You may know something about Gian Caterine if you read his mini-biography on the TuneCore “Meet the Founders” page (http://www.tunecore.com/index/bios). You might know Gian is our most trusted financial advisor, an integral part of our company, and if TuneCore reaches its full potential, it’s because he was there, fighting battles we didn’t even realize were upon us, and winning. You probably know Gian means the world to all of us, and we’re overjoyed to have him on our team. What you don’t know is, Gian rocks.
Gary Burke (our CTO) and I drove up to Worcester, MA, this weekend to catch Gian and his 5-piece band at a cozy, friendly venue. Vincent’s is a small bar full of photos and stuffed fauna (I spotted a wolf, a weasel, a coyote, an armadillo and a fully inflated puffer fish), with only enough room for four tiny tables, the bar and the band. We didn’t know what to expect–we didn’t even know what kind of music Gian and his band played. We figured maybe 70′s rock covers or something.
In two seconds we were blown away. Gian ROCKS. His music is written from scratch and from the heart. It’s loosely “Roots” with a dose of blues and folk, a touch of Beatles and a helping of Dire Straights. But this is no homage band: the influences are there, but they have their own sound.
John Cate (Gian’s stage name) fronts the band as lead vocalist and rhythm guitar. They have a fantastic lead guitarist who can be part George Harrison, part B. B. King. Their bassist is steady as a rock, he totally blew me away (if you’re in a band, you know how important the bassist is, and when you get a quality one, you hang on for life). They have a chameleon on steel, fiddle and mandolin–I suspect he plays more instruments, but that’s all he brought with him that night. Gian tells me they cycle through a number of drummers, and tonight’s was a real pro.
What struck me about their music was the sense of trust–these guys knew each other, were comfortable with their roles and their instruments, and could support each other with that ease that comes from really knowing your stuff. They had tremendous energy, enough to fill fifty times the space they had. We all see a lot of rock bands with energy–it’s good, it’s necessary, but unless it’s fueling both vision and skill, it’s juvenile. Not so here: these guys poured it in through well-played instruments, never showboating, but rocking out from the sheer power of the moment.
And what moments! Gian, I found out, writes all the songs, and they’re good. No, I mean it. I’m not just saying that. They’re GOOD. They acknowledge traditional forms, especially 8-bar blues, roots rock, some folk shapes highlighted by the fiddle and mandolin, but they aren’t slavish. When the band begs, in three-part harmony, “Oh, Sweet Mercy, Take Me Back!” it’s a western-blues call with meaning. When they rebound off the Charlie Daniels-inspired “And His Name Is John,” you get caught up in the story. One song in their third set sounded like a power ballad from the 90s, but done right, without all the sap and with a lot less hair. Another earlier one, “Romeo and Juliet,” had shades of Melloncamp, and I mean that in a good way.
Most of all, Gian rocks. They’re into the music–I think that’s why they choose only small venues. These guys have the chops to play a lot bigger, but they’re in it for the fans. I happen to know Gian has a day job, and a hell of a job it is! I’ve watched him look a CEO of a $1.4 billion-dollar company in the eye and negotiate for better terms. I know he’s helped bring companies public, to the tune of more than a billion in market cap. This guy rocks not for fun, not for pleasure, not for money, but because he HAS to, and that’s all the difference.
They play in Worcester and also Cambridge, which is a much shorter drive for us. We’ll be at the next show we can get to. And I know who’s playing our company party, when we finally get time to have our first. If we all have to pile in a car to Worcester, it’ll be worth the trip.
–Peter
