If you were to happen upon four middle-school boys in the process of setting up drums and amplifiers in preparation for an outdoor performance, you might assume you were in for an afternoon of marginal renditions of overplayed top-forty radio hits. Odds are that you’d be right on. But, if those four guys were a Rockwall band calling themselves the Neckties and you thought that, well, you would be wrong. Way wrong.
What you would hear instead is an astonishingly rich mix of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, and around a dozen original songs written by the band, all done with the skill and precision of seasoned session artists. What you would see is an intensity and seriousness in their playing, and in the audience, a mix of all ages, including 40 and 50-somethings who grew up with this music, giving it their undivided attention. These are not just a bunch of kids playing around. These are musicians, playing for real.
The Neckties story began in September of ‘07, when two friends in sixth grade decided they wanted to be in a rock band. Fielder Whittington had been playing drums since fifth grade, taking lessons at times, but mostly working out rhythms by playing along with the music he liked on CD or radio. Charley Wiles had a similar experience on guitar. When his mom bought him a DVD of guitar lessons, he found in short order that he made more progress just listening to and emulating the guitarists he admired. The DVD gathered dust on a shelf. Another friend, Blake Cheek, came around and told them he could sing. He wasn’t lying, and a band was born.
For the next couple of years, they practiced, played local gigs, and wrote songs in the style of the groups they loved from the sixties and seventies. Along the way, they added bassist Robert Burroughs to round out the sound.
And the name? Charley explained in a blog posting from a year ago, “The people that live their lives with monotonous jobs could be called “neckties”, do you agree? Because everyday, they wake up, put on their silk ties, and head to work to slave behind a computer all day. We arent the kind of kids that want to live a life like that. We want to do what makes us feel good – playing music. We chose our name as a misnomer. We are not, and will never be neckties; we are the opposite actually.”
Planet Rockwall recently caught up with three of the members at El Potrillo de la Sandia at the Harbor in Rockwall. The group plays here nearly every Wednesday night through August. On hand were Fielder, Charley and Robert, all making short work of bottomless baskets of chips and salsa. We sought to gain a glimpse into this well of young talent.
PR – How would you describe yourselves as a band?
Charley- I’d probably classify us as classic rock and blues in the style of the 60’s and 70’s. In our opinion, this is when the best musicians were out there. Playing as a band, we found that it was the kind of stuff we wanted to do. The covers we do are mostly from that period, and our original songs reflect that.
Fielder – Yeah, I’d call it driving rock with a blues influence.
PR – So you see that period as kind of a golden age of rock?
Charley – I think so. There aren’t many bands these days that are all about the music any more. There seems to be so much propaganda and record company control now. Now it’s about making teen girls scream and buy records. It’s less about making good music and doing what you want to do.
PR – Except for Robert, you guys haven’t even started high school yet. Do you find that your age limits you in any way?
Charley- Until people hear us play, it’s hard to get them to take us seriously. They think we’re just some kind of gimmicky kid band. And even when they hear us play, it’s hard for them to get past the age thing. Some gigs we can’t accept for that reason, like a bar or nightclub where we couldn’t normally get in. Once they see and hear us live, though, they begin to understand how serious we are about the music.
PR – What is the largest venue you’ve played so far?
Charley – Probably the biggest name event was the Dallas International Guitar Festival. Ricky Scaggs, Point Blank, Rick Derringer, these super huge people were there, and we were on the bill with them. As far as audience size, we did a charity for a Toys for Tots event which was in the Hella Temple in Garland. There were probably a thousand people there.
PR – Let’s talk about the music for a little bit. In your original song “Growth”, you can hear a lot of emotion both in Blake’s vocals and in the way you play the guitar riffs off of those. Can you provide a little background on the process of putting that together?
Charley – Blake wrote the lyrics to that particular song, so there’s probably more meaning there for him than for me. I just tried to bring into the mix whatever stress or emotion that I’m feeling at the time that goes along with the mood of the song. If there happens to be any tension in the band, we use it to bring that energy into the performance.
