If you go ...
- What: A performance by The Family Business
- When: Tonight at 9
- Where: Old Smokey's Bar, 1301 17th St., Monroe
- Cover charge: None
MONTICELLO - Holding band practice above a cheese factory is not for the weak of spirit - which of course makes it totally rock 'n' roll.
Thursday evening in Monticello above the Swiss Heritage Cheese factory, The Family Business forklifted muenster packing boxes out of the way to make room for amps and gear. The day's oppressive heat had baked the dry-storage loft, which doesn't have air-conditioning, to a temperature optimistically described as therapeutic.
But The Family Business had rehearsing to do. The band is playing tonight at Old Smokey's Bar, Saturday at Rhythm and Booms in Madison, plus more than a dozen other gigs this summer, including a coveted spot next Sunday, July 8, on the Harley Davidson Stage at Summerfest.
The four-member classic rock band started as Fedora in 2005 when they were still in high school. More recently they changed their name to The Family Business because they felt it jumped off the page better, said guitarist Eric Ziegler.
The new name is also true to life. The Family Business grew up together in Green County, learning music from the same teachers and tagging along to their dads' gigs - bassist Garrett Wartenweiler's father, John, and drummer Derek Hendrickson's father, Gary, have played in local favorites The Jimmys and The Crashers.
Three in The Family Business graduated from Monroe High School, Ziegler and singer/guitarist Alec White in 2006 and Wartenweiler in 2005. Hendrickson graduated from New Glarus High School in 2006. Now he works at and lives above the Swiss Heritage Cheese factory in Monticello (and supplies the after-hours rehearsal space).
"We've been together for a long time. Knowing each other from a young age, having that common background, it makes it easier to understand each other. We all speak the same language," said Wartenweiler.
Even when they aren't practicing or performing, "we'll usually all end up hanging out," said Ziegler. On Wednesday nights, they play in a softball league together.
The Family Business calls Madison home now and is quickly making a name in the music scene there. This spring they beat out seven other bands to win Project M, a contest organized by 105.5 Triple M. It earned them the gig at Summerfest, among other perks and prizes.
In March they released their second album, "Nightmares and Wildest Dreams," recorded with engineer Mike Zirkel at the since-closed Smart Studios. The Family Business was one of the last bands to record at the legendary studio, where Garbage, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and dozens of other big names recorded or mixed albums in the past three decades.
"It was in the process of being closed down when we were in there," Ziegler said. "It was definitely cool to be able to record there."
The Project M competition pushed them to write new material. Each week, the competing bands had to perform a challenge. These included playing a cover of the University of Wisconsin fight song "On Wisconsin," writing a song themed around a holiday, writing a song inspired by the news and writing a song no longer than two minutes.
"This was the first time we had to write songs with a deadline in mind. That kind of forced us to explore some different approaches to songwriting that we hadn't done before," Wartenweiler said.
Instead of "piddling around" and taking three weeks or longer to come up with a new song, Ziegler said, "now we've seen we can produce fairly quality music in a week."
Currently, they're saving money to record a third album and shooting to do it yet this summer with Zirkel at his new studio, Audio for the Arts.
Project M also gave the band some direction.
"(DJ) Pat Gallagher had some good advice: really try and be yourself. You don't have to change what you do to be successful," Wartenweiler said.
With sweat-shiny faces Thursday evening, the band ultimately decided the loft was too sweltering for practice and carried their guitars and amps through an open attic area to Hendrickson's low-ceilinged apartment, where a window air conditioner was hard at work.
Here they assembled in the modest living room - next to Hendrickson's vinyl record collection, posters from Stevie Ray Vaughn shows and a shelf of biographies about their idols, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles - and started to play.
Thursday evening in Monticello above the Swiss Heritage Cheese factory, The Family Business forklifted muenster packing boxes out of the way to make room for amps and gear. The day's oppressive heat had baked the dry-storage loft, which doesn't have air-conditioning, to a temperature optimistically described as therapeutic.
But The Family Business had rehearsing to do. The band is playing tonight at Old Smokey's Bar, Saturday at Rhythm and Booms in Madison, plus more than a dozen other gigs this summer, including a coveted spot next Sunday, July 8, on the Harley Davidson Stage at Summerfest.
The four-member classic rock band started as Fedora in 2005 when they were still in high school. More recently they changed their name to The Family Business because they felt it jumped off the page better, said guitarist Eric Ziegler.
The new name is also true to life. The Family Business grew up together in Green County, learning music from the same teachers and tagging along to their dads' gigs - bassist Garrett Wartenweiler's father, John, and drummer Derek Hendrickson's father, Gary, have played in local favorites The Jimmys and The Crashers.
Three in The Family Business graduated from Monroe High School, Ziegler and singer/guitarist Alec White in 2006 and Wartenweiler in 2005. Hendrickson graduated from New Glarus High School in 2006. Now he works at and lives above the Swiss Heritage Cheese factory in Monticello (and supplies the after-hours rehearsal space).
"We've been together for a long time. Knowing each other from a young age, having that common background, it makes it easier to understand each other. We all speak the same language," said Wartenweiler.
Even when they aren't practicing or performing, "we'll usually all end up hanging out," said Ziegler. On Wednesday nights, they play in a softball league together.
The Family Business calls Madison home now and is quickly making a name in the music scene there. This spring they beat out seven other bands to win Project M, a contest organized by 105.5 Triple M. It earned them the gig at Summerfest, among other perks and prizes.
In March they released their second album, "Nightmares and Wildest Dreams," recorded with engineer Mike Zirkel at the since-closed Smart Studios. The Family Business was one of the last bands to record at the legendary studio, where Garbage, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and dozens of other big names recorded or mixed albums in the past three decades.
"It was in the process of being closed down when we were in there," Ziegler said. "It was definitely cool to be able to record there."
The Project M competition pushed them to write new material. Each week, the competing bands had to perform a challenge. These included playing a cover of the University of Wisconsin fight song "On Wisconsin," writing a song themed around a holiday, writing a song inspired by the news and writing a song no longer than two minutes.
"This was the first time we had to write songs with a deadline in mind. That kind of forced us to explore some different approaches to songwriting that we hadn't done before," Wartenweiler said.
Instead of "piddling around" and taking three weeks or longer to come up with a new song, Ziegler said, "now we've seen we can produce fairly quality music in a week."
Currently, they're saving money to record a third album and shooting to do it yet this summer with Zirkel at his new studio, Audio for the Arts.
Project M also gave the band some direction.
"(DJ) Pat Gallagher had some good advice: really try and be yourself. You don't have to change what you do to be successful," Wartenweiler said.
With sweat-shiny faces Thursday evening, the band ultimately decided the loft was too sweltering for practice and carried their guitars and amps through an open attic area to Hendrickson's low-ceilinged apartment, where a window air conditioner was hard at work.
Here they assembled in the modest living room - next to Hendrickson's vinyl record collection, posters from Stevie Ray Vaughn shows and a shelf of biographies about their idols, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles - and started to play.