GUTTA
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GUTTA

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Band Alternative Rock

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The best kept secret in music

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"www.wormtown.org"

WHAT'S IN A NAME? GUTTA: NOT YOUR NORMAL ROCK CANDY


Intentionally avoiding reading the accompanying promotional material so I can engage GUTTA without preconception, I hit the button on my CD player expecting to have my morning train ride blasted into the surrounding countryside. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the melodic guitars kicking in before the hook-filled "Mia" had me singing along half-way through my first listen. Then, "I See You" opens with guitar chords not unlike those in Jim Croce's "I Tried to Say I Loved You in a Song," which leads into vocals sounding as if they were sung into a megaphone until the whole thing explodes into a power-chord powered piece of heavenly pop music. The disc was recorded at Longview Sound out in the Brookfields, and it shows, as it's mixed as well as anything currently heard on commercial radio. Which begs the question — how does an unashamedly pure pop band choose a name that suggests a dirty, rawer, grittier, metallic sound?

"Seth [Loconto] and Carlos [Santa] were down in Nashville recording a few songs that they had been working on together including one song, 'Alone and Cool,' that Corey wrote with them but at this point there was no band," explains guitarist Corey Anctil, taking on the role of stenographer for the group's responses to my e-mail questions. "So, with new songs but no band they decide that it was like being down in the gutter but we changed it to how we say it in Massachusetts - GUTTA."

Their songs are a mix of Nirvana and the Gin Blossoms, backed by the energy of punk pop bands like the Buzzcocks. How does this comparison sit with the group?

"You are not far off at all," Anctil concurs. "We like the power chord sound of Nirvana along with great Melodies. We are very fortunate to have such a powerful rhythm section in [drummer] Carlos [Santa] and [bassist] Dan [Bergman]. Seth and I just come up with some nice harmonies and melodic chord progressions to fill in the powerful sound that they create for us."

The band's music suggests they understands what makes for a great pop song in a way that can't be taught at music school. It's something picked up from the first time the sound of a radio slips into your crib and your parents cart you around to all the relatives. GUTTA's members earliest memories from Kiss, Aerosmith, Latin music, the Beatles, Allman Brothers, and the Cars to classic rock, Rush, Roy Orbison and the AM radio classics of the 1950s and ‘60s. More recently, they've found musical camaraderie from the likes of the Foo Fighters, Marcy Playground, Huck, and Weezer, along with Primus, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, Radiohead, and the Mother Hips. Listen closely, and you'll hear inspiration from all the aforementioned acts.

"Happy" opens over a snappy drum beat which continues throughout, while "Let Me Down" features more power chords which threaten to steal the spotlight from the singing. "I Want You Now" opens funkily before Loconto's singing gets a bit operatic in an Eddie Veddar-meets-the guy from Creed style. In showing various elements of GUTTA's musical ability, however, it threatens to lose the momentum of the earlier tracks — kind of like after a band wows you at the start of a set only to have you checking the watch 15 minutes later. In any case, the lag doesn't last long.

On "Like a Foot," Loconto sings, "I know I'm not that attractive but I could use a friend...I see yourself all alone over there," lyrics anyone who's spent a long night at a club hoping to meet that someone special can relate to, a story not unlike that told so well by the Smiths in "How Soon is Now?" The final track, "El Fasto," finds GUTTA back rocking full tilt on a major boy wants girl album, but let's hope it's more than a resume for future wives and there's more music to come from GUTTA in the future. "I could be just what you need for fun..." the song ends in a mini pogo polka, as Loconto repeats, "I'm so fine, I'm so good."

If some of the band member's names familiar, it's because the Southbridge/South Worcester County based band have paid their dues on the local music scene with the Treehackers (from 1992 to 1995) and Headrental (from 1997 to 2000). "In a way those band were a blueprint for GUTTA because, Dan had played with the Treehackers for a period of time and Carlos played with Headrental. The music is different from both of those bands but the same common group of guys have stuck together to form the right combination. "The new music adds even another element w/ Corey singing lead on a few song and Seth doing the harmonies. We write our songs as a band which is another thing that we enjoy. It's not just one person bringing a song in and telling the others what to play. We write about whatever comes to mind. Not always the - Brian Goslow


"Worcester Telegram & Gazette"

Melodious rockin' a staple of newly formed Gutta

Remember the band Green Apple Quickstep? Probably not. But Seth Loconto does, and picked the one-hit ("Dizzy") wonder from Seattle as something of a model when forging his own group GUTTA. Both Bands make good use of male/female vocal harmonies and boast a concise and clever writing style with undeniable rock vibe and attitude.

