what happens when a seacoast band gets a chance to make it big

“I hate local music,” says Guts bassist Nate Doyle. “All of it. It’s all terrible.” He sits on a stool at the band’s practice space at the Button Factory artist compound, his black hooded sweatshirt shielding all but his scowl. Around him are stacks of amplifiers and piles of microphone stands, relics of one of Portsmouth’s most beloved bands. Regardless of what Doyle thinks about the Seacoast music scene, he and his band mates are a few of its key players.

The Guts’ rehearsal has just ended at the Electric Cave, a high-ceilinged room where dozens of Portsmouth bands have practiced for years. Though The Guts have been successful by Seacoast standards, local music rarely registers on the national radar. Doyle’s disdain for the scene comes from his desire to break away and chase the rock ’n’ roll dream, which means staring down steep odds and moving forward.
After releasing four albums and playing countless shows since 1999, The Guts took a hiatus last year, but are now picking up where they left off. One weekend in November they played a four-day tour of Canada, and in March they will embark on a six-week jaunt to Europe to support their newest album, “Sometimes You Just Can’t Win,” released on Schenectady, N.Y.-based Cheapskate Records.

While The Guts are stretching their legs across the pond, Exeter-based hip-hop artists Granite State are enjoying some time at home after a nationwide promotional tour with A Tribe Called Quest. Friends since they were old enough to walk, Doug York and Bugout began making music when they attended Exeter High School. Now their debut album, “The Breaking Point,” released by friend and manager JP Callahan on Showoff Records in 2006, is garnering attention from larger labels. “It’s bubbling,” says Callahan. “It’s buzzing.”

Both Granite State and The Guts have built reputations on the Seacoast through their energetic live shows and professional-quality recordings. To get in front of a bigger audience, talent is required, but hard work matters more. And even if all pieces of the equation are right, there are still no guarantees. There’s no finish line for bands to cross to show they have “made it.”

So there comes a time in every band’s life when its members have to ask themselves how far they want to go. After all, plenty of musicians are happy to stay local, playing music without questing for fortune or fame, and when the fantasy of making it big translates into working a dead-end day job just to keep the tour van filled with gas, it’s hard to stay focused on the goal.

There are nearly as many roads leading out of the Seacoast as there are bands that want to take them. Tiny Whales are gearing up to release their first recording, a self-titled EP they’re hoping will put them on the map. The band started playing around the Seacoast in 2004. When drummer Matty Maybruck moved to Boston, the band decided to also focus on promoting their unique brand of bass-driven synth rock in that city. The members of Tiny Whales spend a considerable amount of time and money on gas driving from Portsmouth to Boston twice a week for practice in a small room wedged between a bar and a coffee shop in Allston. But they also attracted the attention of Endless Recordings, a small label that recorded their EP and is helping them go on a tour of the East Coast in early spring.

“There isn’t a scene in Portsmouth anymore,” says Ryan Kirchner, lead singer and keyboardist. “The only place that made sense to promote was Boston. We’re starting to get press and buzz down there.”

Signing to Endless Recordings is by no means a ticket to stardom. Owner David Buivid estimates that each member of the band will have to work at least an hour every day on promoting, setting up shows and networking. Because the label is so small, Tiny Whales is a priority. “Right now getting Tiny Whales on the road and in front of as many people as possible is my main concern,” he says. The Whales will also be included on a CD of Boston-based bands that Endless is releasing.

Endless considers itself a stepping stone to larger labels, and provides a structured environment for bands to get their feet wet. The band’s deal with Endless specifies that the label will pay for recording expenses, promotion and a tour manager. “Endless pays for everything and in turn we play shows,” says Kirchner. “We’ll make the money back on tour and then they’ll take a percentage of the remaining profits.”

Up a couple of flights of rickety stairs at Chutney Flats, a trio of artist-centric addresses on Brewster Street in Portsmouth, Andy Tomasello, a.k.a. Eat Cloud, contemplates the prospect of his first tour. Unlike Kirchner and Tiny Whales, Tomasello isn’t thinking about record deals or profit margins. His homemade self-titled recording, made lo-fi in his bedroom in Dover on a four-track and released this past spring, quickly established him as a genre-less musical authority, using combinations of everyday sounds and musical instruments as raw material.

With his loop pedals, samplers and an occasional steel guitar, Tomasello performs by creating fishbowl-like sound installations and mystifying audiences with his own brand of noise based on a pop sensibility. He’s played shows around New England, but in December, he’s playing a week’s worth of gigs in the Northeast with Animal Collective producer Rusty Santos, who heard Tomasello’s record through the grapevine and contacted him about the tour. “I’ve been doing this for a long time,” says Tomasello. “It’s nice to have someone like Rusty notice.”  

