco’s V7 bills its music as afro-countryTurkishpostpunk-sansjazz which sounds daunting and complex. In actuality, familiar music phrases dart like cosmic fish through these songs. Anyone that listens to the album will tease out their own references and associations much like two people will view a painting in different ways. Some songs flirt with a spaghetti western vibe, tribal drumming, space odyssey noodling, or a gritty 70s sitcom groove.