Something Just

WHO: Something Just, with the Josh Dodes Band.

WHAT: Nu-metal, hard rock.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday.

WHERE: The Village Underground, 130 W. Third St., Manhattan; (212)
777-7745.

HOW MUCH: $12.


Just suspicions have led to Just desserts for Bergen County-based Something Just, a band of headstrong nu-metal renegades who have politely stepped off a nocturnally stalled bandwagon. Disillusioned with the sugarcoated sameness of the local nightclub scene and the smug machinations of management over the years, Something Just has found its niche by tapping into its most primal desires.
"We decided that the other garbage, after a while, was all la-di-da instead of what's inside you," says Something Just lead singer-guitarist Bryan Cordano of Bayonne.
That "other garbage" consisted of the obligatory nightclub acknowledgements to Green Day, Blink-182, Foo Fighters, and Weezer. And while Something Just respects the original artists' writing and musicianship of the cover tunes, Just's versions were a perfunctory favor to the radio-conditioned listeners who paid a cover charge to see the band.
Something Just now proves there's nothing like an original, especially when it's darker, more aggressive, and more "just" in its origins. Armed with the ambitious marketing strategies of manager Frank Arnone and a three-song CD demo for their fans, the foursome will display the pulverizing brashness of its new sound Thursday with a 7 p.m. show at the Village Underground in Manhattan. Also appearing is the Josh Dodes Band, which gained fleeting national fame on "VH1's Bands on the Run" series.
"As the band got stale, we weeded out the stuff we played over and over again," says Cordano, whose agitated guitar strumming accompanies rhythm guitarist Rex Sabina and drummer Lars Lancaster, both of Elmwood Park, and bassist Tim Louie of Saddle Brook. "We just got sick of playing radio-friendly songs and hit a stride with our writing. We never started over, we started fresh. " Staying fresh is how the band members remind themselves that it's easy to bid farewell to the days when they opened for such acts as Luscious Jackson. A 1999 EP, "Time to Evaporate," recorded at Boulevard Studios in New Milford with producer Gene Porfido, shifted Something Just toward its new, enterprising direction.
"We've been trying to find ourselves for five years," says Louie, a former producer with the "Z-Morning Zoo" radio show (WHTZ-FM, 100.3).
"No more 'I love you, I hate you' stuff. The four of us decided to get back on track by writing new songs. With seven originals [written chiefly by Cordano] in the live set now, it's easier to get booked in respectable places. " The band credits Arnone and their new, assertive sound, akin to Disturbed and Drowning Pool, for a busy slate that will have them playing gigs through the new year.
"Frank is the kind of guy who'll kick you in the butt if he thinks you're not working hard enough," Sabina says. "He's not our baby-sitter. " "These new shows are residuals of how hard we've worked over the last few months, plus Frank has done an excellent job," Lancaster says.
"The band has new strategies. We're seeking a new plateau. "



Staff Writer Barry Gramlich's e-mail address is gramlich@northjersey.com.



- Barry Gramlich