Cure for the Common, seen here at the Pub Station in December, thrives on the jam and the live experience.
It’s the day after, and the members of the Cure for the Common band are up and eating lunch at the Montana Brewing Company in downtown Billings.
After a successful Saturday night gig at the Pub Station, the boys are addressing the imminent demands of a powerful hunger. Even though packing up equipment ran late into the night, all are up, all are in good spirits and all are eager to talk about the future.
But first, a little bit of the past:
Founded in Bozeman in 2008, Cure for the Common has steadily become one of a handful of Montana-made acts working hard to play big stages around the country. Becoming the “Electro Thunder Funk” band for an entire region doesn’t happen by practice alone—it’s equally a product of time spent on stage.
These guys tour the Rocky Mountain West extensively while deliberately making each of their shows an immersive experience for the audience.
Their social media and online presence is clean, their videos are tight and they have an established fan base following their every move. As far as performances go, they are largely standing-room-only affairs. Over the course of a mere six years, they have evolved into a well-oiled machine, always aiming for the intensity to compare themselves with top national acts.
Band members Weston Lewis, Matt Rogers, Joe Sheehan, Jordan Rodenbiker, Garrett Rhinard, Steve Brown and Frank Douglas hail from different corners of the country, but met and united around a common love of music.
Regionally, it is hard to say the names Steve Brown and Matt Rogers without someone chiming in with, “Hey, man, those guys can really play,” or “I can’t wait to see what they are going to do next.” When the pair relocated to Bozeman from Billings, it seemed inevitable that they would connect with the existing members of Cure for the Common to add their talents to the mix.
Guitarist-vocalist Weston Lewis, left, and Steve Brown, percussionist-vocalist, on stage at the Pub Station.
The band recently brought on Frank Douglas and invested in a high-caliber light show to amplify the audio-visual experience. Originally from Florida, Douglas found his way to Bozeman for the skiing.
“I came to the area and just fell in love with it and never wanted to leave,” he said.
Lewis came to Bozeman from Gardiner, but not before a stint studying and playing in Nashville. Rhinard moved to Bozeman from New Hampshire to study music at Montana State University, which is where he met Sheehan (from Seattle) who was also studying music and business.
Rodenbiker moved to Bozeman from Fargo, North Dakota, and joined the band after he happened to see Lewis’ ad seeking a bass player on Craigslist. Their stomping grounds span the entire country, which seems to be working towards their ultimate strategy. It has to be easier to grow a nationwide presence when you’ve got roots from coast to coast.
This past summer, Cure for the Common tied for first place with the Lil Smokies of Missoula for the best Alive After 5 performance of 2014. Sheehan and Douglas both commented on the atmosphere and the crowd—the sheer number of people watching the group as they played the final downtown Billings street concert of the year.
“It felt great to see so many people let loose and groove with us,” Sheehan said. From the perspective of an audience member, Cure for the Common seemed to have one of the most engaged crowds Alive After 5 has ever brought together.
The band has been pulling a lot of late nights recently, and Montana, along with the rest of the country, has been reaping the benefits of their hard work. In late December they performed at the new Pub Station, which opened at the end of November in the old bus depot at First Avenue North and North 25th Street.
And that brings us to the future. The band will be lighting up stages across the country as they embark on their first national tour.
The “Cure Shreds” winter tour kicks off Saturday and continues through April, at which point it will blend seamlessly into the band’s ever-growing summer tour, with new dates being added weekly. Here’s a look at their upcoming schedule:
2/7: Great Northern Brewing Co., Whitefish
2/8: Pub Station with Turkuaz, Billings
2/13-14: Mangy Moose, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
2/21: Canyons Resort, Park City, Utah
2/26: Top Hat with Twiddle & Kitchen Dwellers, Missoula
2/27: The Reef with Twiddle, Boise, Idaho
2/28: Whiskey Jacques, Ketchum, Idaho
3/1: Whiskey Jacques, Ketchum, Idaho
3/12: The Times, Butte
3/13: Great Northern Brewing Co., Whitefish
3/14: Top Hat, Missoula
3/17: Snow Basin Resort, Huntsville, Utah
3/21: Dirtbag Ball at Cinnamon Lodge, Big Sky
3/27: Silvermoon Brewing, Bend, Ore.
