music :: interview :: The Guys Behind Fearless Music

by Jason Newman

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and Baby, a six-piece band fronted by ex-Shudder to Think singer Craig Wedren, has just started “Slowdown” in a recording studio in New York City. It sounds like a warped 70s soul song anchored by a funky bassline and back-up vocal harmonies and is the first of three songs the band will perform tonight. The only live audience, however, is a reporter and the duo behind Fearless Music, a New York City television show that features nearly 50 up-and-coming bands performing live in the studio.

The aforementioned duo is Jamie Lamm, the show’s creator, producer and audio engineer, and Monica Castellanos, who handles all the video production and talent booking. Through Fearless, they hope to bring exposure to deserving young bands that, for whatever reason, have not yet gotten a shot at fame.

“I always had the idea of having a rock and roll TV show,” Lamm said. “I knew that I wanted to get into some type of programming and I knew it had something to do with music but I wasn’t really sure what it was gonna be.” Ever since he was an impressionable 9-year old watching The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Lamm knew he wanted to be involved in music. A musician since the age of 15, he went on to start Fearless Music, an advertising music company for TV, radio and feature films. Using revenue from this venture allowed him to build an in-house recording studio, which would end up being the home of the show with the same name.

While Lamm was busy with advertising, Castellanos was moving from set to set in productions for various TV shows and movies before starting her own record label and management company. Their paths crossed when Lamm was mixing a track for Scout, a New York band Castellanos manages. “After working [at Fearless] for a month, he told me about his idea for the TV show," explains Castellanos via e-mail. "And we just started working on making it happen right away.”

"Right away" was September 2003, when Lamm conceived the idea of a show on Time Warner Cable where bands would play live in a studio. The original plan of doing numerous video feeds and editing them together in post-production was quickly scrapped for live, on-the-spot editing using seven surveillance cameras and one hand-held. Fast forward to January 19, 2004 and the premiere episode of Fearless Music debuts, featuring nearly 50 bands over 13 weekly episodes. Each episode features approximately seven bands performing one song each and a conscious effort is made to rotate the bands in their roster to perpetuate a sense of community among the bands and, hopefully, attract new fans.

Like most studios, Fearless combines a casual vibe with serious musical professionalism. The control room facing the studio is an organized mess of computers, monitors, audio equipment, instruments and a seemingly never-ending supply of Rheingold beer. Fliers, bumper stickers and posters of bands adorn one wall of the room as Castellanos, dressed in frayed jeans, a Rod Stewart concert T-shirt and black Chuck Taylors, hurriedly works the vast array of equipment in front of her while the band performs. Using her instinct, technical experience and knowledge of the song, her goal is to present each band in the best light possible.

Each band typically records 3-4 songs in 30 minutes, ensuring that the band treats this more like a quick live performance than a drawn-out studio session. This gives each performance a spontaneous, rawer feel that avoids any gloss bands may be tempted to use in post-production. "The idea is that you're a fly on the wall in a recording studio,” says Lamm. “It’s not a reality show or hosted talk show. It’s just performances.” While it may sound clichéd, Fearless truly does focus purely on the musical merits of each band while eschewing any attempts to give the show an overly-polished look.

Fearless is, sadly, one of the only outlets that functions as a training ground for bands that, while musically talented, haven't hit superstar level (yet). For every Strokes, there are hundreds of bands still waiting for their big break and while some will inevitably languish in obscurity, others will parlay the show into some degree of fame. Among the current buzz bands that have performed on the show already are Ambulance LTD., The Hong Kong and French Kicks. It’s hard to imagine a channel on the level of MTV, hell, even MTV2, showcasing bands that are usually not well-known and, in some cases, unsigned. From the “curious music fan” point of view, though, it's much more convenient to watch seven bands for free in your apartment than spend time and money going to see one or two of them on stage.

The concept of Fearless is not without its models. As Lamm himself points out, one of the archetypes of the show is Old Grey Whistle Test, the influential BBC television music show that minimized the glitziness of other TV shows to focus on the musicians themselves (most bands would perform in front of plain wooden boards). While many current shows feature musical groups, oftentimes it will be a lip-synched performance (Think Soul Train) or in a video, where bands can run through a song over and over until they deem it ready for mass consumption. Fearless is the perfect adjective to describe the attitude bands must have on this show knocking out three songs live with no do-overs.

You can’t replace the feeling of going to a rock club and hearing a song played live in real time. But the idea of Fearless – to give maximum exposure to bands with minimal effort to fans – is one that should be supported and nurtured to counter the too-image conscious and musically limp bands that continue to flood the national consciousness.

The second season of Fearless Music premieres Monday, July 19th on Time Warner Cable Channel 35 in Manhattan @ 8:30 p.m. For the cable-challenged living in New York, Pianos bar (158 Ludlow St. @ Stanton St.) will be screening all Fearless shows in their upstairs lounge. For more info, check out www.fearlessmusic.tv.

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