| Looking for success, Wishing for a star
02/11/2000 by Mary Colurso |
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| Bunton, a student
of rock history, has a healthy respect for that deal and its aftermath.
And, because this Tarrant boy grew up listening to heavy metal, he's proud
to be on the Portrait roster alongside Iron Maiden, Cinderella, Ratt and
Great White. (Pat Benatar's on there, too.) "If you go to a concert, that type of band puts on a great show," Bunton says with enthusiasm. "That's just what we want to do. So we have pyro(technics) and all that stuff. It's fun to us." Still, no one who hears "Lucid," "Inside," "Feels like June" or other tunes on Beautiful Something would categorize Bunton and friends as headbangers. Mars Electric specializes in polished, radio-friendly rock with pop underpinnings. It's melodic instead of spiky, straightforward and accessible. Bunton has been honing that sound for about three years, ever since he formed a fledgling group called Wish. Wish made the usual round of Birmingham nightclubs, survived what Bunton terms a "revolving door" of members and bounced back after its first deal folded with Atlantic Records. The band became Mars Electric when Bunton realized the name Wish had already been claimed by several other groups - and he noticed the sign for Marrs Electric Co. a few blocks away from his Tarrant studio. "The biggest problem in the beginning was finding players," Bunton recalls. "Most people want to be weekend warriors, but I didn't want to get drunk, play in bars, and go 'Wooo!' I'm completely straight-edge, very focused." He believes the current lineup - which includes bassist Carl Ray Hopper, guitarist Chris Simmons and drummer Matt Finn - shares his desire for big-league success. "We're all from the same school, and it fits," Bunton says. Fast pace. As they wait for the rest of America to plug into Mars Electric, Bunton and Hopper have been jetting to promotional appearances at radio stations, sometimes visiting five cities in one day. The band recently filmed a video in a warehouse near New York's Brooklyn Bridge, freezing as they performed "Someday," the first single, over and over to the accompaniment of a taped track. "I didn't want to lip synch because I didn't want it to look fake," Bunton admits. "And our video is just the band. For our first one, we didn't want to have models walking through or helicopters coming down." A spring tour is in the works for the group, which has previously opened for Tonic, Live, Edwin McCain and Motley Crue. In unfamiliar places, Bunton says, he always begins the show with an announcement: "Hey, everyone, we're the Backstreet Boys from Orlando, Florida!" Just to break the ice, he emphasizes. And to get folks laughing. "Everywhere we go, we play for people who've never heard of Mars Electric," Bunton says. "So you've got to make them feel like they're your friends." 'In it for life' He doesn't expect to transform into a household name overnight, but Bunton cherishes the idea that his group will end up "like Aerosmith without the breakup," or "like U2 without the very slow start." "You need to be realistic so you don't get your heart broken every five minutes, but I'm in this for life," Bunton says. "All we can do is bring the music to the people. And, really, it blows me away when someone actually likes what I do." |