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Hello Nurse:
Nice Guys Rocking Downtown
By David Chiu
The one thing that became apparent when
talking to New York City-based rock band Hello Nurse was how
nice and polite they were. Their amiable personas and sense of
humor was an antidote to the sometimes narcissistic, ego-driven
air that usually surrounds both young and established rock stars.
In Hello Nurse, you won't find the creative and personal friction
as notoriously documented in other bands from the Stones to Oasis.
Take for example what guitarist Ed Gross said about singer Mike
Garcia.
"Mike has a great voice. I think that's
what sets us apart from other bands is that it doesn't sound
like 50 takes for our singer to his notes. He's spot on with
the performance."
The fact that the members of Hello Nurse
are friends first has carried them through despite personnel
changes. The band started with Gross, a native of Washington,
D.C., who met future singer Nathaniel Vose when they both attended
Vassar College in 1998. With drummer Christian Sparling from
Detroit and bassist Brian House, it marked the embryonic stage
of Hello Nurse's development. However in 2003, both Vose and
House left the band. After recruiting Joe Crespo on bass, the
next task was to find a singer. Thanks to the magic of Craigslist
(which is how everybody in the band knew each other), they met
Mike Garcia early this year and auditioned him.
"Luckily another advantage of NYC
is that there are a lot of people who want to play," said
Gross, as he and Garcia were chilling out at his downtown apartment
a few minutes before the group's gig at the Luna Lounge. "We
have a pretty accessible sound and there is a lot of people who
what to play in a band. When the right person comes along, in
the case of Joe and Mike, it wasn't really a decision-we knew
after five seconds. Now if anyone leaves it will probably just
upgrade the sound even more."
"When I first met Ed," Garcia
remembered, "to be honest I was a little scared. As soon
as I walked into the door, they were all really cool. "I
felt really positive about the whole auditioning experience and
the guys in the band. I remember Christian offered me cocktail
shrimp at the tryouts. 'Well if they got cocktail shrimp, I'm
in!'"
Having been together for less than two
years, Hello Nurse has been regulars at most of the Lower East
Side rock venues. The group recently released a six-song EP entitled
Hey Sailor and is readying the release of their full length
debut in the fall. Gross said that the new album will include
some songs from the previous EP, and then quickly joked, "I
don't think we'll call it the Hey Sailor LP."
Hello Nurse's down-to-earth, nice guy nature
belies the angstful, manic energy of their sound. Old school
listeners will detect early '70s punk a la Television in their
music, while today's fans will make comparisons to Weezer and
Franz Ferdinand. Although the sound is abrasive and edgy with
abstract lyrics, it also very melodic. You need only to see what
was lying on top of Ed Gross's stereo-Electric Light Orchestra's
Greatest Hits-to know this group has an appreciation for
pop.
"Our sound is accessible to people
who listen to this genre of music and to people who are just
casual music listeners," said Garcia. We're all passionate
about music and we all have strong feelings about certain types
of music. We don't want to alienate anyone but we're not writing
specific styles to please anyone."
Added Gross, "We believe in hooks
all over the place, melodies, and big choruses. The common ground
is anything with a strong melody from '60s Motown and the Beatles
to modern stuff. Not necessarily saccharine or shiny pop stuff,
but good hummable and memorable melodies."
So far, the band has played nearly every
Lower East Side venue, and hope to tour outside of the city.
Right they are happy catering to their loyal local fan base while
trying to connect with people unfamiliar with their music. "I
like to consider ourselves pretty polished live," Gross
said. "We try to balance having just a ton of fun and playing
with a little precision."
"To me I try not to let crowd size
affect me," said Garcia. "I think it just depends on
the quality of the crowd and not the quantity. I think when you
see the band live, you can feel the energy we show on stage."
For the band, playing constantly in and
around New York is another major step towards the brass ring.
"I think that ideally it would be great to make the seamless
transition from day jobs to limousines and tour buses,"
said Gross. "Obviously it's a huge leap of faith to come
from having day jobs and steady income. I like to hope at some
point we'll actually have that dilemma."
As they were ready to go to the Luna Lounge
for their show, this interviewer had to ask the obvious-the origin
of their unusual name. Founding member Gross who is a clear natural
at storytelling, said they toyed with a couple of bizarre names
including the Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar. "We spent
ten hours in this little tiny space in Long Island City and it
was stinking hot-the four of us and our engineer. At the end
of [the session] the guy was like, 'What's your name again?'
So we needed a new name. My personal favorites were the Awesomes
and Mantastic Four. I remember Hello Nurse as an old saying from
the '40s. For some reason everyone was like 'Hello Nurse is fine.
It's not bad.' People have said, 'I think I've heard of you.'
We hope it's true."
www.hellonurse.com
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