Of all things, a Christmas song actually brought together the initial members of the NYC-based hybrid country rock band, Cold Beer & Broads (things I always associate with the holidays) – it happened in 2011 when lyricist Larry Studnicky introduced his musician friends John Macom and Charles Czarnecki to each other to finish a Christmas song Larry had written called “Get Me Home By Christmas Eve”. Now the trio and the rest of the band (Kevin Dow, Ken Dow, Christina Benedetto and Sophie Domain) are pumping out tunes on the regular for Cold Beer & Boards, and they have quite the history behind them.
Before coming together as CB&B, the group’s members had worked with a litany of legendary acts and artists including Nicky Hopkins (worked with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles), Pete Townshend, Brian May & Roger Taylor of Queen, Suge Knight (Death Row Records), Fred Schneider of The B-52’s and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees. Not too shabby! They have a fresh release titled Six Pack you should learn more about, from the mouth of one Mr. Macom: “Listeners might be confused at first, because there is such a broad (pun somewhat intended) spectrum of singer-songwriter input on this EP. You’ll hear four different lead singers (three guys and one gal). We always have the song dictate who should sing the lead. Song first, ego second (except for Larry, because his ego must go first and he’s really the leader). The songs are very direct, which is refreshing in today’s radio environment.”
Click to www.coldbeerandbroads.com to sample Six Pack and get into the show schedule for Cold Beer & Broads. They’re going to be busy spreading the word and of course, creating more new music. There’s still much more to get into, so keep reading for all the answers to the XXQs below.
XXQs: Cold Beer & Broads
PensEyeView.com (PEV): How would you describe your sound and what do you feel makes you stand out over others in your genre?
Larry Studnicky (LS): I’m so dang old that I’ve probably had too many musical influences, which is reflected in the songs for our EP, Six Pack, not having any unifying “sound”. You can’t listen to “Get Me Home By Christmas Eve” (country-rock) and “First Amendment Blues” (pop-punk) and then conclude right away they’re both by the same writers and musicians. But they are unified by the band’s songwriting skills and some amazing musicianship. As the writer of most of the CB&B lyrics, I flatter myself (too much, probably) in thinking that the lyrics also make us stand out. You’re not going to hear a lot of recycled lyrical clichés in our tunes, no matter what genre we’re writing in.
PEV: Calling NYC home, what kind of music were you all into growing up? Do you remember your first concert?
John Macom (JM): I grew up in central New Jersey, equidistant between NYC & Philly. I was lucky to be sandwiched between great radio stations like WMMR and WNEW at the time. Radio was great at the time, because they would actually talk about up and coming artists. You would hear everything – Philly soul, rock, imports, great local bands (Robert Hazard, Glenn Burtnick). My dad listened to classical, especially opera, and my mom liked Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. I would sneak into my older sister’s room and listen to these vinyl disc-shaped things called “records”, where the good ones said Beatles or Beach Boys on them. I got to see The Smithereens as my first concert. They were awesome (and still are).
PEV: What was it like trying to break into the music scene in your hometown, when you first started out as a band? What was your first show like together as a band?
LS: I probably started writing songs in my head around 16, but I was a high school nerd, and it just never occurred to me that the tunes rattling around inside my brain might find an audience with anyone but me. So, I kept mum about it all and kept my nose in the books.
PEV: What can fans expect from a live Cold Beer & Broads show?
JM: A lot of great musicianship amongst a sea of confusion. We hope to have ring card girls in between songs to distract the audience from any of our shortcomings.
LS: Absolutely, the ring card girls fit right in with our approach to Cold Beer & Broads not just as a band but also as a lifestyle brand (someday). Nobody’s going to want to look at us guys anyway. But having the right bikini-clad girls introducing every song (showing the title on a big card, like in between the rounds of a championship boxing match) should keep the music – and the beer – flowing.
PEV: What is the first thing that comes to mind when you step on stage?
JM: Did I press “send” for my online mortgage payment?
Charles Czarnecki (CC): Imagine everyone is naked. Imagine the ones you wish you didn’t see naked are cherub sculptures. Okay, now melt some faces.
PEV: How has playing in Cold Beer & Broads been different from working with other artists or projects in the past?
LS: Well, for me, it has been a big letdown, I suppose. The first record I set out to make, with my songs, had appearances on it by (the late) Nicky Hopkins (one of rock’s legendary keyboardists, who played with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, John Lennon and many others), and also by ex-Stone Mick Taylor (Nicky invited him to play), and that album even had a duet sung by the band’s lead singer with Cher, no less (he was one of her roadies at the time). I am not making this stuff up. It happened – I was there, sober, and saw it all.
So working with my relatively unknown current collaborators has been an interesting contrast. But seriously – I cannot believe how lucky I am to have John and Charles as my co-writers and band mates. I can’t get the songs out of my head without them and the other guys and gals we record with – Mike DoCampo on guitar, Kevin Dow on bass, and his brother Ken Dow on drums. Oh yeah – and THE BROADS: our backup singers, Christina Benedetto and Sophie Domain. They are all amazing to work with. Everyone gets along, and all the pre-production and recording sessions are a blast.
