Mike Droho & The Compass Rose

1,000 screaming women can't be wrong
The Profits sell sex at the Orpheum

By Rich Albertoni


Eric Tadsen
The Profits woo last Friday's crowd.

More than a thousand people, nearly 90% of them young women, woke up last Saturday morning with the Dirty Dancing song "I Had the Time of My Life" pulsing through their brains. They had watched the Profits finish their encore at the Orpheum Theatre the previous night with a one-of-a-kind cover of the familiar ’80s tune.

Dressed in drag, Profits heartthrob J.P. Roney was serenaded by fellow heartthrob Mike Drohomyreky. Bassist Scott Lamps had introduced J.P. as Mike’s "underdog girlfriend" and added that Mike had "taught her to appreciate her body."

They danced. They embraced. J.P. jumped into Mike’s arms, cheerleader style. All the while, the crowd screamed these words with all the passion in their hearts:

You’re the one thing
I can’t get enough of
So I tell you something
This could be love

The flirtation and charisma that had bubbled all night finally boiled over, and all my questions about how the Profits have become Madison’s most popular local band (besides Garbage) were answered. Their music may not be groundbreaking, but their stage presence is. What other local band can draw theater-sized audiences and utterly rule them throughout their performance?

Write them off as mascots of Sorority Row, but the Profits skillfully cater to an audience thirsty for first-person exposure to sexy, sensitive rock stars. They are a stark contrast to the detached intellectualism of indie rock.

What was apparent throughout their set last Friday is that the Profits are entertainers as much as they are musicians. The four-piece acoustic rock band is defined by the role-playing of its two front men. J.P. Roney is the overly excitable puppy dog whose mop of blond hair bounces as he jumps around the stage. Mike Drohomyreky is the warm but self-contained strongman who leashes Roney back in.

Each of them masters the details of his persona. Asking each other how they’re doing between songs, Mike says "great," but J.P. shouts "fucking incredible." Confronted with legions of girls trying to put a hand on their legs, Mike backs up and says, "I’m not used to this." But J.P. counters, "When I look at an audience like this, there’s only one thing I can think of, and that’s oral sex!"

Indeed, sex is a steady undercurrent of the Profits’ routine. Their showstopper, and the first song you’ll hear played if you visit their myspace page, is called "Sex at Six." As "Afternoon Delight" did back in the ’‘70s, it invokes the joy of making love at a nonstandard time (in this case, sunrise).

Ironically, the heterosexual idolatry at the foundation of the Profits gig was conspicuously lacking amid the rows at the Orpheum. With an audience largely devoid of men, women danced and swayed arm-to-arm to an encore of drag and homoerotic farce.

Within an hour of the show’s conclusion, fans were already posting their comments at the Profits’ myspace page, few resisting the phrase "I had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you." From places as far away as Stevens Point, Hurley and Minnesota, they’d come to State Street to see Madison’s band-of-the-moment.

"Best concert ever," blogged Sam, an 18-year-old female from Kenosha. "I loved it and you guys are so down to earth...don’t ever change...I can’t wait for you guys to make it big and with a song like ‘Sex at Six’ how couldn’t you!!!! You guys are amazing!!!!"
- Wisconsin State Journal

Winner: Best Overall Artist
Winner: Best Acoustic Artist
- Madison Area Music Awards 2005 - Rick's Cafe

Winner: Best Pop Artist
- Madison Area Music Awards, 2006 - Rick's Cafe

Nominated for:
Best New Artist
Best Acoustic Artist
Best Acoustic Record
- Madison Area Music Awards, 2004 - Rick's Cafe

http://www.z104fm.com/pages/ryanwalker.html - Z104

http://77square.com/music/reviews/story_303857

Southern Comfort scored another success Saturday with their second annual "SoCo Music Experience" on the Willow Island grounds at the Alliant Energy Center.

Sure, you're inundated with product placement and not-so-subliminal advertising from the minute you walk in the gate, but the eight-hour festival is free. And SoCo branded umbrellas make for a much-needed respite from the hot sun. (Hey, JJO Band Camp, please get someone to sponsor umbrellas for next year's gig. Hundreds of people in Dane County are probably still peeling burnt skin off their shoulders from that shade-less scorcher.)

There were many highlights throughout the day, including many of the day's early acts. Too bad so many people didn't show up until nightfall.

