Millerton rock group makes a big splash outside a small pond

MILLERTON — The bass pulsing up through the floorboards from the basement is enough to slightly rattle dishes in a kitchen cabinet, yet somehow it wasn’t as loud as one might expect.

“Oh, their practice room is sound-proofed,†says Rob Waite, the father of Take One Car’s bassist, Branden.

Opening up the basement door to the small basement practice room, it’s quickly evident  just how effective that sound-proofing is.

Take One Car, a rock band that played its first show three years ago in the Irving Farm coffeehouse, is (loudly) rehearsing a number of songs by the now-disbanded rock group At The Drive-In. This is somewhat peculiar, seeing that the band has a very important show to play, of their own material, in New York City in just two days.

But there’s good news: The group has just been asked to take part in a series of tribute shows, in which bands will cover a short set of a particular group’s songs. Fans have already commented on the similarity between the Take One Car and At The Drive-In, which the Millerton-based group says is definitely a compliment.

You could definitely call Take One Car a bonafide big deal now, securing a slot at an upcoming music festival in New Jersey after winning a qualifying contest earlier this month in Poughkeepsie.

The current incarnation of the band is 24-year-old Tyler Irish, who provides lead vocals, Pete Scholes, 22, on guitar, 16-year-old Waite on bass and Brittany Maccarello, 19, behind a drum kit. Irish and Scholes are founding members; Waite (Irish’s cousin) joined in 2009 and Maccarello completed the quartet later that year.

The name, while incidentally promoting environmental friendliness, is an inside joke resulting from a car accident involving the original bassist and drummer. Driving to band practice in separate cars, 20/20 hindsight said the incident could have been avoided if the two had traveled in a single vehicle.

The band inarguably plays an aggressive brand of rock music, but its members point out that so many different genres of music make their way into Take One Car’s songs that it’s hard to define them.

“Someone one time called us ‘anger jazz,’†remembered Scholes during a sit-down interview. “That was cool.â€

The group recorded their only album, “When the Ceiling Meets the Floor,†in 2008 in a Poughkeepsie studio before Waite and Maccarello joined the band. The group’s close relationship with the studio’s owner, Jacques Cohen, gave them the freedom to expand upon their songs in the studio, and the final result was drastically different than the group’s original material.

The album was produced from July to September of 2008, and the resulting production, mixing and overall sound quality is owed to Cohen and Space Recording Studio, Scholes stressed. Twelve hundred copies were pressed (only a quarter of that number remain), but a shifting band lineup put the group in constant flux until the current lineup was established.

It then took some time to get Waite and Maccarello up to speed with the group’s catalog (most of Take One Car’s live performance is original material). One of many turning points in the group’s history was when the current members finally felt they had played together enough that the Take One Car of today could start to find its own identity.

“I think [our music] is more mature now,†said Waite, “as far as singing and music structure goes.â€

“A lot more thought goes into it,†added Scholes. “The old songs, those are all under our belt now and we’re moving forward as a unit.â€

It would be hard to find four people with more different musical interests, they say, and it’s finding that common ground that produces the band’s sound.

“All of us bring ideas to the table,†Irish said, explaining that the band will jam out ideas at length and see what sticks.

If there are moments in a band’s history that clearly define its success, for Take One Car,  it was participation in The Break Contest. It’s a bracket-style contest with competition from more than 500 bands with a grand prize of a myriad of public relations tools, including studio time,  demo submission opportunities with major labels, and a main stage slot at Bamboozle Festival New Jersey 2010 this weekend.

The festival, held in the parking lot of Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, was founded in 2003, and this year’s lineup includes platinum-selling artists such as Weezer and Paramore. Hundreds of bands will be playing the two-day event (May 1 and 2), and having the opportunity to play alongside them is no small potatoes for any small town group with big aspirations.

Take One Car won the Poughkeepsie bracket earlier this month, placing first in a pool of more than 150 other artists, which automatically earned the band a spot at Bamboozle. When the band was interviewed, they were coming down from the celebration of that win and preparing for the next challenge, a final show that was held last weekend at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City. Six finalists competed for the grand prize.

“Initially playing Bamboozle wasn’t that important to us,†admitted Irish. “But now … it’s priceless.â€

“Surreal,†added Scholes.

It’s a big jump for a band that’s played at Irving Farm, The Big Grill and even held shows outside at Eddie Collins Field (without permits; the Millerton Police Department politely but firmly put an end to those shows two years ago).

The group said they’ve established a solid local fan base, but in the digital age their listeners are spread far and wide, from Russia to Malaysia and Canada and everywhere in between. Take One Car has profile pages on most major music sites, including MySpace (where they have half a million profile views), Facebook, YouTube, last.fm and many others. Follow them in 140-character bursts on Twitter or through their official Web site, takeonecar.com.

“But you can’t beat a live show,†Irish pointed out.

“The Internet’s the first attraction,†added Waite, “and then the show sticks it to them.â€

Their favorite venue is The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, where “the sound guy puts on a pretty damn good light show,†according to Waite.

“You really feel the drums and power behind the sound,†Maccarello agreed.

“Ukrainian Carbomb†is a crowd-pleaser at their energetic live shows, along with more surprising choices like the instrumental piece “Pg. 67.†And, as a testament to the speed of digital-age connections to fans, the band was recently surprised to hear people singing along to “The Ocean Song,†a track that was posted to the group’s MySpace page just a short while ago.

Technology is a double-edged sword, however, and with an established Internet presence  comes illegal downloading of a group’s music, an issue of varying significance for most musical acts. You can download individual Take One Car tracks or their entire album, legally, through avenues like iTunes or Amazon.com, but there are plenty of other places to find the band’s music online without paying for it.

“It they care about it enough to steal it, I want them to have it,†Irish reasoned. The rest of the band shared the sentiment, feeling that it did the group more good than harm, as it opened their music up to people who might not have heard it otherwise. Besides, the group has, for the majority of its existence, been emptying its own pockets to fund touring, which has extended from Maine to New Jersey and lots of places in between.

“For the longest time we’ve been in the negative,†Irish remembered. “But we’re starting to break even now.â€

Earlier this week, Irish reported that the band placed second at the Gramercy Theatre finals. While they didn’t take home the grand prize, the band will play The Break stage on May 1 for a half-hour set at the festival.

“We had a great set,†he wrote. “The venue was beautiful and had amazing sound as well.â€

When asked what the plans are for the future, the group said that Bamboozle will definitely be opening a lot of doors, and they’ll be playing in front of the right people to further their careers.

Asked if they were hoping to become professional musicians,Take One Car, one by one, grinning sheepishly as if up until very recently the notion seemed more like a pipe dream, nodded.