Civilian Street Plays For A Good Time
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
"I think our music is just happy music," said lead vocalist Adam Beck, 27. "We just like to play happy music."
"I just want people to feel good when they hear our music," said drummer Brian Martin, 26. "If you're having a bad day and then come see our band, I want you to leave feeling good. It'll be there when you get done."
Music enthusiasts will have the opportunity to hear Civilian Street when the band performs at the Rock 'N' The Fort music festival Saturday at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The fifth annual event begins at 5 p.m., with Civilian Street playing at about 8 or 8:30 p.m. for about 1-1/2 hours. Tickets for the event are $11.
This will be the third year Civilian Street has played at the music festival, but the first year as the headlining act. This year, Civilian Street has a different alignment of band members.
Martin and Beck formed Civilian Street four years ago. In the past year, Keith Priser, 25, replaced the former lead guitarist and also does backing vocals; then Paul Dodds, 28, came on board to play bass guitar.
"We definitely play alternative rock, but it's all over the place - rock, alternative rock, jammy. It's just a good mix of stuff. Nothing really heavy. I would just say alternative indie really," said Beck.
While the band does do covers, Civilian Street has its own original music, which Saturday's audience will hear.
"It just happens different ways," said Beck of their original work. Sometimes Beck will write it, work on the progression and then bring it in to practice for further tweaking. Sometimes Priser will bring in a chord and have Beck take it home to work on it.
Beck's father was an award-winning poet, he said, and Beck picked up on it. He said he's more of a songwriter and never really picked up playing the guitar. Working with Priser, he said songwriting has gotten easier.
Priser has been playing guitar for 14 years. It all started when his father gave him a Mickey Mouse guitar and saw he actually had an aptitude for it. At 11 years old, Priser got his first real guitar.
Besides playing in Civilian Street, Priser is a music minister at Claypool United Methodist Church and teaches guitar at Provident Studios.
Some weekends, Priser goes from playing in the band at a bar on a Saturday night to performing at church Sunday morning.
"It's definitely a different experience from a Saturday night to Sunday morning. Very little sleep. Completely different environment," said Priser.
When he was little, Priser didn't do much talking. He now lets the guitar do the talking for him.
"It's like expression for me," he said. "I didn't talk (as a child). It's like talking for me, through the guitar."
Playing with Beck, Martin and Dodds came easy for Priser.
"It's like natural when I first played with these two (Beck, Martin). It felt natural like we've played with each other for years," he said.
Martin started drumming 13 years ago. He found some guys he liked playing with and started a band. Not until Martin met Beck did Martin feel like the dream of playing in a band for a living could become more of a reality.
"It's hard to keep one together," Martin said. "Everyone I've played with has a different style. ... The best feeling I had was with Civilian Street because they're all good players and fun to be with mainly."
Martin and Dodds were in a band together previously in high school.
Dodds is the most versatile instrument player of the bunch. He started with a recorder in the third or fourth grade. He played trumpet, tuba and bass cleft. He tinkered with the guitar, and finally started playing bass guitar in 1998.
"It just really got into my blood pretty heavy," Dodds said.
Also flowing through his blood is the feeling he gets when performing on stage.
"Best times I had on stage was when it was pure alpha waves," he said.
In its new incarnation, Beck said Civilian Street hasn't played many gigs during the past year. But as the summer nears, that's changing. He said the band plans to have fun this summer and perform out more.
Besides Saturday's set, Civilian Street also will play May 3 in Chicago at The Elbow Room and April 24 in Goshen at A Constant Spring. Beck said a place in Louisville, Ky., sent him an e-mail wanting to book the band. He said they want to play anywhere they can.[[In-content Ad]]Civilian Street also has been traveling to Detroit to The Lake studio, working on an album for Surreal Records. The band hopes to have that album out by late summer or early fall.
While the record is a work in progress, the band is looking forward to Saturday's show at the Fort Wayne Coliseum.
"Very excited," said Priser. "The one thing I've been looking forward to all year. I'm not nervous at all. Since we planned for it, I've wished it was that day."
Martin said he was looking forward to "the whole atmosphere, the screaming crowd. Six hundred more people standing there to hear you."
"It's definitely a way to connect to people," said Priser.
"It'll definitely be a new experience. I've not played in that kind of forum before," said Dodds.
The band's Web site, under construction, is www.civilianstreet.com The Web site has links to the band's Facebook and MySpace pages.
