The Specs

Since the earliest days of rock 'n' roll, bands have delighted in giving themselves names that have little or nothing to do with who they actually are or the attributes they actually possess.

Herman's Hermits, for instance, could claim neither a member named Herman, nor any history of being actual hermits. None of the members of The Thompson Twins were even related, much less twins. Ben Folds Five only consisted of three members. The list goes on and on.

So why should it seem the slightest bit unusual that members of local band The Specs claim that no one in the group wears glasses (despite the fact that all four members are shown clearly bespectacled in some group photos).

Yes, these are the kinds of mysteries that clearly get people talking and often linger as tidbits of information offered on VH1 programs and as pub trivia questions long after the demise of the actual band. Of course, in order for anyone to even care about worthless band trivia, they have to have made somewhat of an impact on a grander scale.

Whether The Specs are bound for such glories remains to be seen. After moving to Charleston from Boston, Mass., the four friends who make up The Specs began playing together in an attempt to bridge art and pop music into something definitely not pop, but catchy nonetheless. The band's music takes occasional forays into the realm of math rock, changing into odd meters or sometimes even abandoning the concept of meter altogether. The Specs are made up of Eric Galloway on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Sean Krauss on drums and keyboards, Scott Padgett on bass and vocals and Steve Tirozzi on guitar, keyboards and vocals.

Between the four of them, the members of The Specs have been involved in a number of Columbia-based bands, including Mellow Blue Marsh, Dax Nummy, the Virgin Ironpants, Eartha Baxter and the Glenn Livet Combo.

Padgett's musical endeavors in the Boston area included the Bad Art Ensemble, a staple in Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard and MIT.

Bad Art Ensemble's many participants have included the likes of Morphine, the Binary System, Alloy Orchestra, the Boston Rock Opera and Lars Vegas.

Padgett also served a three-year stint as bassist with Boston Music Award winner and highly acclaimed pop artist Flynn, while his Specs band mates were continuing a Boston incarnation of Dax Nummy.

True to the band's claims of being somewhere between pop music and art rock, The Specs' music (such as the spectacular "Television") seem to have something for everyone. From catchy melodies for the pop fan, to spacey keyboard sounds for the more artistically inclined listener, the group even throws in the occasional blazing guitar or bass run to satisfy the more chop-oriented musical connoisseur. - Aaron M. Levy

It seemed like just a few months ago Charleston's rock 'n' roll band catalog was put on life support with the disappearance of favorites 351 Cleveland and The Velvet Swells. Whether you liked either of these bands' music, live or recorded, both groups worked hard to develop and nurture their own, all-original rock 'n' roll. And their adsence was felt almost immediately amongst a growing beer-swilling, nothing-but-show-going demographic of which I am most representative.

Just a few flips of your calendar later and the reinvigorated Genrevolta, an emerging Nineteen Eighty-Four, hell-raisers The Borrowed Angels, an androgynous and homely girl named Clementine, Kevin Taylor and Clint Fore's ever-morphing Matter project, the accessible Agynst, heavy hitters The Working Title, and brand-new-comers The Specs are all making the pool of capable, well-practiced bands around here feel much, much deeper. Maybe show-goers won't have to laugh at themselves or put finger quotations up when they say the word "scene" in these parts forever.

Eric Galloway, Shawn Krauss, Scott Padgett, and Steve Tirozzi are The Specs. Last Thursday, another publication led into an article on The Specs by listing them among bands with strange names that make no sense. This was simply because none of them own or wear spectacles. The Specs enjoyed the unexpected attention, but would like to clear up any misgivings about their name being association with human eyesight.

"The name 'The Specs' doesn't have anything to do with glasses really," says Tirozzi. "It's more about two other things. It's kind of short for specifications. As in, this is the way we feel music is and should be... the blueprints of raw music. Also, it has to do with how insignificant we all are, you know, us definitely as a band, and things in general, are all just specks." Any band with the zeal to name themselves the "blueprints of raw music," no matter how nebulously, is full of balls. Balls, friends, are the foundation of good rock 'n' roll music. Balls are the part of the anatomy that Buddy Holly and Bill Haley made teenagers aware of in the 1950s. They're what Television and The New York Dolls tried to jog back into Yes' memory. Balls are what separate the Lou Reeds from the Julian Casablancases. And The Specs are full of them.

"We play rock 'n' roll first and foremost, nothing shocking," says Tirozzi. "A lot of people are doing creative things, but we're trying to push the artistic value of our music as far as we can. But make no mistake. We rock."
These recent emigres from Boston have the audacity to create history-conscious, art-infused pop music - and do so in a town where live bands are treated like wallpaper by bar-goers and often underpaid by bar owners. Rather than rely on melodramatic melodies or uncomfortably contrived stage antics, The Specs set out to organically foster a range of genuine emotions within their listeners. They consider each of their shows a near-album presentation to their audience.

"The order of the songs helps build the entire vibe that the show puts forth. The show almost has its own identity... I'd say the dynamic of the show varies according to how we order the set. We're pretty particular about the way we structure the sets in terms of song order because we've got a wide range of emotions throughout some of the songs we write," says Padgett.

"Don't say emo," Krauss chimes in. "We write about rebuilding and triumph and all, but there's sarcasm, too."

Presenting such a dynamic, coherent product to a live audience sounds like a difficult task for a standard rock three-piece plus frontman. However, Krauss' drums, Tirozzi's guitar, and Padgett's bass create an unusually versatile and dense wall of sound for vocalist Galloway to howl over. And Galloway's voice floats most capably across the rock spectrum, often landing within the Jeff Buckley range, lending melody, color, and depth to The Specs' vibrant instrumental arrangements.

Capable musicians and songwriters, The Specs look forward to getting into the studio to record tracks for an upcoming debut album. "I think a lot of bands go into the studio for two or three days and come out with mainly debt... and an album that doesn't sound any good," says Krauss. The Specs plan to take their time in the studio, even if it means recording one or two tracks at a time over the next year, in the hopes of satisfying their own musical standards. For a first listen to the relatively new band, a few living room demos are currently up for download at www.thespecs.net. - Ashford Tucker

If you remember such Columbia bands as Virgin Ironpants, Eartha Baxter, Mellow Blue Marsh and the Glenn Livet Combo, then you already have a leg up in trying to figure out what The Specs are all about. The Specs are a Charleston-based band that features former members of all the afore-mentioned acts, including Eric Galloway on vocals, guitar and keyboards; Sean Krauss on drums and keyboards; Scott Padgett on bass and vocals; and Steve Tirozzi on guitar, keyboards and vocals. Having played in bands that offered everything from indie rock and jam rock to ska and jazz, The Specs are now united in an effort to give you an intricate sound that is "definitely not pop, but irresistible nonetheless." They'll be at the Art Bar on Thursday. - Dan Cook