1 Clevland's Machine Go Boom
Lou Menz
When life gives you lemons
Machine Go Boom makes big pop noise on a tiny budget
By Arianna Stern
Published: December 6th, 2007 | 2:00pm
Cynics often remark that in the entertainment industry, luck and connections have more to do with commercial success than skill. Machine Go Boom, a Cleveland five-piece, seems to prove that all too often the cynics are right, and real talent is irrelevant to commercial success.
The band formed in 2001, when keyboardist Carrie Bukala moved home from Mercyhurst College and frequented a Lakewood, Ohio, concert venue called The Green Room. There, bandleader and solo performer Mike Baranick earned his nickname “Mikey Machine” for his prolific songwriting. “He’s like the Brill Factory, where they hired songwriters to work in a factory and write songs,” Bukala says. When she met Baranick and his longtime friend Brian “Bubbles” O’Connor, the three set out to form a band.
Finding a permanent lineup for Machine Go Boom introduced the band to its first bout of bad luck. Though their first rhythm guitarist, Mike Uva, signed the group to his label, Collectible Escalators, he later left Machine Go Boom in order to raise his baby. Their second guitarist, Kevin Jaworski, has remained in the group for about a year. Securing a permanent drummer has proven even more difficult, with the band currently in the process of finding its fourth percussionist.
Listening to Machine Go Boom’s sophomore album, Music for Parents, released on Collectible Escalators, you’d never know the band was dealing with so many challenges. The record contains 16 tracks of hook-laden glee, from the rhythmic, orchestral “Small” to the straight-up punk of “Quarantined,” it reminds of power pop greats like the New Pornographers, Teenage Fanclub, and Blue Album–era Weezer. In the fast and loud pop tradition, Machine Go Boom’s music combines dark lyrics with chipper, up-tempo melodies. “I think [Baranick] finds the dichotomy [or] the juxtaposition of the two amusing, especially when people are listening to [the songs] and dancing around and having a great time and they don’t realize what’s actually being said,” Bukala says.
When the band performs, the typically young audience dances and sings along to lyrics like “Call up your parents / And tell them we’re running away.” Parents has even caught the attention of NPR.org, who wrote that “the band delivers youthful power pop energy with guitars on overdrive and hyperactive percussion.”
If only the band could sell their record. Bukala estimates that Machine Go Boom sold only three copies of Music for Parents on a recent two-week tour. The combination of Machine Go Boom’s obscure status as a band and club owners’ inability to book local openers on show nights made for small crowds. “We played at the Cake Factory,” recalls Bukala. “Kevin had a friend in New York, and she was the only person there. We kinda joked around after the show — we were like, ‘So we came here to play for you!’”
To make matters worse, the band’s tour bus stopped working altogether. But according to Bukala, the tour didn’t exactly go to waste. Some hardcore Cleveland fans drove out to see the band in other Midwestern cities. “The bartenders at the different venues liked us a lot,” says Bukala, sounding equally self-deprecating and sincere.
Bukala maintains an optimistic outlook, which probably comes from the knowledge that the few who do see Machine Go Boom genuinely enjoy the experience. In the small town of Audubon, New Jersey, the band played in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting hall. “[I]t was almost like all the kids in the town were there, and they were dancing and swinging each other around,” says Bukala. “That was the best reception to us playing I think I’ve ever seen. I mean they’d never even heard us before and they were reacting like that. It felt wonderful.”
In the future, the band plans to cut costs by playing out of town on the weekends and ensuring that local opening acts will draw a crowd. Until then, Machine Go Boom plays to a tiny but contented minority, crafting pop nuggets in obscurity until the music industry wakes up.
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links:
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Issue #25
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