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"I think our music is just happy music," said lead vocalist Adam Beck, 27. "We just like to play happy music."
"I just want people to feel good when they hear our music," said drummer Brian Martin, 26. "If you're having a bad day and then come see our band, I want you to leave feeling good. It'll be there when you get done."
Music enthusiasts will have the opportunity to hear Civilian Street when the band performs at the Rock 'N' The Fort music festival Saturday at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The fifth annual event begins at 5 p.m., with Civilian Street playing at about 8 or 8:30 p.m. for about 1-1/2 hours. Tickets for the event are $11.
This will be the third year Civilian Street has played at the music festival, but the first year as the headlining act. This year, Civilian Street has a different alignment of band members.
Martin and Beck formed Civilian Street four years ago. In the past year, Keith Priser, 25, replaced the former lead guitarist and also does backing vocals; then Paul Dodds, 28, came on board to play bass guitar.
"We definitely play alternative rock, but it's all over the place - rock, alternative rock, jammy. It's just a good mix of stuff. Nothing really heavy. I would just say alternative indie really," said Beck.
While the band does do covers, Civilian Street has its own original music, which Saturday's audience will hear.
"It just happens different ways," said Beck of their original work. Sometimes Beck will write it, work on the progression and then bring it in to practice for further tweaking. Sometimes Priser will bring in a chord and have Beck take it home to work on it.
Beck's father was an award-winning poet, he said, and Beck picked up on it. He said he's more of a songwriter and never really picked up playing the guitar. Working with Priser, he said songwriting has gotten easier.
Priser has been playing guitar for 14 years. It all started when his father gave him a Mickey Mouse guitar and saw he actually had an aptitude for it. At 11 years old, Priser got his first real guitar.
Besides playing in Civilian Street, Priser is a music minister at Claypool United Methodist Church and teaches guitar at Provident Studios.
Some weekends, Priser goes from playing in the band at a bar on a Saturday night to performing at church Sunday morning.
"It's definitely a different experience from a Saturday night to Sunday morning. Very little sleep. Completely different environment," said Priser.
When he was little, Priser didn't do much talking. He now lets the guitar do the talking for him.
"It's like expression for me," he said. "I didn't talk (as a child). It's like talking for me, through the guitar."
Playing with Beck, Martin and Dodds came easy for Priser.
"It's like natural when I first played with these two (Beck, Martin). It felt natural like we've played with each other for years," he said.
Martin started drumming 13 years ago. He found some guys he liked playing with and started a band. Not until Martin met Beck did Martin feel like the dream of playing in a band for a living could become more of a reality.
"It's hard to keep one together," Martin said. "Everyone I've played with has a different style. ... The best feeling I had was with Civilian Street because they're all good players and fun to be with mainly."
Martin and Dodds were in a band together previously in high school.
Dodds is the most versatile instrument player of the bunch. He started with a recorder in the third or fourth grade. He played trumpet, tuba and bass cleft. He tinkered with the guitar, and finally started playing bass guitar in 1998.
"It just really got into my blood pretty heavy," Dodds said.
Also flowing through his blood is the feeling he gets when performing on stage.
"Best times I had on stage was when it was pure alpha waves," he said.
In its new incarnation, Beck said Civilian Street hasn't played many gigs during the past year. But as the summer nears, that's changing. He said the band plans to have fun this summer and perform out more.
Besides Saturday's set, Civilian Street also will play May 3 in Chicago at The Elbow Room and April 24 in Goshen at A Constant Spring. Beck said a place in Louisville, Ky., sent him an e-mail wanting to book the band. He said they want to play anywhere they can.[[In-content Ad]]Civilian Street also has been traveling to Detroit to The Lake studio, working on an album for Surreal Records. The band hopes to have that album out by late summer or early fall.
While the record is a work in progress, the band is looking forward to Saturday's show at the Fort Wayne Coliseum.
"Very excited," said Priser. "The one thing I've been looking forward to all year. I'm not nervous at all. Since we planned for it, I've wished it was that day."
Martin said he was looking forward to "the whole atmosphere, the screaming crowd. Six hundred more people standing there to hear you."
"It's definitely a way to connect to people," said Priser.
"It'll definitely be a new experience. I've not played in that kind of forum before," said Dodds.
The band's Web site, under construction, is www.civilianstreet.com The Web site has links to the band's Facebook and MySpace pages.
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