The Harmonic Alchemy of TRIP ZERO

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The Harmonic Alchemy of

TRIP ZERO

By Randy Chandler

Vocalist/Guitarist Mick Furlo of Trip Zero

Say whatever you want about Mick Furlo - the man is a survivor. Throughout a long and storied career in the Tri-cities music scene, full of ups & downs, Mick has nonetheless played a significant role in some of the best cover bands this area has ever witnessed.

From his seminal outfit, The Mick Furlo Band, which basically defined the 1980's college rock sound, through his groundbreaking work with The Jitters, to yet another successful group, The Batteries, Mick has surrounded himself with some of the area's finest musicians.

The list of local luminaries he has played with is staggering, including A.J. Dunning and Donny Brown of The Verve Pipe, as well as John Dinsmore and Bill Golden (Jedi Mind Trip), Bill Silverthorn, Bass god's Mark Miller and Bruce LaFrance, guitarist Jeff Scott and keyboardist Dan 'Swivel' Sliwinski (Count 'n the Change), Mark Nellett, Marty Berg - the list goes on and on.

Mick has enjoyed immense popularity and has gained a local loyal following,

but people who taste the most joyous highs are often the ones who 'crash &

burn' the hardest, and Mick has seen some bitter disappointments.

The dissolution of The Jitters was particularly brutal, coinciding as it

did with the closing of Zingger's, the old town hangout that Mick ran,

booked, and gigged at. It must have felt like the rug was getting yanked

from under his feet in every room of the house. But he bounced back with

The Batteries and enjoyed a successful run before half his band left to

become the 6th incarnation of Jedi Mind Trip.

Once again, things looked bad. But like a Phoenix, Mick Furlo has risen

from the ashes once more with his newest (and arguably, Best Ever) band,

TRIP ZERO.

His distinctive voice, at times evocative of Bono, Sting, John Lennon,

Elton John and Joe Walsh, is in top form these days, as evidenced by a

recent performance at Hollywood Nights.  Mick is joined by

vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Tom Behmlander (Mirage, Buzzcoat, Unglued,

and KickSass); bassist/vocalist Jeff Poirer (Buzzcoat, Unglued, and Working

Class); and drummer Paul Letherer (Meanstreet, Grind, and Stark Raven).

Bassist/Vocalist Jeff Poirer of Trip Zero

Vocalist/Guitarist/Keyboardist Tom Behmlander of Trip Zero

Obviously, this is a band of seasoned musicians with a pedigree one-mile

long. They've also known each other for decades, which makes for a

comfortable fit.

"Sometimes it takes forever to find cats you can not only communicate

musically with, but you can hang with as people," offers Letherer. "There's

no egos in this band. Everyone's real mellow."

Tom and Jeff had tried to work with Mick between The Jitters and The

Batteries.  But the effort proved unsuccessful. "We never even did a gig,"

Mick recalls. "We were working together in Buzzcoat, says Tom, "and we were

a three-piece. We thought about getting a frontman, and we contacted Mick.

But we were so set in our ways as a trio that adding a fourth member just

didn't work. When that group dissolved, I told Jeff, 'I want to start a new

project with Mick."

Drummer Paul Letherer of Trip Zero

Jeff, however, was busy at the time. "I was playing in a band called Stumpy

& the Slimtones," he laughs. "We were basically playing The Wooden Shoe up

in Gladwin. But eventually that ended and I could jump into this."

"It was tough when this first came together, because we didn't have a

permanent bass player," says Mick. "Eric Van Landingham (one of myriad

guitarists Letherer jammed with in Meanstreet) was filling in."

"Jay Burk came to rehearsal once," interjects Paul. "I was really bugging

Jeff to join up," says Tom, "because we'd worked together for a long time

and we harmonize really well and I knew that if Jeff, Mick and I sang

together, it would work."

And work it does.

The flawless three-part harmonies are clearly Trip Zero's defining point,

giving classics like Magical Mystery Tour, Down in a Hole, and The James

Gang nugget Walk Away the treatment such songs deserve. In an area replete

with bands with great harmony vocals, Trip Zero's imposing ensemble work is

rivaled only by the Corbin Brothers from the Jerkwater Town Boys (and those

guys are brothers who've been singing together for 20 years, for god's

sake!)

"Tom's the harmony arranger," notes Paul. "And he'll bust your chops at

practice if you're on someone else's note."

Indeed, they sound like a band that practices a lot. "Nah," laughs Tom. "We

just know a billion songs.  If it's ever been a hit, Jeff and Tom know it.

Mick has a vast knowledge in a lot of Funk and College music, and I'm like

the Metalhead, but I also bring things like Elton John's Love Lies Bleeding

in to learn."

Sums up Paul, "We have a ton of different influences."

Those influences are evident in the sheer diversity of Trip Zero's set

list. Here you'll find the Funk classic, Shining Star buttressed against

some Stabbing Westward, followed up with a heartfelt (and completely

improvised) rendition of My Sweet Lord, offered up as a tribute to the

recently deceased George Harrison.

At a time when it seems every working band in the area is striving for

variety, and yet all doing the same 'variety' staples (Brown Eyed Girl,

Mustang Sally, Some Kinda Wonderful, Jessie's Girl, et.al) Trip Zero are

truly, in the words of Monty Python, 'something completely different.'

So now that they've got the greatest line-up of their careers, what is

their prime objective?

"Tri-city domination," jokes Jeff without missing a beat. Mick is somewhat

more introspective. "I've got a lot of original material that's never been

recorded, and Paul has a studio in his house. It could happen, it might

not. Everyone has a CD out right now and a lot of them are awful. We don't

have any big pretensions."

"We're a little old to change the world, don't you think?" laughs Tom.

"We're pushing 150 between us!" observes Paul.

"I'd like to say we were planning on writing and recording original stuff,"

notes Jeff, "but it seems like every time a band I'm in sets out to write

our own stuff, that's when it all goes to crap. It's kind of like the old

musician's joke about the band breaking up when the drummer says, 'Hey, I

wrote some songsŠ"

"This is the most fun I've had in a band, maybe ever," says Paul. "We're

doing stuff we all love, everyone's a great musician, and the harmonies are

killer. I don't care how long it lasts. For right now, I'm having fun - and

that's what it's all about."

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