They're a cross between reggae and rock. They're a little bit of Beethoven but more of Queen. They're four talented and intriguing guys that have entered the local music scene: the Czech Mates.
Every Friday evening, the four musicians set up camp in a cramped upstairs loft for their weekly practice. One of the guys with dark glasses and sideburns hops on the drum-set while another warms up with a few riffs on his Gibson. A third, wearing faded jeans and a brown and white striped sweater hums a few notes into the mike and the last guy plucks some notes on his bass.
There's a hammer, tile adhesive and a cookie recipe on the floor. A bed in the corner is so low to the ground that one would have to lay on the floor first to roll into it.
The cluttered and un-fastidious appearance of the upstairs loft doesn't seem to affect the band members' focus. With four clicks of the drumsticks they're off and running towards two hours of song writing, composition and perfection.
The Czech Mates have been making music since February 2005.
"At first we were a happy pop music type of band but now we are mostly rock," said Tom Ballou, the lead singer. "Our sound has really changed a lot."
Now, two years later, the band is still going strong. The release of their third CD, "Dinner with the Czech Mates," is expected within the next few months. Their first two CDs, "Queue Up" and "Fortification of Siam," are available at their performances.
The Czech Mates have traveled to several different parts of New York State for shows in Albany, Cortland, Ithaca and of course, Buffalo.
On bass guitar and backup vocals there's Andrew Blake, a junior at UB who has been playing guitar for nearly his entire life. The beat of the Czech Mates is kept by the very talented Jason Bauers, who attends UB for drum performance.
On lead guitar, there's Steve Schmitt, who graduated with an English degree from UB and now works at M&T Bank to help fund his guitar purchases. Tom Ballou is the band's voice and has a business degree from Niagara County Community College. Ballou works at an electronic manufacturing company.
"Music and playing in a band is mostly a hobby but with a pipe dream attached to it," Ballou said.
The band members write and compose all their own music, working as a team in order to get the perfect tune. Ballou writes the lyrics and the rest work on guitar riffs and drum rhythms.
Unlike many popular bands, the Czech Mates don't necessarily focus on love and emotion in their songs. For example, a song called "Saxby Gale" is about a hurricane that took place in 1869.
"I like history a lot so I'll hear about something cool that happened awhile ago and I'll write a song about it," Ballou said.
"Scapa Flow" is a song about Ballou's favorite body of water adjacent to the British Isles. Who doesn't have a favorite body of water adjacent to the British Isles?
Some other original songs include "Massacre on the Monongahela," "The Mighty Orinoco" and their latest, "Did-A-Chik," based off of a particular scene from Stephen King's novel, Dark Tower.
When writing lyrics and composing accompanied chords, the band members look for inspiration from the notorious '80's rock band Queen.
"Tom introduced Queen to me and ever since I have loved them," Schmitt said. "For a while I was buying a Queen album with every paycheck from work and I got pretty far too."
Some other influences come from Jane's Addiction and Ween.
"People should come and see us play. I've been known to do very crazy, unexpected and deviant things on stage during performances," Ballou said. "You have those bands that come out thinking they are so great when they're really just bullshit. See, with the Czech Mates, we already know we're bullshit."
To see the Czech Mates live, check them out on March 2 at 10 p.m. at Chuggers, located at 1800 Union Road.
