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Grease Gadgetmp3.com/greasegadget

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    Music Style
    Rock
    Musical Influences
    Led Zepplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Guns N' Roses, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots
    Similar Artists
    Pearl Jam, Led Zepplin, Hendrix, Guns N' Roses
    Artist History
    Getting heard -- Chris Nixon (photo above, from left), Joey Brock, Joey Hambuchen and Beau Nixon make up Grease Gadget, a Conway band that has seen demand for their music skyrocket at the mp3.com Web site. (Amanda Bruning Photos) Sunday, June 16, 2002 Well-oiled On stage and online, Conway band wrenches up success By JUSTIN PETRUCCELLI Log Cabin Staff Writer Grease Gadget has made a name for itself using a sound that harkens back to an era of rock gods like Led Zeppelin and mixes in a little of the Southern flare of immortal acts like Lynard Skynard. In a musical landscape recently dominated by manufactured anger and dance routines, they are a throwback. But when it comes to marketing, the members of Grease Gadget are as modern as the acts from which they have spent the past six years trying to distance themselves. Grease Gadget started out like most local bands -- loud practice sessions, bare-bones gigs in dingy bars -- typical struggling musician fare. That is, until drummer Chris Nixon discovered a stretch of the information superhighway made just for bands like his -- a Utopia for up-and-coming musicians called mp3.com. Nixon signed the band up for a small fee and has been submitting recordings ever since. But when four of those recordings were featured by the site last month, things really started to take off for Nixon, his brother Beau, the band's frontman, guitarist Joey Brock and bass guitarist Joey Hambuchen, as the song "Places" raced up the site's charts, peaking at number 14 on its rock roles and reaching 127th nationwide. "For unsigned bands, it's the ultimate tool," Chris said. "Every time you submit a song, it's listened to by numerous critics. If they like it, they kick it out to the site and put it on a featured list. And they let us sell our CDs and everything. For us, it was completely a blessing." With the omnipresent nature of the Internet, it wasn't long before the band was able to parlay its success at mp3.com into other opportunities. Not long after being featured on the site, Warner Brothers came calling to offer Grease Gadget a spot on its Rock-U.com Showcase tour, a tour that travels the country featuring local talent at each stop. This is when Grease Gadget's foray into cyberspace really paid off, with an opportunity to show music fans what they could do live. "That's the way," Beau said. "We're a live band all the way. It comes off much more real live and in person. It's good to get the reaction of the people. That's the feeling that you just can't touch. At the moment, we're still broke musicians, but it doesn't make a difference when you're having a good time." The Rock-U.com Showcase could have been as much a disaster as it was a success, as the band was forced to scramble to find a new bass player less than a week before the show. Enter Hambuchen, a classicly trained musician who also plays the string bass in a local orchestra and has become the Hawaiian shirt in an otherwise blue-collar outfit. Hambuchen happened upon Grease Gadget's music at mp3.com and, when he discovered they were in need of a bass player, came to try out, not knowing much about the pivotal gig the band was about to play. "I didn't really know of their success," Hambuchen said. "I just started playing. I went to the mp3.com Web site and heard it. That's why I joined the band." Beau explained that at first, he was concerned whether Hambuchen, who at 17 is considerably younger than the other members of Grease Gadget (Beau is 23 and Chris and Brock are both 19), would be able to relate to the band's classic rock style, but that his concerns were quickly dispelled. "I was really worried that he wasn't going to like (the band's music) because it's a throwback," he said. "He's one of the youngest members of the band. But I guarantee you, he's one of the best bass players in the state." Grease Gadget's recent success has also been spurred by some of central Arkansas' local radio personalities. One of their biggest fans is Magic 105's Christine Washburn, who helped the band get on the air with DJ Tom Wood, a longtime favorite of the band, where they played a brief acoustic set. But it wasn't until she heard them open for regional favorites the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies at a show in Little Rock that she decided to throw the full measure of her support to the band. "When I heard them live, my jaw just dropped," she said. They're tight as a drum. After that show, I wanted to get behind them as much as possible. They're awesome guys. You've got to see them live to feel their energy. They're just starting to play around locally and they're great guys and I'm helping them all I can." Washburn explained that the band's passion for music is what drew her to Grease Gadget and what she hopes will eventually get them noticed enough to sign a record deal. "It's real rock," she said. "Record companies have a certain sound they're looking for, but that comes and goes. Real rock is always going to be the same. They're very passionate about what they're doing. Beau is extremely passionate about music and I am too, and I could tell after five minutes of talking to him. That what makes me want to get behind them." Grease Gadget's sound hasn't fallen on deaf ears with the younger crowd either. Last year, they won the Battle of the Bands at the Arkansas State Fair, an event sponsored by Lick 106.3, Little Rock's most prominent modern rock radio station. Trent "Treetop" Tyler, a DJ at the station, echoed Washburn's sentiments about Grease Gadget's prolific live sound and commitment to music. "They're just a great band to see live," he said. "They just had a good presence. They sounded really smooth and just had it together. They didn't just stand there like some bands do. They finally get me a CD of their new stuff and it sounds great. I played their music the other day and got a good response on the phones from it. They're very focused and dedicated and I think they'll go far. They just seem very passionate about performing live. They've got the manager. They're ready to do their own thing and go far." With "Places" settling down on the mp3.com charts and the Rock-U.com Showcase behind them, a strange dichotomy presents itself as the band members puts their noses back to the grindstone, jamming through yet another loud practice session in preparation for a show in Ozark where they will open for Molly Hatchet. But as Chris explained, it's that kind of hard work and humility that may someday allow the band to capitalize on its recent taste of success and break permanently away from their day jobs as music teachers and pump technicians. "It keeps us down to Earth because there's not much else you can do," Chris said. "Even though thousands and thousands of people are listening to your stuff, there's not much you can do with that. You've got to have real things and real contacts. There's always someone who's there to say you touched them just a little bit." Beau agreed, adding that the band's recent string of good breaks has only made them want to work even harder. "The music of Grease Gadget will speak for itself when people hear our band live," he said. "All this stuff has motivated us a lot. We're putting it all on the line and going for it. We will break out. But if nothing else, if we try really hard and if we don't make it to the top, I'm not going to say we wasted all this time and money. I'll say we had a good time." (Staff writer Justin Petruccelli can be reached by phone at 505-1266 or e-mail at justinp@thecabin.net.)
    Group Members
    Lead Vocals, Guitar - Beau Nixon Drum & Percussion - Christopher Nixon Guitar - Joey Brock Bass Guitar - Joey Hambuchen
    Instruments
    Guitar, Bass, Drums, Percussion
    Albums
    Grease Gadget, The Ticket
    Press Reviews
    www.thecabin.net www.nightflying.com www.arfreepress.com www.lick1063.com
    Additional Info
    CDS AVAILABLE AT HASTINGS IN CONWAY
    Location
    Conway, AR - USA

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