The Marquees

by Alan K. Stout
The Marquees aren’t your typical band comprised of a few twenty-something guys from NEPA. The group’s members are old-school — really old school — so much that some of their musical influences date back to 20 and even 30 years before they were born. Yet the unit presents its music in a way that’s 100-percent contemporary. In fact, the band’s fiery, riff-heavy little gem, “Panic @ The Jukebox,” is already getting some local airplay.
“It’s definitely a guitar-and-drum sound,” says vocalist and guitarist Vince Dubesky. “It’s really bouncy and upbeat, ’60s-inspired music that has a modern edge to it.”
The group, based in Hazleton and formed in late 2007, also features Mike Thomas on bass and Robbie Poltrok on drums. Influences on the explosive trio include The Strokes, The Raveonettes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Ryan Adams, Oasis, The Cars, Elvis Costello, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Velvet Underground, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and Smokey Robinson. When The Marquees play live, songs from some of those acts often find their way into the setlist, making the group one of the less conventional young acts on the NEPA music scene.
“We’re just really drawn to the great melodies of all of those songs,” says Dubesky. “That’s really what drew us in the most. Growing up, my parents listened to the oldies station more than classic rock, and that sound has been around with us all the while growing up. Even more than the more modern stuff, we’ve just identified with that timeless sound.”
The band’s new seven-song EP, “The Fabulous Sounds of The Marquees,” is available at the group’s shows and will soon be available at Gallery of Sound and on iTunes. It was recorded at Green Valley Recordings in Hughesville. Tracks also include “You Should Have Known” and “Downtown Friday Night.” Dubesky says the group likes the idea that the music is commercially accessible yet not standard.
“It’s not typical Top 40,” he says. “We’ve kind of chosen a harder path by not playing all of that stuff, and there are plenty of bands out there that do that. For three guys from Hazleton, you get a pretty unique feast of what we’ve all come to like. There’s more indie rock, a lot of British rock and more modern music.”
Dubesky writes the lyrics to the band’s songs. Some are personal, while others are not.
“They’re semi-autobiographical,” he says. “A lot of them have to do with just everyday life. ‘Panic @ The Jukebox’ is my version of an everyday experience — of turning 21 and going to the bars and clubs, trying to play your song on the jukebox. It’s semi-personal, but it’s also homage to that early innocence of ’50 and ’60s rock.”
Observation and simple empathy also inspire his writing.
“I can’t say I’ve had as much melodrama and heartbreak that might be in my songs,” he says. “But other people that I’ve seen or witnessed go through certain things, and I kind of pick up on that, identify with it, and write a song around it.”
The Marquees are a busy band. A look at their upcoming schedule shows gigs everywhere from Harrisburg to Brooklyn, Berwick and Drums. The group tries to gig at least once a week, and with band members in both Harrisburg and Hazleton, it has been able to network in both areas to keep its schedule full. Dubesky hopes the edgy impact of the songs connects with audiences.
“I want people to say ‘I’ll never forget that show,’” he says. “I want people that see our show and hear our music to not be able to control themselves, have a good time, and dance. The energy that we put into ours songs and that we put out there live, from what we’ve seen … we really get people moving.”
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- Weekender Magazine

Sound Check
By Tim Kelly
6/19/2008

In 1969, the Rolling Stones played before a crowd 200,000 strong in London's Hyde Park. Last Saturday night, Hazleton's The Marquees played for eight of us at a small club on Livingston Lane in Wilkes-Barre.

It was no fluke why Mick, Keef and the boys filled the park that July evening, but at the same time it says nothing of the Marquees' musicianship and abilities that they could not draw 10 heads to Cafe Metropolis.

This thinly attended show aside, the Marquees are a tight numbered, versatile trio. Drummer Robbie Poltrok cripples the skins with a maestro's gusto, Mike Thomas has little trouble sprinting the most aggressive bassline across the lawn, while leadman Vince Dubesky plays it cool up front all night long. Their numbers are slick and to the point, but these guys are not one-trick ponies.

The Oasis-like sheen of "I'll Go Anywhere" and their Strokes-iest song of the night (that wasn't actually a Strokes song) "All For You" left us smiling. But the barn-burner, without a doubt, was the final song of the night "Downtown Friday Night."

A few of the early numbers were bass-heavy and Poltrok's cavalier relationship with his drum kit can occasionally stand to simmer.

But as the band settled into its nine-song set, the trio's teamwork started to pay off. By the time they covered "New York City Cops" the Marquees were churning out tracks like clockwork - working together in tune, touch and time.

The band's business card, slipped to me by Dubesky after the show, hilariously reads "America's Newest Hitmakers." It struck me initially as the appropriate mix of cocky and absurd you like to see in a rock band. But that throwback phrase - regularly plastered across 1960s album covers (and probably coined by kingmaker Ed Sullivan) - authoritatively describes the beat to which this band's heart pumps. The Marquees want to be like the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Hives or the Ramones - and in many ways the band is.

But at the heart of every Marquees song is old-school melody and riff. Think of it this way: If the Strokes are printed handwriting, the Marquees are cursive. There's a flourish and an old soul's touch to the band's playing that excludes it from the company of two-chorded, in your face, lightning-fast rockers. And yes, boys, that's a compliment.

The Marquees recently released a self-titled EP and plan to release another this fall. You can stay current on everything Marquees (stream audio, check out tour dates and more) by visiting www.myspace.com/themarquees1 or, by the way, seeing them play live.
- Electric City/Diamond City - Northeast PA's Free Entertainment Weekly