Articles

NewWaveMusic.com, Posted May 24, 2004

The band Blivit may not be a familiar name yet, but the members of Blivit are not new to the Philadelphia music scene. Keyboardist Jeremy Dyen, bassist Dave Palan and drummer Jay Horvath met while playing in the band Fathead. Although Fathead disbanded; Dave, Jay and Jeremy weren't ready to call it quits.

"I'd always encouraged Jeremy to bring his songs to the table [in Fathead,] but the band was very different. It was a progressive rock meets hip-hop style and very politically charged." After Fathead dissolved the three reunited with Jeremy's lyrics and formed Blivit. Dave had the word 'blivit,' in his head after reading the introduction to a book by Kurt Vonnegut. A few weeks later Jeremy suggested the word, it had been in Dave's head and it clicked with Jay, and so a band was born. But its not the name that makes the band, it's the sound. Dave and Jeremy describe the sound of Blivit as song oriented material. "We're a rock band," explains Dave. "We call it rock bastard because it's a little atypical. To begin with, we don't have a guitar player in the band, yet we try to achieve the same sort of rock guitar drive. And our musical preferences are all so eclectic that I guess you could say our sound is born out of a large orgy of influences... yet still we try to be straight ahead and focused. Plus, I think it just has a good ring to it. It was actually one of the names I suggested when we were naming the band."

The band's unique sound reflects a wide range of musical interests that stem from their childhoods. "I was always into music, my parents and my aunt who lived with us turned me onto music young. I have been listening to Billy Joel since I was born," Dave said. "Then I rebelled," he explains, "and I got into Megadeath and Slayer, my parents hated it so that just encouraged the obsession because it was taboo." Dave gained most of his technical musical education by playing the saxophone and clarinet throughout high school but found he was truly interested in playing the drums and guitar, which he did outside of school. "The bass came about halfway through high school after I heard Primus and later I realized there is a lot more that you could do on a bass than what has been done," Dave said.

Jeremy was raised on Billy Joel as well. "My whole household was musical, my brother is a musician and everyone played the piano, but I wanted to be different so I picked up the violin," he said. Jeremy played the violin from first until sixth grade. "I wish I had one now, but it just became uncool in middle school," he explained. Jeremy started playing the piano a couple of years later and writing his own songs as well. "A friend taught me "Stairway to Heaven" on the piano," said Jeremy, "and I just started listening to everything, in high school I played a lot of classic rock, like Grateful Dead and the Doors." In college Jeremy's focus turned to jazz, "I had this vision of being a jazz player after college but then I realized how difficult that would be, its such a selective market, plus, I feel this connection with songwriting," he said.

Jeremy writes the material for Blivit and draws inspiration from almost everything. "I wrote ["Three Chord Chorus"] the day after we played the Y100 Festival, after watching little kids who were so starstruck, especially on the second stage where the rockstars are so accessible. The beginning is about the relationship between a rockstar and a groupie, and how the rockstar is supposed to act. Then in the chorus the joke is on the listener because its like when you hear a song from the 80's, some one-hit wonder, and you are making fun of the artist but at the same time, you know the words and you are singing along," Jeremy explained. He has also drawn material from past relationships, writing "Asshole Like That" after he listened to an ex-girlfriend vent about her new boyfriend. "Basically I got dumped because I'm the nice guy," he said. Blivit currently has a 4-song EP out and they are planning to release two new albums in the late fall. "We have two releases we are working on right now. In December we threw a party in the recording studio and we played a heap of material. We just finished mixing it recently, but we're still trying to decide what to do with it in terms of when and how to release it. The other album is a studio recording we did a couple of months ago, we went to a house in the Poconos for a week and brought our friend and talented engineer, Cheek Andrews, and just played and played till we got the basic tracks. We're mostly done with the vocals and now we're preparing to mix it and get it out there. I think there's like 12 songs or so," said Dave. The two albums show the diversity of the band. "They show two different aspects of Blivit," Jeremy said, "the live one is more adventurous and the songs are longer, we wanted the studio album a little more concise, like the material we play at shows when we only have an hour long set."

But the band also plans on releasing albums paying tribute to some of their influences, with a Blivit twist. "There are probably 100 Beatles songs that I wish I'd written," said Jeremy. A Beatles cover album is on Blivit's to-do list. "We've done a couple of Beatles songs and they've ended up being pretty different than the originals. We'd love do to a whole album of it," Jeremy said. "They are kind of perfect the way they are so its hard to cover them unless you inject yourself into them to make them more your own," Dave added. Dave also predicts a release of a metal EP, "it would be very interesting without a guitar player," he remarked, "it would be about five minutes long, total, with all the songs about one minute long." Jeremy supports the idea. "The more you get out there the better," he said.

Blivit is definitely getting their name out there. The band is currently gaining recognition in their hometown of Philadelphia. Blivit was nominated in the 2003 Philly Music Awards in the categories of Best Original Band, Best Bassist and Best Keyboardist. "That was kind of a cool thing," Jeremy said, "it takes awhile for a band to get recognition and it's hard to get people to shows and have publications recognize and promote you. I realize that they have the non-indie bands bombarding them though."

If recognition leads to fame and fortune will Jay, Dave and Jeremys' lives change drastically? "Even if I had a whole lot of money I think I just might like to buy a house, fix the fender on my Saturn station wagon and get that replacement hubcap I've been hankerin' for," Dave said. "I'm all about the Benz," Jeremy joked, "No, really there is a lot of musical equipment I'd invest in, and I'd like a house, and having our own studio would be great."

Right now Dave's vision for Blivit doesn't include any of the rockstar luxuries seen on MTV. "I'd like to be selling out 700 seat theaters, it would be great to have our own tour because then people would be there because they really want to see us play."

Interview conducted by Christina Kolock