PEV: What is the underlying inspiration for your music? Where do you get your best ideas for songs?
LS: I often can’t fathom where the initial spark for a song comes from, but – when you’re lucky – it can come from just wandering around NYC and its environs and grabbing at some random thought that strikes you. Two of the songs on Six Pack got their spark that way last Fall. Driving north of the city up the NY State Thruway, the exit sign for Rhinecliff got me wondering whether anyone had ever written a song about the “Cliff Notes Of Love“. That’s now the title of another up-tempo rock tune we’re recording.
Another day last Fall, I was walking through Herald Square and (God knows why) was wondering what is it about Jennifer Anniston that keeps her from getting married. So I wrote a song about that called, simply, “Jennifer Anniston (Why are you single?)”. Most of it just poured out as I walked. When you’re lucky, the song comes out in a few minutes nearly finished. Well, finished in my head – I need the rest of CB&B to make this stuff real.
PEV: Thinking back to when you first started out, do you ever look back on your career and think about your earlier days and how you’ve arrived where you are today?
CC: All is as it should be. Larry is much more than a collaborator to me, and my meeting John is a fantastic result of my relationship with Larry. My career in music has been amazing and only keeps getting better, and the people I meet along the way always seem to make perfect sense in the grand scheme of things. And those people shape the next step, even if the next step has nothing to do with them.
LS: I think about my earlier days all the time. All the wrong turns and mistakes I’ve made, and the associated regrets, including over not getting serious about music when I’d have been young and stupid enough to have killed myself somehow (as it is, I barely made it out of the 80’s in NYC alive, without being in a band). And then I realize that my life has arrived at a really cool place where I am happily married, with an amazing daughter (she’s 7), and I’m making really good music with people I love hanging with. And, shockingly, radio stations are playing our songs despite CB&B having no record or publishing deals. How much better could life get?
PEV: What’s one thing we’d be surprised to hear about the members of Cold Beer & Broads?
LS: We might be the only band with members spanning their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. And nobody’s sleeping with anybody.
PEV: Tell us about your upcoming release, Six Pack. What can fans expect from this work?
JM: Listeners might be confused at first, because there is such a broad (pun somewhat intended) spectrum of singer-songwriter input on this EP. You’ll hear four different lead singers (three guys and one gal). We always have the song dictate who should sing the lead. Song first, ego second (except for Larry, because his ego must go first and he’s really the leader). The songs are very direct, which is refreshing in today’s radio environment.
PEV: What is the feeling you get after a song is complete, and you can sit back and listen to it for the first time?
CC: Alright, what’s next?
PEV: With all your traveling, is there one area you wish you could travel around and play that you have not yet?
LS: Any place where beer costs a lot less than here in NYC. Guys like us can go broke trying to have a decent night out in this town.
PEV: How have all your friends and family reacted to your career? What’s it like when you get to play in your hometown?
LS: My family (who didn’t know I’d been writing songs, as I don’t play an instrument) was, frankly, stupefied when I finally got off my butt and went to make that record where I met Nicky Hopkins, Mick Taylor and Cher. My late dad said something like, “How old are you now?” And I reminded him, and he said something like, “Well, go ahead and don’t worry about it. You’re still young enough that you can probably screw up another four or five times, really big, and it won’t matter over the long haul.” I told him I was deeply grateful for this strong vote of confidence in me. But I knew what he was saying. He raised all of his children to believe in themselves and to not fear taking risks.
PEV: What can we find each of you doing in your spare time, aside from playing/writing music?
CC: In my spare time, I do research on this recent phenomenon on local beaches where traces of Sasquatch footprints have been found at low tide. Fascinating!
PEV: Name one present and past artist or group that would be your dream collaboration. Why?
CC: Past – Beethoven. I’d be happy with just being his copyist or house maid. Present – Susanne Sundfør. Although the more obvious answer for me would be a group like Radiohead or Nickel Creek (I know, I know, they’re a little different), I haven’t had a group or artist blow my mind in many, many years like Susanne Sundfør did with her album The Silicone Veil. It’s truly inspired stuff. I hope to produce an album for her in the future.
PEV: Is there an up and coming band or artist you think we should all be looking out for now?
JM: Rachel Sermani, Melissa Romanovich, Antonella Barba and Holly Jean Cosner. Sorry for the female bias.
CC: Matt Katz, Nick Messitte, and Hang The DJ. They’re all going to blow your mind.
PEV: If playing music wasn’t your life (or life’s goal), what do you think each of you would doing for a career?
JM: I’d probably be a secretary at a law firm, or peasant farmer. Charles would be good as a collection agency rep. Christina would be good as a celebrity psychic adviser or socialite (or both). Mike could be a ventriloquist (minus the dummy). The Dow brothers could merge with Quincy Jones to start a new music company called Dow Jones. Larry would make a smashing lawyer.
LS: I keep threatening my wife that I’ll become a small-town sheriff, because I think I’d look good with a mustache and those cool trooper hats they wear.
PEV: So, what is next for Cold Beer & Broads?
LS: We share Six Pack and then try to get together enough other original material for at least some of us to play a few live gigs. And auditioning the ring card girls is also going to take us A LOT OF TIME.