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Local band selected to compete in Fox TV series
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/112107_cit-03.jpg) |
| Photo by FOX - Frank Micelota |
| Tres Bien band member Michael Bostino belts out the tunes at a taping of the Fox TV series, “The Next Great American Band.” |
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CLEARWATER – When four Clearwater High School buddies decided to form a band more than five years ago, they had no aspirations of becoming professional musicians.
Sophomore Ryan Metcalf and freshmen Michael Bostino, Cody Wilson and Michael Crowe just wanted to have some fun.
“We were friends first,” Bostino explained in a telephone interview from the Hollywood apartment they are sharing while competing in the Fox TV series The Next Great American Band. “Then we decided to play music together to meet girls and be popular. But it turned into a job.”
Bostino is a guitarist and the lead singer. Wilson plays the bass guitar and sings backup vocals. Crowe is the organist and lead guitarist, and Metcalf is the drummer.
Their band, Tres Bien, was one of 12 semifinalists selected from the thousands of hopefuls that applied. Singer/songwriter John Rzeznik, legendary percussionist Sheila E. and Australian TV personality Ian “Dicko” Dickson did the judging.
“This is a big step for us,” Wilson said. “We can’t thank the production company enough. It’s a great experience.”
Each week, one band is eliminated, and the count was down to eight at the time of the interview. When only three bands are left, they will compete for the lucrative recording, touring and merchandising contracts that the winner gets.
“We’re like sugar in the raw,” Bostino replied when asked to describe the band’s musical style. “We’re not too sweet and not artificial.”
And if anybody should know about sugar in the raw, these guys should. Bostino formerly worked in the Pickles Plus restaurant in the Harborview Center, and the other three worked at Gordon Food Services on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.
They play classic rock ’n’ roll in the style of the 1960s. It was a time of civil rights marches, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was also a couple of decades before any of the band members were born.
“Rock ’n’ roll has gone so far out of date that it’s retro,” Metcalf said. “We’re the retro band.”
The rules of the competition require the bands to play music written by others instead of playing original songs they have written, and the Tres Bien members feel that puts them at a disadvantage.
“Not playing originals is horrible,” Wilson said. “We’re better songwriters than musicians.”
Getting used to Hollywood isn’t easy for four Clearwater boys. They describe it as “the nicest prison you’d ever want to see.”
They especially miss the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football games, which aren’t televised there. The only way to see the games, they said, is to watch them at a bar, but they don’t have a car and there aren’t any bars within walking distance of their apartment. And adding to the problem is the fact that picketers from the TV writers’ strike are everywhere, slowing the city to a crawl.
“Of course we’ll come back to Clearwater if we win,” Wilson said. “Clearwater is our home; we grew up there. But you might not see us for a while because we’ll have a lot of touring to do.”
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Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007
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