By Chris Mohn

'The Screaming Casanovas Add to the Lexicon: (left to right) Drummer Joe Spada, guitarists/vocalists Neil Jones & Dale Boulton, and bassist Kurt Cunningham.

Photo by Kay McEntee

The Screaming Casanovas have been delivering the 'lowdown' on

uncluttered and tightly constructed 'Classic' Rock 'n Roll every Thursday

at the Hamilton St. Pub for well over a year now. Voted 'Best Rock Band'

at the 14th Review Music Awards ceremony earlier this year, the band

consists of Joey Spada on drums, guitarists and vocalists Neil Jones and

Dale Boulton, and Kurt Cunningham on bass & vocals. The 'fifth' Casanova is

Chris Fachting of Saginaw, who does everything from artwork to running the

P.A. system and sitting in on certain tunes.

Possessing an animated stage-presence, coupled with a razor-sharp

sensibility for picking out formidable and definitive songs from the New

Wave repertoire of the late '70s and early to mid-'80s, the band sites

influences as varied as Mike Ness, Bob Mould, Huey Lewis, David Bowie, The

Ramones and even Cinderella, which gives one a solid appreciation for their

sense of musical diversity.

The 'Casanovas' origins are the stuff of local folklore. "Kurt and Neil met

me at Wiseguys playing on Wednesdays, and Dale and I were playing together

at the time," explains Joe. "We just decided to get together and see what

happened when the four of us mixed."

Guitarist Neil Jones is a veteran of many of the area's finest bands, including

Round & a Distant Few, KMJ, The Swaggering Rogues, Radio Therapy,

and Dirty Blonde, whereas Dale was formerly with the Classic Rock outfit Whiskey

& Rye. "Neil and I were jamming with Round and then we formed Radio

Therapy," explains Kurt. "

Drummer Joey Spada was playing with The Roaches and with Dale for a few

years, but notes that he never got out much except for Open Mic Night.

With bands like Coal Chamber and Ozzy doing Shock the Monkey and The Foo

Fighters performing Baker Street, what do the Casanovas think about the big

'80s Revival' that seems to be happening in music today?

"We've been doing that kind of stuff since we've been together," laughs

Dale. "The first song we ever opened with was Dreaming by Blondie.

"I think some of the people in the bars are a little older and instead of

the sixties & seventies, now they want to hear '80s Music' because that's

what they remember," notes Joe.

"It's like a cycle creeping back up to that Metal Stage!," interjects Dale.

"I think songs that are truly good stick around and remain popular no

matter whether they came from the '80's or any other era," reflects Neil.

"If they're really great songs to begin with, they stand the test of time -

like Rock Around the Clock and Oh Boy - people still love that stuff. It

all comes back around. There were groups from the '80s covering music from

the '70s."

Presently, The Screaming Casanovas are busy cutting a demo of originals.

"We've got a lot of material, but getting together to put them down is

another story," notes Dale. "We've been pretty productive lately, but it's

very time consuming. We're getting together on Wednesdays now and doing

some of our basic tracks."

"Yeah, apart from the fact these three are complete bastards and I'm an all

right guy," jokes Neil.

"Yes, we all get along good and it's nice to be working with three guys

that share similar motivation," adds Dale.

"The hardest part is finding the right people and we've done that," notes Kurt.

"Everything fell right together from the first rehearsal, so it's real

cool," continues Neil. "We don't agree on everything but we agree to

disagree - its just respect. Sometimes I throw ideas at these guys and they

go - hey, are you on drugs? And sometimes they throw things at me and I

say, 'Come on!' Basically, it's not big deal."

"Kurt will come to the band with a song or Neil will come with a song and

there's normally a demo behind that," reflects Dale. "Kurt will come in

singing in his way, have the basic chords, and say 'Joe, go ahead an play

the drums.' Dale and Neil play the guitar and he won't tell us what to do.

He leaves that space open for each of us and we let each other go, taking

on our own thoughts."

"Yeah, the songs come off not completely different, but definitely with a

new life," adds Neil. "For example, on I Love You to Death, I had a drum

machine on the demo but Joe thought brought more life to it."

"We do that with our covers as well," notes Kurt. "Some of them we kind of

changed around to fit our style, like our version of Tainted Love - it's

not like the original."

"It's kind of cool to go see a band put a new twist on a song you've heard

a thousand times," comments Dale. "If you just go out there and play

note-for-note and put nothing of yourself into it, that becomes very

boring."

As we wind our little chat down, I'm starting to wonder why sticksman Joe

Spada has been so uncommonly quiet. Is this a Garbo impersonation? "Joe,"

I comment, "you're being kinda quiet over there! say something!"

"What was the question?", he asks.

What do you like most about being a Casanova?

"I like playing at the Pub on Thursdays. I like the three guys I'm playing

with, and I like playing out. It's a fun band."

You can catch the Screaming Casanovas every Thursday at the Hamilton St.

Pub and at the Low Tide on September 15-16th.