Turncoats

By Matthew Beale

Photo by Rebecca Gillespie

"While we may have issues with the chosen band name (Mysterious Knight? Isn’t that a video game?), we don’t see anything wrong with this ‘Boro band’s sound."

-All the Rage, March ‘06

All The Rage should be pleased to hear that the name has changed since the band’s first gig, but the same great rock ‘n’ roll flavor has stayed. Now labeled Turncoats, this quartet has been busy over the last year learning how to reconcile its party band roots with a new songwriting style. They’ve brought in a bit more pop, a bit more rock and a lot more focus to the table this time.

“Do you want a list of them?” asks guitarist Lin Regensburg, talking about the previous bands played in by the four members. He sounds a little daunted by the task, but the band chimes in with a long list of the highlights: The Bang Up, SJ & the Props, The Katies, Magic Castle and, most importantly, The Young Livers. “I think the thing about The Young Livers that’s so important isn’t what we walked away with in terms of songs; it’s what we walked away with in terms of ability to play together,” comments guitarist Joey Campbell. The Young Livers’ membership orbited around the undefined Turncoats, with several other regular and irregular members including frontman Sean Maloney. Regensburg explains, “We would just play whatever we had written, and Maloney would rant and scream over the top.”

When Turncoats branched out to become a bit more than a party band, they didn’t bring any songs from their Young Livers experience. Instead, they came together with some riffs and ideas recorded by bassist Rick Kersmarki and guitarist Regensburg, a host of prior commitments to other bands, and an education in playing with each other.

“The Turncoats learned the lesson,” says Campbell. But the lesson, Campbell goes on to explain, isn’t just about how to have fun; it’s about how to connect with the audience so everyone can have fun. “You better rock, cause if you don’t ... you’re the one who’s not gonna have a good time,” and part of figuring that out seems to hinge on the Murfreesboro scene itself. “If you watch bands in Nashville, they’re not interested in making a connection.” Kersmarki agrees: “We all have more fun ... a lot of Murfreesboro bands, they go out of town and say ‘We’re from Nashville’ just so people will recognize them, but [Murfreesboro] is like 30 miles away.” It may be even further away culturally; though Nashville isn’t lacking in rock or punk bands, it certainly doesn’t achieve the density of the Murfreesboro scene.

“There’s so little to do here,” explains Kersmarki. “Every night it’s like, ‘What are you gonna do?’”

Though Regensburg and drummer Adam Cottle don’t have any other major band commitments, Kersmarki and Campbell need to juggle gigs with bands like How I Became The Bomb and SJ & the Props on a regular basis. Cottle says, “There’s been a couple of instances where we’ve had to skip a show cause someone else had one, but it’s just like when someone has to work.” All the members seem to agree that playing and writing with Turncoats is something unique and special to them: “The trust level is so high,” explains Cottle.

Local label Grand Palace put out Turncoats’ first EP on vinyl in October, and the band plans to return to the studio in February to work on a full length. “Brian Carter, he’s an old town guy,” says Kersmarki of the band’s first engineer. Paradox Productions, Carter’s studio, has worked with a lot of Murfreesboro and nearby bands — The Features, Glossary, Jetpack UK, Self. There are already rough plans to go back to him again. “I don’t think it’s worth touring if you don’t have a hometown base” says Kersmarski, and, in that respect, the band should already have a step up with Murfreesboro’s supportive foundation. Turncoats still need to do a lot to prove themselves beyond the ‘Boro, but with good experience and great rock behind them, establishing themselves to the outside world might be easier for Turncoats than for most bands.

www.myspace.com/turncoatstn