Mid-afternoon, Ha Ha Tonka kicked out a raucous set of serviceable and meaty southern-tinged indie rock led by a redheaded singer with a sunny temperament. The Springfield, Mo., foursome put on a high-energy show despite the small crowd. This is definitely the kind of band to see in a sweaty, cramped club and not spread out on a big outdoor stage.

Over on the local stage (sponsored by Triple M 105.5 FM), Mike Droho and the Compass Rose played a enjoyable set of music that meets at the unlikely junction of pop, beatboxing, string quartet and indie rock. Mike Droho, a former member of the Profits, led up the strong mix on vocals, with Scott Lamps on stand-up bass and Ida Pajunen on violin. Anthony Lamarr spit out all the beats with his percussive mouth and a microphone.

Missing sorely from the SoCo line-up were female artists: Ida Pajunan of the Compass Rose and Michelle Flood of the Roots Collective were the only women in the day's line-up. Southern Comfort should be applauded for putting together a high-caliber bunch of bands, but hopefully next time the women involved will be doing more than handing out schwag and working behind-the-scenes.

The Benevento/Russo Duo out of Brooklyn played an extra long set of spacey synth pop instrumentals that fit the lazy late afternoon sun-soaked atmosphere. The crowd started to fill out as red-and-white bedecked football fans filtered in from the Badgers game. Still, compared to the awesome debauchery and wild rocking of other recent shows at Willow Island, this was a tame crowd. Maybe, as Marco Benevento said between songs, "You haven't had enough SoCo."

By the time GZA took the stage, people were a lot more pumped up. The rapper's presentation was a little static and the subwoofer bass was so loud it canceled out the intelligibility of the words, but the mix had improved by the end when he did "Zero Percent Finance," a monotonic opus that was just getting into the meat of it when he had to cut it short to make time for the next act.

Over at the merch tables, an aging punk goofball named "Sputnik Slovenia" strummed dumb songs on his guitar between main acts. After finishing a country-folk cover of "Gin and Juice," he announced breezily, "Let's do a little Madonna/Dead Kennedys' medley." He was in on the joke and it made for a fun diversion between bands.

The Black Keys and the Roots topped the show off in style. The Black Keys' grungy blues-infused rock stole the show (at least until the Roots). With just guitar and drums, the Black Keys grabbed the crowd by the you-know-whats, and set everyone dancing. More rock acts should be this sweaty and dirty.

It's hard to compete with an act that comes stomping on stage in line formation, helmed by "Tuba Gooding, Jr.," a skanking sousaphone player with bullfrog cheeks. The Roots say they're "gonna drop the bomb" and that's what they did. They don't perform in the traditional sense. The ensemble plays off each other and dances together, inviting the audience to join them in the revelry. No shoe-gazing here.

The Roots ended with a free-form medley that included Guns 'n' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" and a spellbinding guitar solo from "Capt. Kirk." - 77 Square

Baraboo native Mike Droho won the "Project M" songwriting contest Wednesday night at Club Tavern in Middleton.

Sponsored by Madison radio station Triple M, the contest pitted 10 songwriters against each other in a weekly competition broadcast live on the air. Wednesday’s finale involved Droho and fellow finalists Garrett Ramquist and Patrick Sweeney playing 30-minute sets for Triple M judges.

Anthony "Soundshaker" Lamarr, Droho’s bandmate in their group The Compass Rose, said Droho’s performance set him apart. "Mike put on the show of a lifetime," Lamarr said. "It was definitely a glorious night last night."

During his set, Droho attempted a personal first — playing piano live — to great success. "That was one of the things that won the judges over," Lamarr said.

"I didn’t know what was going to happen with the judging," Droho said. "I think I really did have the best performance."

Droho, who grew up in Baraboo as Mike Drohomyreky, launched his career with The Profits as a University of Wisconsin-Madison student about 10 years ago.

Winning the contest means one Droho song will be played in regular rotation on 105.5 FM — eight to 12 times a day — for a month. Plus, he gets to open for an Atlantic Records artist and meet with one of the label’s representatives for career advice. He hasn’t yet chosen which song to air, but is excited about the prospect. "Getting radio play for an independent artist is really, really hard to come by," Droho said.

The victory is the latest career boost for Droho, who recently secured financial backing for a new independent album and is planning a fall tour.

"The whole experience was really great for me in that it brought upon a resurgence and refocus to my career, which has seemingly caused a domino effect of positive occurrences for myself as a musician and person," he said. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude for those in the community who voted, or have supported me in any way."
http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/456317 - Baraboo News Republic