Interview With "Next Great American Band" Contenders Trés Bien!

Retropop band Trés Bien! made it through five rounds of "The Next Great American Band," and were eliminated before getting to play in last week's Rod Stewart challenge. Their exit was the second surprise in two episodes for me: I'd expected big-banders Denver And The Mile-High Orchestra to go both times, but first Franklin Bridge and then Trés Bien! got the axe instead.

One advantage of being off the show, though, is that Trés Bien! are now free to do interviews and gigs as they please. I spoke with guitarist Michael James Crowe this morning, and although disappointed to have left, he said he was glad for the exposure his band has gotten.

Since this was the first time I'd had a chance to talk to any of the bands, I wanted to know how the process worked from the band's perspective, and we spoke about song selection, their favorite performances, and what the judges are really like. At the end, Michael shared his favorite embarrassing concert story.

Details and a concert video after the jump.

How do you pick which songs to perform?
"They'll give you the artist, their entire catalogue, and say, pick your three favorite songs, and they narrow it down from the three and choose one for you. You pick them, but it's still kind of random at the same time."

Did you get your 1st choice on the Mick Jagger covers?
"Actually, no. But any of the Rolling Stones songs were good for us, so it didn't really matter."

I was sort of surprised to see nobody did "Honky Tonk Women."
"Yeah, I was talking to the guys when we were choosing songs, and I was saying, should we do it?"

(Michael and I both agreed that it would have been a perfect song for country-rockers Sixwire, who performed "The Last Time" instead.)

Of your performances on the show, which was your favorite?
"I really liked, surprisingly, the Elton John week. "Love Lies Bleeding" went really well, and also that week we got to play original [songs]. We're mostly an original band, and before the show we had never even played a cover [song]. The whole process was really new for us. When we entered the competition, that's what we thought it was about: Originals. It's kinda hard to judge a Next Great American Band if they're just playing someone else's music."

(Michael clarified that he had nothing against cover songs, and that they do show a new side of a band. Still, he would have preferred the opportunity for bands to play more of their original compositions that would highlight their strengths.)

I've been told the bands don't get any contact with the judges except during the performances, but does the show give you any assistance in arrangements or production beforehand?
"Occasionally you'll run into the judges backstage, and when we got kicked off, Sheila came and talked to us for awhile. They were really nice...

[During rehearsals, the producers] did send in the famous bassist Ricky Minor, the famous bass player. He would come in and talk to all the bands, and give suggestions. You could take them or leave them. But he's been playing on TV for years, knows how to write for TV. He's like the house band guy for American Idol, things like that. He'd give advice like 'to show the song off best, throw in as many chords as you can here' or 'I'd play a little quieter here' but all the decisions, everything that went on the show was up to us. We didn't have to listen to him."

Is Dicko really as much of a jerk in real life?
No, that's just a stage thing. He's a great guy. We got to talk to him for like 20 minutes once and he was just incredibly nice.

How weird is it that those metal kids are on there and that they're so good?
"It's unbelievable. I mean, you have to wonder what's in the water in California. I was talking to the other guitar player and I said, man, when we get home we gotta get some lessons. We've got some catching up to do."

What's your favorite live venue so far?
"We play local shows at this place called the Neptune Lounge in Tarpon Springs Florida. It's one of those like hole in the wall bar places, all they have is microphones. One day we packed the place, just door to door. Everyone was so into it, we had to stop a song in the middle just to tell everybody to calm down so nobody got hurt. It's awesome to play a place like that because you can really connect with everybody. When we're huge we'd rather play a small club three nights in a row than like, an arena."

Do you have a favorite embarrassing tour story you want to share with the Internet?

"Oh man. There are so many. We had a showcase for Island records about a year ago, and it's like the biggest thing of our life. And we get up there, for the first song, and Mikey the lead singer, is doing his normal thing, going crazy, and he ends up kicking out my cord accidentally, and then kicks out the bass player's rig, and... it just set the tone for the whole performance.  It was like 20 seconds into the set. I still can't even think about it.

Trés Bien! can be found at Myspace. Their next gig is at The Social in Orlando on December 23, and they'll also be playing a New Year's Eve party at the Crowbar in Ybor City.

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[Elizabeth Atkins]

I took the Tres Bien! kick drum picture. Please credit me as I am a professional photographer and released copyrights to Tres Bien! to use. I would really appreciate it. Thank you!
-Elizabeth Atkins
www.myspace.com/atkinsphotography