Sweetmeat and the Silverfish

By Joshua Balling
I&M Senior Writer

Sweetmeat and the Silverfish know their way around a recording studio. They should, since the island band has had almost unlimited access to one since they formed two years ago.

Nick Ferrantella, the father of two members of the band – Victor and Ben Ferrantella – is a drummer/producer and the former tour manager of Foreigner and Mountain. He played drums with The Leslie West Band on “The Great Fatsby” album. He built a recording studio on his Ticcoma Way property several years ago and records a number of bands there, including popular island bluegrass group Eelgrass. He also produced the soundtrack for "Last Call," John Stanton's documentary film.

Recently, Sweetmeat and the Silverfish – Victor Ferrantella on piano and vocals, Ben Ferrantella on drums, their cousin Mike Stefanski on guitar and vocals, and Chris Beamish on bass – released the first CD they cut in that same studio, at an afternoon celebration at Cisco Brewery.

"It's a little backwards. Most bands play clubs, then write and record songs. These guys slowly developed with Victor and Mike writing songs, and grew as a band from there. This band has lot of studio time, which is unusual. They have a very good work ethic in the studio. It takes an entirely different discipline than playing on stage to perform well."

That work ethic has paid off. Already known for the spontaneity of their live shows, Sweetmeat's 12-track self-titled CD is a more introspective, reggae- and ska-influenced package that showcases Stefanski and Ferrantella's varied songwriting abilities and all four band members' musicianship.

"The piano and acoustic guitar in the recordings creates that style. It is a little different from that on stage. A lot of the tracks are based around the acoustic guitar and piano," Nick Ferrantella said.

Victor agreed. "I do lot of my writing based around a piano sound. When you go electric, things change."

The band plays one cover song – Mountain's "Nantucket Sleighride" – but everything else is original.

"Some are a little more rock-influenced, some a little more reggae-influenced," Victor Ferrantella said. "It really changes from song to song."

Victor Ferrantella and Stefanski have been playing together since high school, when Stefanski's family would come to the island from Plymouth during the summer.

When it came to forming a band a little over two years ago, the two had already built a repertoire of original rock tunes they had written together.

Beamish, a Nantucket firefighter, started playing with the band around the same time, and said that Victor and company essentially taught him how to play. Ben "Sweetmeat" Ferrantella has been playing drums for about five years.

"Ben was always kind of tagging along, and he didn't really play the drums yet at the beginning, but once he figured it out, he became our drummer," Victor said. "It was a natural fit for Chris to hop in and play bass. He's been a friend forever."

The band plays gigs on and off the island and their CD is available on iTunes and at CDBaby.com. They have also been getting airplay on college and internet radio stations locally and around the world. The band has at least one heavy hitter in their corner.

"Mick Jones of Foreigner was here last summer, and came into the studio. He thought the music and band had great potential, but other than that, there's been no real interest in the industry," Nick Ferrantella said.

However, that is OK. "The independent artist has a lot better chance today than ever," he continued. "Bands had to be road warriors then to get an audience. It was never possible in the past to look up an artist on the Internet and download songs. This album is a musical snapshot in time they can take with them to the next project and have forever. Someday it will seem dated."

"When you break it down, at this level it is all about having family and friends like one or two of your songs and music. The trick is getting people to listen" Nick Ferrantella said.
- INQUIRER & MIRROR