Band young, but determined

With its enthusiastic and youthful atmosphere, Bloomington has long held the tradition of being a breeding ground for original music. From the reputable School of Music to legendary venues such as the Bluebird, the area is rich in artistic resources, and has spawned more than a few bands in its day.\nRich Hardesty enjoys the success of being called Indiana's top independent artist, and will soon make the move from Bloomington, where he has spent most of his successful musical career. \nDanagas, a popular local funk band, recognizes when Bloomington's resources are stretched to their limits. \nThree Minute Mile thrives on the local enthusiasm, while experiencing quite a streak of good fortune. \nUnderground Charmin quickly climbs up the proverbial ladder, and is on the verge of bursting onto the Bloomington scene.\nIt's true that the five members of Underground Charmin have only really been playing together since the end of the summer, but they don't let being new on the music scene in Bloomington get in their way. In fact, they would probably take offense to being labeled as merely newcomers.\nUnderground Charmin traces its roots back to early last spring, when members Trevar Mazza, Jared Landberg and Adam Pike played at a house party with former band member Judd David and a drummer. During the party, the drummer lost interest and left, but the band kept playing, eventually enlisting Matt Nawrot as the new drummer.\nThe band won the initial round of Kilroy's Battle of the Bands in March, and went on to play some of the familiar Bloomington venues such as City Grille and Dunn Meadow. But it would soon face a problem most bands don't see until much later in its career -- David decided to go solo; he quit school and left Bloomington for California.\n"After Judd left, it was totally like we started from scratch," Landberg said.\nThe band laid low over the summer -- it was without a lead guitarist, and the members were preoccupied with jobs and other things vying for their attention. But they tried out guitar players and found Geof Crouse, now a permanent member of the band.\nBack into the action after a summer off, Underground Charmin has been hitting the Bloomington music scene hard. During the weekend of the IU/Purdue football game, the band played in West Lafayette, trying to spread its name and its original sound.\nBecause they play mostly original music, cover bands are not something the members of Underground Charmin take kindly to.\n"Cover bands suck ass, and that's on the record," Mazza said. "The covers that we do, we twist them to make them our own."\n"They get 'Charmin-ized,'" Landberg agreed.\nOne of Underground Charmin's biggest challenges might be competition with cover bands that draw in a large but generic crowd covering popular artists such as Dave Matthews.\n"Coming from the person who books everything we've got, they drive me nuts," Pike said. "I have to work really hard (to get gigs) because we play all original music."\nAnother challenge the band faced during its early days was playing in bar venues when the members weren't all 21.\n"We were getting kicked out as soon as we got off the stage," Landberg said.\nBut despite these minor frustrations, the members are quick to toot the horn of the music scene in the Bloomington area.\n"It's incomparable to anywhere else in the state," Pike said.\nUnderground Charmin cites house parties and basement gigs to be the hotbed of upcoming talent in town.\n"Most Bloomington-based bands start off in the basement," Pike said. These bands can draw quite a substantial crowd, claiming they can get up to 150 people out for a house party. \nLandberg points out that Bloomington is especially good for their business.\n"It's good on jam bands and chill music, but there's not much punk or hard core (music)," he said.\nWith gigs at venues including the legendary Bluebird lined up, Underground Charmin planned to head back to the studio over Thanksgiving break. Their marketing strategy has expanded to include their recently developed Web site, www.undergroundcharmin.com. Crouse and his roommates have worked on developing the site, and try to get it listed on various databases, like farmclub.com.\nBut they say their biggest reward still comes from playing.\n"We've all got a lot of determination," Pike said.