REBEARTH

By Michael Donahue

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Rebearth lead singer Chris Graham was born with a gruff voice.

“He came out of the womb with a beer in his hand and a cigarette,” said drummer Dustin “Tripp” Beckley, 23.

“I’ve seen family videos when I was six and it was really, really scratchy,” said Graham, 28. “I never even thought about singing ’cause it was so scratchy. You hear all these people now with such clean pristine voices.

“I bought a guitar one day, I think for, like, 100 bucks and started messing around, singing my own songs. People told me I had an interesting voice and I just went on from there. I think maybe it’s gotten worse over the years from smoking.

“I listened to guys who had scratchy voices like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. So, I thought blues was the only kind of music you can get away with being as scratchy as me. So, that’s what I listened to and sang forever.”

Graham met lead guitarist Pauly Verhuiding, 28, at a Java Cabana open mic. “That voice he’s got, it’s just so soulful,” Verhuiding said.

Graham was singing originals. “They were mostly just open-chord strumming stuff, singer-songwriter stuff like (Bob) Dylan,” Graham said. “Songs that Dylan does are easy to play on guitar and he’s got a really scratchy voice.”

Graham was impressed with Verhuiding’s Les Paul guitar. “Soon as you hear a power chord on it, you can’t help but want to do rock-and-roll music.”

With bass player Joseph Stanley, 29, Graham and Verhuiding formed Rebearth three years ago. “There are just not many straight-ahead rock-and-roll bands anymore,” Graham said. “You had Guns ’N Roses. Grunge kind of killed rock-and-roll bands for awhile. Foo Fighters still play pretty much straight-ahead rock and roll, but there are songs these days that don’t even have a guitar solo in them, which is unfathomable to me. So, we basically based it on, ‘We want to be a straight-ahead rock and roll band. Hope you like it. If you don’t, sorry. But this is what we do.’’’

Why “Rebearth” instead of “Rebirth”? “I think we thought of it on Earth Day.”

“The Whiskey Song” is their oldest original they still play. The chorus is, “Better clear the room now. I’m coming through the door. Got whiskey in my veins, I’m gonna drink some more.”

“There’s so much P.C. stuff out now. We’re not purposely trying to offend anybody,” said Graham, who writes most of their lyrics, “but rockin’ bands are supposed to sing about women and drinking.”

One of their songs, which is untitled, is about Beckley’s Army experiences. Verhuiding wrote down Beckley’s observations about fighting in Iraq. “It was like one life-size video game,” Beckley said. “In video games you got your little gun and you point and shoot. That’s how I looked at it. The reason I wasn’t scared was in the back of my mind I always thought, ‘There’s a re-set button. If I go down, I just re-set it.’”

For the past two summers, Rebearth played in front of the Hard Rock Cafe Wednesday nights during Bike Night on Beale. People from all over the country bring their motorcycles to Memphis.

“People will come up — even if you just played it 20 minutes ago — and request ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ ” Verhuiding said.

“This German guy said, ‘If you play ‘Purple Haze’ again I’ll give you $5.’ I said, ‘Man, you don’t have to give us $5. We’ll do it again ’cause you’re on Beale.’ I’m from Memphis. I’ve lived in Memphis my whole life. When people from all over the place come to Beale I want them to walk away and say, ‘Memphis. Greatest music I ever heard in my life.’”

Rebearth wrote an original song, “Blind Highway,” about motorcycles. “Dustin started this double bass thing.... I was like, ‘What does that sound like?’ So, I just started putting this riff to it and we started playing it and Chris was like, ‘Sounds like a motorcycle starting.’”

Playing outside in the heat around hundreds of motorcycles could be grueling.

“We had one day in July where it was ridiculously hot,” Graham said. “I remember while they were doing a solo or something me walking behind the drum set and pouring water on my head and coming back out.

“Then you pack up your own stuff. By the time you get done your jeans are sticking to you, your shirt’s sticking to you.”

“You really appreciate the fact that one day you might make something out of yourself and get roadies,” Beckley said.

Rebearth performs 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday at a festival celebrating Navy Personnel Command’s 10th anniversary at Navy Lake at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington. To hear music from Rebearth, click here.

© 2008 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
- Commercial Appeal - Michael Donahue