"I like Belly, Letter to Cleo, the Breeders, all those bands with women that had cool alternative voices," Loconto said.

With that in mind, GUTTA is a new, bright draw in area clubs and already at work on a compact disc that is being backed by an independent record label in Nashville, Tenn.

After singer/guitarist Loconto and drummer Carlos Santa split from the group Head Rental last year, they recruited guitarist Corey Anctil and singer Elizabeth Letendre, and a great vocal frontline was born. In the beginning, Loconto held down bass duties. Then, bass player extraordinaire Dan Bergman (ex Tophat Charlie) came into the group. At that point, Loconto moved over to rhythm guitar, and the musical pieces all fell into place.
At a show last month at The Lucky Dog Music Hall in Worcester, GUTTA showed just how well all the pieces fit. From the hillbilly punk of "El Fasto" to the soaring "I See You," GUTTA proved itself to be a band with a varied batch of truly memorable original songs plus a mean rave-up of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away."

While clearly best at rocking out, GUTTA puts a premium on pop writing. So, even though raucous dynamics drive the tunes, the band never takes its eye off the fundamentals of catchy melodies, sing-along choruses and fetching harmonies.

GUTTA is back at the Lucky Dog at 89 Green St. on Saturday with Mullethead, Gein & The Graverobbers and Jason James.

Loconto likes to say that GUTTA offers a mix of Nirvana and Whitney Houston. There's no denying the raw power of the music, particularly the hard hitting rhythm section. Then take Letendre, whose singing background is in theater and other decidedly nonrock settings, and an interesting counterpoint enters the mix.
GUTTA's music breaks from heavier stylings Head Rental was leaning toward and updates the alt-rock sound Loconto was drafting in the band Treehackers, a fine local attraction in the early 90's.

Everyone in the band contributes to the creative process, Loconto said, and that showed in the band's live set as each player brought a distinctive accent to the overall sound.

After breaking up Treehackers during the surge of rap-metal, Loconto recorded a CD of adult-contemporary material in Nashville. While that never took off commercially, it did introduce the writer and musician to many industry types.

The independent record label Platinum Plus in Nashville liked what it heard from GUTTA and is releasing the band's CD, the company's first that isn't by a country act, later this summer. A chunk of the recordings were completed by super producer Fran Flannery at Long View Farms Recording Studio in North Brookfield. And GUTTA is holding out hope that this record will open doors to wider possibilities.
And when those opportunities come, Loconto said GUTTA will be ready as its game plan is thought out and agreed upon within the band.

"We know what we want to do with this band. We write short songs with great melodies and harmonies. We go over our set lists hundreds of times to place the songs in the right order for a good show," Loconto said. "Having played for so long and going to hear so many bands I know all the things I don't want to do."

By: Scott McLennan


- Scott McLennan


Discography

LP - Gutta self-titled debut CD

Airplay - Mia played on 107.3 WAAF in Boston

MP3 Streaming - www.guttamusic.com
I See You
Mia
El Fasto
Let Me Down

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

GUTTA blends its musical talent with a classic approach to rock & roll. With a consistent combination and unique sampling of optimistic and upbeat musical sounds.

Seth Loconto, Carlos Santa, Corey Anctil and Dan Bergman compromise the nucleus of the group combining their diverse musical talents to create this hard rocking sound with infectious melodies.

"Pop Schmop. Punk Schmunk. Genre Schmenre. Who cares? If it feels good it's good! 'I see you' worked better than coffee this morning. Gutta has energy that makes diehard, or possibly even dead wallflowers wanna tear up the ground." - Carmelita - Local Music Director - 107.3 WAAF 3/10/02