Casey Buckley isn’t your typical senior. He’s majoring in something called psychobiology, and he’s the lead singer of a rock-reggae-funk band called The People Upstairs – named for the attic of his father’s Delray Beach plumbing business where he and his four band-TPUS – yes, that’s how they refer to themselves – signed to a record label 18 months ago, but that wasn’t typical, either. This is because TPUS signed with Hoot Records, a label completely run by, and for, FAU students. FAU is one of the first universities to provide a full-service record label, giving students the opportunity to learn about the music industry. That could explain why the fledgling label has taken two years to finish TPUS’ CD.
After many months and many delays, Synchronfunkinicity will finally be released in mid-February, says Michael Zager, Publisher and President of Hoot Records.
TPUS had to compete against 20 other FAU bands in an audition before Hoot’s A&R (Artists and Repertoire) committee to land the contract – not bad, considering their lead singer wouldn’t sing at first. When the band got together four years ago, “Casey was too shy at the time to sing anything,” TPUS’ drummer Gabriel Rangel recalls. Even during a UP photo shoot for this story, Buckley wouldn’t take off his cap and show his face. He needed a lot of persuasion before he would give it up.
Buckley likes to stay in the background. That is, until he’s up on stage. Then he transforms into an energetic bundle, whether it’s singing popular hard-rock renditions or his own funk-inspired lyrics. His shyness evaporates when he sings at their regular gig, Saturday nights at The Brogues on the Avenue in downtown Lake Worth. So when a girl in the sparsely populated Irish pub asks Buckley to sing a cover recently, he confidently joked with her, “by the way, it’s $100 for cover songs” before he launched into the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Suck My Kiss.
In a way, Buckley isn’t kidding about singing covers. Although TPUS performs them, you get the sense Buckley would rather sing the originals he writes – like Synchrofunkinicity, the title track that was inspired by the research Buckley conducts in his psychobiology classes on how sound affects the mind. It’s almost as if Buckley is performing an experiment with his audience, as if he wants to see what combination of sounds will make them feel the music. Synchrofunkinicity is the kind of song mixed with rock, funk, reggae and salsa that shouldn’t work together because they have so many conflicting rhythms. But just tell the guy with the dreads who began shaking his head as soon as TPUS started playing their set recently at The Brogues.
Percussionist Ryan Lockett uses a metaphor to describe the band: “I think of us using the analogy of the body. The heartbeat would be rock ‘n’ roll. The legs, funk. The arms, reggae. The mind, a bit of Latin mixed with jazz.” Lockett, studying at FAU for his Ph.D. in psychology, plays the congas, bongos, and timbales.
TPUS’s unique sound and Buckley’s presence on stage could be part of the reason that Hoot Records chose them over the other musical acts. “We don’t just want popular stuff. It could be very artistic,” Zager says. Currently, Hoot is recording two more albums, and it sent out six more offer letters to FAU musicians after the last audition session. Hoot is also releasing another album in February, entitled Dreamchasers, which is a classical CD by the pianist Heather Coltman, chairwoman of the FAU Music Department.
Chris Prestia, the 26-year-old guitarist and oldest member of TPUS, says of recording the album: “It’s kids learning the industry, and while it’s a great experience for them, it’s terrible [for us]…it’s not your normal company. [Still] it’s a foot in the door and better than what we had.”
Buckley says the year-and-a-half it took to produce the CD wasn’t easy: “No offense to them, they’re kids and only 18, younger than us and don’t know how to work the big board or the equipment. It’s the first time around for us – for all of us.”
Despite the many difficulties in working with young, amateur record producers, Buckley dreams of signing with a major label within the next five years, and he hopes Hoot Records will open that door.
For his part, Zager said the recording process was “normal.” And Hoot Records apparently does have a marketing strategy to attract a major distributor. Says Zager: “Once we finish the CD, we want to get the buzz out about the album we are recording for TPUS. We want initial airplay in South Florida.”
Zager says he’ll market to local radio stations. From this, he hopes to create enough of a buzz that an offer for national distribution will follow. Without getting that buzz from airplay, it will be tough to get a major distributor, Zager says.
Another member of the band also hopes Hoot Records will be successful in their first marketing attempt. Lockett envisions the road to success similar to another band: “I would like it to be like the path Maroon 5 took. I think we have the potential,” he says. Maroon 5 bandmembers went to high school together and recorded their first CD as teenagers. Although they got great reviews for it, it was only when Maroon 5 started adding an R&B groove to their rock sound that their band really took off.
Besides Lockett and Buckley, the other band members aren’t really concerned about getting a huge break. All they want is to play their music full time. As guitarist Chris Prestia says, “We’ll take it as far as we can…enough to make a living.” Right now, all the guys have jobs, ranging from managing a shoe store to working in an auto body shop. That’s because playing in the band isn’t a moneymaking venture. Buckley, who acts as the band’s manager, says all the money they make goes straight back into an account that helps purchase new equipment and to market the band.
TPUS knows that even with their first album out, there’s no guarantee they will achieve success. Bass guitarist Tony Rangel (and brother of drummer Gabriel) says only that, “it’s a window of opportunity to find out what those options are.”
For now, they continue playing at The Brogues and practicing in upstairs. “Patience comes like everything good. Things might happen, but it’s an experience I’ll never take back,” Tony Rangel says.
Whether they make it or not, Tony Rangel does say this about listening to the tracks after Hoot mixed them: “There’s pride in hearing what’s been laid … to listen to the vibe … it’s like a fan going … it’s like you feel the breeze.”