3/28: Hood River Saloon, Hood River, Ore.
3/30: Cozmic Pizza, Eugene, Ore.
4/4: The Good Foot, Portland, Ore.
4/5: Fort George Brewery, Astoria, Ore.
4/7: Sea Monster with McTuff, Seattle
4/8: John’s Alley, Moscow, Idaho
4/17: Whiskey Jack’s, Big Sky
4/23: Martin’s Downtown, Roanoke, Va.
4/26: New Mountain Amphitheater with Snarky Puppy, Asheville, N.C.
4/27: Preservation Pub, Knoxville, Tenn.
4/30: Hummingbird, Macon, Ga.
5/1: Buffington’s, Milledgeville, Ga.
5/5: Beacharang, Jacksonville, Fla.
6/4-7: Wakarusa Festival, Mulberry Mountain, Ozark, Ark.
So, what can we expect from this tour? Well, awesomeness, for lack of a better word.
“We really want to focus on bringing our very best to these new venues across the country,” said Rogers, the band’s lead guitarist. “It’s all about making it a memorable experience. The performance should be an experience for people. It should be more than just hearing the band. It should be something amazing that you can’t help but remember long after you leave.”
Yeah, the audience usually gets into the Cure for the Common sound. That’s Matt Rogers with the guitar and the big grin.
The band’s summer tour will support their forthcoming album, “The Squeeze,” which is set to drop this spring.
“Our live sound is a whole different animal from our recorded work, so trying to capture that attitude on this album is a challenging objective,” Rogers said.
Rhinard admitted, “Songwriting can be a bit of struggle, but we recently hit a creative nerve that allowed us to kick out a bunch of new material rapidly and easily. Our new lineup is really coming together and producing some compelling music. We’re excited to show it to the world.”
The idea of “the jam” and improvisation was a recurring theme during our conversation—essentially the band’s philosophy for playing. Brown, a singer and percussionist for the band, described it as “a state of sonic meditation. A place where you reach into the unknown and pull out something you didn’t expect … something exciting and personal. Something that is always different and will never be repeated.”
Improvisation is central to the live music experience. The jam is what has the power to draw an audience, to compel fans to travel hundreds of miles to experience an entirely new performance night after night.
“For a musician, it’s very risky, because you’re stepping out into a place where you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sheehan said. “It could rock, or fall flat. I think our audience really appreciates our willingness to take those risks when we do. As much as we love the tightly composed pieces, the moments of improv keep things interesting time and again.”
It takes a special recipe to be able to produce and reproduce an amazing musical experience on a nightly basis. For Cure for the Common, the recipe comes in the form of both classically trained members and those who play by heart and ear. With influences ranging from Bernie Worrell of Funkadelic, to Miles Davis and guitar gods like Hendrix, Cure for the Common fishes a big pond for their inspiration.
Rhinard, who often brings lyrical and instrumental ideas to the group, contends that “our collaborative writing style is really what gives our tunes their sound.” Each band member brings in ideas and it’s up to the group to build and expand on them.
“It’s great that everyone has a say in the writing process,” Rhinard said. “It can be really challenging to incorporate all perspectives, but when we nail it, the end product is really something we all love.”
And we, the lucky audience, love it too.
Details: Keep your eye on the boys by following @CureFTCommon on Instagram and Twitter, or check out the links below. And look for a ticket giveaway on the Noise & Color Facebook page for Cure for the Common’s Sunday show at the Pub Station.
This article also appears in the current issue of Noise & Color, Billings’ monthly magazine of culture and entertainment. Pick one up.
http://curetheband.com/
http://www.cureforthecommon.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cureforthecommonband
https://www.youtube.com/user/Cure4theCommonMusic
