2008 Woodie Awards
The Debut breaks out new album
Jared Mogensen
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Intermission
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Bands play live in the studio during the 10-11 p.m. hour, interspersed with a short interview and the requisite commercial breaks.
For this edition, St. Cloud's airwaves were filled with the sounds of The Debut, a band migrated to Minneapolis from the not-so-far away locale of Madison, Wisc.
This performance marks the first time this band has played in St. Cloud, but they plan on making the short trek back to play some shows for their new fans. Their music is guitar driven pop rock, layered with surprisingly technical drumbeats and vocal melodies.
The Debut is a group of four friends: Benjamin Gurstelle, Al Tupez, Ben Mulhern and Jordan Koel, who met in their native Madison at college, with Gurstelle and Mulhern joining together to make a hip-hop group, a decision that didn't last long when Tupez offered to play bass with them in an acoustic band.
Soon after, in the winter of '05, Koel and the rest of the guys crossed paths and The Debut was born. As stated before, the band then transplanted to Minneapolis, and realized some things they didn't know about the city.
"When we first moved up here, we didn't know the city," Mulhern said, "and we ended up moving about a block away from the area with the highest incidence of shootings in all of the Twin Cities."
After setting up in their new place, the band set about working on their debut album, no pun intended, writing songs and practicing in a cold basement where they had to light cigarettes to keep warm. When they had produced enough songs of their liking, they began to pre-record their album using ProTools and Koel's knowledge of mixing before heading to the studio.
Once underway, it took them about seven months to record, mix and master the album, "This Record is About Cars," released on the indie label Giants Eat Bones. The band met with success, which escalated after a write-up on howwastheshow.com.
They have been playing around the cities in places ranging from smaller venues like the Varsity Theater and The Uptown Bar, to large ones like First Avenue to crowds of a thousand or more people.
"Playing to a large crowd doesn't feel much different than a small crowd. It's more about the energy of the show," Tupez said.
The band looks comfortable onstage, and you can sense the rapport and friendship between all the band members.
The band's next show happens at the Turf Club in St. Paul Feb. 8. They are also writing new material for a forthcoming album, about which Gurstelle vaguely discussed.
"'Grapes of Wrath'" is going to be our next album. It is influenced by the author, John Steinbeck, but if you're fan of his, you probably won't like this album," he said.
This band is something to look out for, especially for the music listener searching for a new sound. Their music is a mélange of pop, rock, alternative and some country twang thrown in for good measure. Tupez, the bassist, also plays trombone in some songs.
For more info about The Debut, check them out on the web at http://www.myspace.com/thedebutrocks or at their new blog http://www.bloggingiscreepy.wordpress.com.