Soul, talent: You's got it

They are the dreamers of the dreams and the makers of the music.\nWith a sound somewhere between white Motown and '80s pop, You sashays to a unique beat. The band can rightfully claim the previous reference from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" it has seemed to adopt as a motto. The band's original sound, delivered with a smirk, is a refreshing addition to the Bloomington scene.\nFormed primarily in the summer of 1999, You is about the average age of a local band. Yet the group's drive and talent is anything but.\nBassist Peter Olson and vocalist--guitarist Nicholas Niespodziani played together in high school and joined up with vocalist Alyssa Finke, a junior, and guitarist--vocalist Matt Sonnicksen, a junior, at IU. Drummer Mark Cobb, a senior, and keyboardist Eric Bark came along later. The band started with some previously written songs and grew from there. \n"Writing songs isn't something you learn, really. It's just something that starts happening," says Niespodziani. "One day you try to write a song and it sounds like Blind Melon, and then the next day you write a song and it sounds like yourself."\nYou's music is definitely happening. The band has soul and professionalism, both traits hard to find in a developing band. Blowing Up, the band's first CD, is evident of this. It opens with an unplaceable sound; this form of pop isn't normally present in the local flavor of rock, funk and jazz. Yet after the first verse, it is easy to love. The same is true of the band's live shows.\nIn Alumni Hall last Friday, You played a free show with three other bands. But for their half hour, these musicians owned that stage. Their presence is near hypnotic, while their attitude is pure amusement.\nMembers of You cite sarcasm as the dynamic of the group. The lightheartedness goes in hand with the music. It is hard to be serious when you are a group of white college-age musicians playing music with some R&B roots.\nCobb compares the music to Beck's R&B influence.\n"He overplays ... his love for that music by exploiting it in his music, which ... is largely what our sound has come to," says Cobb. \nOlson says even if the music is serious, the band doesn't play it seriously. There are cohesive ideas behind the songs. \nGimmicks are another of the band's unique ideas. You takes a different spin on cover songs, for instance playing Michael Jackson's Thriller album last fall at the City Grille. \n"We thought it was an opportunity to play a cover gig and maintain some integrity and some dignity and originality," Niespodziani says, "which are three things that are lacking in many groups that chose to play covers."\nIt is hard to be taken seriously as an original band, says Cobb. People want to hear covers now, and You feels that people haven't quite warmed up to the band yet.\nYou's top five influences are D'Angelo, the Beastie Boys, the Beatles, Joe Satriani and Yanni. With such an eclectic background to You's lighthearted attitude and solid talent, it's easy to see why the band can make everything from R&B flavored tunes to bubblegum pop sound awesome.\nYet the sound is sometimes hard to promote. It's difficult to get seen, the band says, when there is a small amount of live music venues. A band has to move out of this town to make it, says Cobb.\nAnd You will do that. Maybe not yet, but eventually the group will try to get out of the college scene. The band wants to go all the way. Olson says, with a smile, that the band wants to be on VH1's "Behind the Music" and parodied by Weird Al Yankovic.\nYou is a pop group with talent. There isn't any more to say. You need this music.\nYou will play Friday at the Vertigo, 107 N. Ninth St.; March 2, April 13 and April 21 at Kilroy's Sports Bar, 319 N. Walnut St.