Doug York of Granite State knew about a year ago that he wanted to pursue music full-time. “Bugout and I have been rapping together since we were 13,” York says. “It’s an obsession now. We have to do it.”

“These guys were willing to step up to the next level,” says DC the MIDI Alien, Granite State’s longtime friend and producer of “Breaking Point.” Getting serious means late nights and empty pockets. All of the guys involved in Granite State have understanding girlfriends who are willing to put up with their schedules. The guys are always tired and Bugout nearly falls asleep during our interview upstairs at the Portsmouth Brewery, where all the band members—including Callahan and DC the MIDI Alien—drink only water and don’t order food.

“I have one dollar in my pocket,” Bugout says. “I haven’t had time to relax in a long time.”

“It’s girlfriend, job, music, sleep,” York says. Every head around the table nods in agreement. 

The band split their recording between DC the MIDI Alien’s studios in Eliot, Maine, and Wonka Studios in Lowell, Mass. The whole process took five to six months of late nights, with Callahan putting up an undisclosed amount of money and taking over a managerial role to ensure that the album became a finished project. York says Callahan is “the engine that makes Granite State run.”

The band’s label, Showoff Records, is the brainchild of Callahan and DJ Statik Selektah, who “offered his expertise,” says Callahan. “He offered to help us out with the album, and he helped us get distribution.”

The Boston-based company Traffic Distribution is handling the specifics of getting the record in stores and online, making it possible for Granite State to reach music buyers in shops like Newbury Comics and Bull Moose Music. The first week “Breaking Point” was released, Granite State was Newbury Comics’ top-selling artist. The band says they’ve sold approximately 1,400 copies so far, not counting those they’ve handed out to people, which they do on a regular basis.

The group also recently acquired sponsorship from a clothing company. Bugout unzips his sweatshirt and flashes the logo of Fundamental Clothing, a relatively new company based out of Burlington, Vt. Fundamental gives the band clothing for free, as long as they wear it on stage. The company is also putting out a compilation CD, which will include tracks from Granite State, and the band will reap the benefits of playing large shows that the company sponsors, such as those at snowboarding competitions and indoor skate arenas.

“We get hit up every day for shows from all over the world,” says York. “Our MySpace page is out of control.” Granite State are on television in Australia and can be heard on worldwide Sirius Satellite Radio shows “Hip Hop Nation,” “Shade 45” and “Hot Jamz.” “People we’ve never seen before recognize us walking down the street, or see us when they’re driving and they give us shout outs from their cars,” York says.

Granite State is proud of the fact that they’ve done it all without the aid of a big-name benefactor. All the people involved in their hip-hop empire are local. The band’s do-it-yourself ethic is echoed in their music, which manages to tell stories of growing up in New Hampshire that everyone can identify with, despite being located out of the typical geography of hip-hop. “We try to bring the fun and honesty back to hip-hop,” says DC the MIDI Alien.

The tour with A Tribe Called Quest included a handful of live performances, plus the opportunity to spread their music by word of mouth at all the shows across the country. In terms of record sales, the tour opened up a larger audience. It is, in itself, an arrival for two kids from Exeter, though they would like to see it go even further. 

To do so, they say, they run the band like a business, with manager JP Callahan providing financial backing and producer DC the MIDI Alien helping the band find a leg to stand on in the vast musical sea.

Doug York says being from New Hampshire doesn’t make promoting their music any harder. In fact, he moved back to the Seacoast from New York City to make a serious attempt at a musical project. “We want to shed light on this area,” he says. “We need more things like this here. This is where we want to be.”

The Guts’ front man Geoff Palmer, bassist Nate Doyle and lead guitarist Ben Rand are all Portsmouth natives. Though The Guts have big-name connections all over the map (Palmer has toured nationally with The Queers and the Nobodys), the boys don’t have plans to pack up and leave anytime soon.

“We like it here. Portsmouth has been good to us,” Palmer says, while Doyle rolls his eyes. Francis Frenchie, drummer for The Guts’ longtime friends The Nobodys, is filling in for Rick Orcutt on the Canadian tour, and he gives a great reason for staying put on the Seacoast.
“Most bands can’t get this far locally,” he says, sitting behind the drum kit, a black cowboy hat perched on his head. “Bands leave someplace when they reach a point where they can’t get any more exposure. That doesn’t seem to happen with The Guts.” 

Their shows are well-populated and they have completely sold out of the limited pressings of their first three recordings, a full-length album and two EPs. Palmer estimates there were only about 400 copies ever printed of the band’s first release, “The Sensitive Side of the Guts.” Their new CD compiles all of their recorded material into one package, with seven new songs as well.

