Mark Scheer was recording songs for that metaphorical vault of memories, not for public consumption. But last year, when he got other musicians involved in the project, they ratcheted up the pressure. Bass player Rocky Lamonde, his colleague from the band Torn 'n' Frayed, was particularly eager to release an album and play live.
"I didn't have those intentions," Scheer says. "But from there, it evolved into a band again."
And again, Scheer, one of the more distinctive singers in the area, finds himself in a band -- Five Star Dive -- that merits attention. A new CD, "All the Time in the World," will be released Saturday at the Rex Theatre, South Side.
Although Scheer, whose credits also include Trash Vegas, made the music for himself, it is not without wide appeal. Musically, Five Star Dive taps into the mood and sound of the Faces and Rolling Stones circa the 1970s. There's a bluesy, intoxicating quality to songs such as "Hearts Loaded Again" and "Derail Yourself."
But not too bluesy.
"If you tweak it a little bit more, when we go through stuff, it could be a funk band," Scheer says. "The guys are very versatile the way they play, and that leaves a lot of room for us in the future. And I like being diverse. I don't want to be pigeonholed into a blues thing, but it is blues-based, that's for sure."
It definitely summons thoughts of the Stones in their "Exile on Main Street" period because of the guitar work of Vinnie Q and Darryl Thumm, who fit the Keith Richards-Ronnie Wood mold. And it's no accident that drummer Mike Oncea fit in so easily -- he's also a member of Jumping Jack Flash, a Rolling Stones tribute band.
"It definitely helped when it came time to sit down and apply a Stones beat," Oncea says. "It was just natural, working with these musicians."
But it's wrong to peg Five Star Dive as merely a knock-off of the Jagger-Richards sound. "In Her Heart" is a neo-folk shuffle, and the wonderfully idiosyncratic "Harvest Time" weds country-western music with Bavarian beer-hall dance rhythm.
"I kept hearing it in a pub, mugs swaying back and forth," he says, laughing. "'It's a good time of year, it's a good time of year' -- just somebody getting done with a day of work and reaping the benefits of what the earth has given you."
The idea of a hard day's work, whether it's manual labor or pushing papers around or making deliveries or even sitting in front of a computer screen and then going home seeking release, seems to be the essence of "All the Time in the World." Scheer admits he doesn't expect to make a dime from the album, his fondest dream being that people will hear the songs and like them.
"I don't think it's going to appeal to anyone who wants to go clubbing," he says. "We're older guys, and that's what we do, work. And this is what we do for entertainment."
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