Without an official Web site (thegutsrock.com no longer exists), The Guts rely on a barely pimped MySpace page to connect to the kids who listen to them. They also use their connections with other bands. Palmer explains that in Portland, Maine, there’s a small pocket of people who listen to them largely due to their friends and label mates the Leftovers frequently inviting them to play and passing around their record.
“We don’t get in people’s faces about listening to our music,” Palmer says. “That’s annoying. But MySpace has helped us get some gigs.” Palmer is a self-proclaimed MySpace “junkie.”

The Guts have made short jaunts across the U.S. since forming in 1999, but their biggest tour to date is set to happen in March, when the band packs up their guitars and heads to Europe, where they will be taking advantage of a ready-made network of places to play, sleep and eat and a van for travel.

Through MySpace, The Guts found a company called DIY Booking. “They’ve been in touch with us for awhile and they know about Cheapskate,” says Palmer. “They basically said if we still wanted to go, now would be a good time.”

“All we have to do is buy plane tickets to get ourselves over there,” says Doyle. From March 27 through April 15, the band will play the UK, Germany, France and Italy, sharing equipment with other bands on the tour.

“DIY might be able to advance some money for tickets,” Palmer says. “But I think we’re going to just buy the tickets ourselves and not have to pay for anything once we get over there, like food and gas. We’ve talked to other bands that have done this and they all said that’s the way to go.”

When asked why they picked Cheapskate as their label, Doyle says loudly, “Free CDs!” When front man and guitarist Geoff Palmer shoots a look at him, Doyle proclaims, “What? I’m not ashamed.”

Palmer nods his head. “It’s true,” he says. Label owner Jason Cheapskate thought The Guts would be a perfect addition to fellow pop punkers the Rydells, the Prozacs and Johnie 3. Jason pressed the new release for free, which is not only rare, but beneficial to both parties. Palmer, reluctant to call their agreement a “deal,” explains that Jason gets half of the CDs and the band gets half, and they each get to keep the profit from whatever they sell.

The label uses independent companies to press and distribute CDs and to print their posters and T-shirts. Cheapskate, though started in 1998, is still mostly run by Jason himself, who started it while he was in college. “Signing” or agreeing to be on Cheapskate has gotten The Guts on interpunk.com and also on iTunes.

Becoming a full-time musician isn’t quite a bolt of lightning that changes everything, but more like a gradual change that becomes your life. Granite State, Tiny Whales, Eat Cloud and The Guts aren’t quite at the point where they play so many shows that having a regular job is impossible, but it’s fair to say that they’re working day jobs to support their music dreams.

Last year, Andy Tomasello bought a van to go on tour, but then the lease and insurance payments made it impossible for him to save enough money to actually leave. For the upcoming tour with Rusty Santos, Tomasello will be driving from Portsmouth to Philadelphia and back again, playing small clubs from Dec. 12 to 18. Tomasello admits that he doesn’t quite have all the money to do it, but is throwing caution to the wind. “If not now, when?” he asks. “I’ve always wanted to do this. Here’s my chance.”

For Tiny Whales, their chance to get out there is coming in the spring, when they will take off on a tour of the East Coast for a month or more. Kirchner admits that taking the time off from work will be stressful. “It’s a big risk,” he says.

Doug York from Granite State does finishing work on houses, and Bugout works at a collection agency. All of The Guts except for Orcutt work at The Friendly Toast, as do Tomasello and two-thirds of Tiny Whales. Fortunately, the restaurant’s owners allow them ample time off to play shows and tour. Many musicians can’t have “real jobs” because the 9-to-5 schedule just doesn’t mix with music.

Even with the flexibility of his employer, Geoff Palmer calls The Guts a “financial hole” that he throws money into on a regular basis. Kirchner treats Tiny Whales like a second job and estimates he spends anywhere from 20 to 30 hours a week focusing on the project, which includes practice time and the vast amount of networking that is conducted on Internet sites like MySpace and GarageBand, where a band can submit a song to get reviewed in exchange for reviewing 20 other bands.

Even with limitless Internet resources and a good work ethic, the Seacoast music scene will never be large enough to support every band that comes out of the area. At the point where these bands are at, having 10 friends show up at a live performance just won’t cut it anymore. Staying on the Seacoast permanently isn’t an option, because the area isn’t getting enough attention on a national level. The tension is can be bittersweet.

“I love this area,” says Tomasello. He sits on the edge of his unmade bed, his feet resting on a coffee table covered with a week’s worth of coffee cups from nearby Cafe Kilim. “I want to pursue music and see where it takes me, but I’d love to come back someday.”