Any time we play or record, there’s a lot of interaction between the members. I mean, we’re not just playing a part. We take cues from each other about where we want to take a song, who wants to pick up a solo, things like that. Depending on the mood of the group, the audience, and the moment, we may take a two-minute song and jam with it for twenty.
Fielder- And for a drummer, that can be pretty demanding. It has gotten easier as I’ve practiced and gained strength in my hands. I don’t get as many blisters.
PR- Listening to you, four middle class, suburban kids, normal family life-not your typical hard-luck blues story-one has to wonder: where do these blues come from? How do you keep it real?
Charley – I guess it’s what we feel inside at the moment. To me, anyway, I don’t have to have had a rough life to feel the music. The emotions are all there in the songs. When we play, there’s a vibe that goes around the group, whether it’s really intense or laid back. Whatever mood each of us is in at the time, that’s what we bring to the performance as a whole. Sometimes it doesn’t quite come together, but usually it does.
PR – None of you are old enough to drive yet. How do you get to your gigs?
Charley- It can get scary. Usually one or more of the parents are available. We recently acquired a van that we can get all the equipment in, but we used to ride in as many separate cars as needed to get it all there. It could get pretty crazy. What’s the furthest we’ve gone leaving something at home?
Fielder – Austin. I think I left my drumsticks behind on that one. And the practice before the International guitar show, I didn’t have my bass pedal. I had to pretend it was there. Fortunately it was just practice, and I made sure to have it for the actual performance.
Charley – Yeah, if we can get to a gig with everything we need, we figure we’re doing good.
PR – How far have your performances taken you?
Charley – Austin, as I mentioned. Then there was McAlester, Oklahoma.
PR – Are the long trips very stressful?
Charley – Not as long as we have everything. Actually the longer trips give us time to relax on the drive. The local gigs seem to be more rushed.
PR – Nobody gets along one hundred percent of the time. When disagreements happen, how does that affect your performance?
Fielder – It doesn’t really affect the music. We just kind of suck it up, and once we get into a groove it all seems to melt away.
Charley – And then afterwards, we forget what we were fighting about. Even when we’re writing, we don’t spend more than a few minutes arguing about a line or anything like that. I can’t remember any time we had a huge debate over who should play this or that part, or over lyrics. Usually it’s something outside the music, like, why did you drop the mike, or quit throwing the gear around.
PR – Have your audiences always been appreciative of your music?
Charley – McAlester Oklahoma was pretty scary. It was like this big party for all these oil riggers. We were playing outside, and got there about ten at night. We were looking around and saw this huge flatbed trailer in a truck stop parking lot. We figured that was our stage.
Fielder – This town is like 400 people, and the only musician in town was opening for us. He’s playing all these hardcore country songs, and the audience is loving it.
Charley – Yeah, we’re figuring this can’t be good. So we start playing, and our second song is by Jimi Hendrix. These guys start looking around like “What are these kids doing?”, and yelling “Play me some Willie Nelson!”
Fielder – Pretty rough crowd.
Charley – What was worse, Blake’s voice was starting to go out. Luckily the guy who played before us actually came up and helped us. He did some singing, and helped us figure out which songs we knew would go over better with the crowd. By the end, things were pretty mellow. We finished up at around two in the morning, then started looking for a hotel. The town only had one hotel, and two different streets with the same name. We of course took the wrong one.
Fielder – We didn’t find it until about five, after driving down some dead end roads, and once ended up in some farmer’s driveway. It was so scary.
Charley – We actually learned a Willie Nelson song after that.
PR – Do you normally work up a set list before a gig, or just play it by ear?
Charley – Usually we’ll work up a set list for a larger gig, where we have a limited time frame. Here at El Portrillo, we don’t normally use a set list. We just kind of discuss what to play next between songs. We try to mix it up, not doing two slow songs, or two songs by the same band together.
PR – Some of the songs you play are pretty hard edged. Do your parents have any say in what’s appropriate to play?
Charley – Well, there’s no censorship, really. They might suggest that a song they hear us practice is too much for a particular audience. For the most part, we choose what to play, and don’t feel the need to push any limits. The music is good enough without all that.
PR – “Tell Me Your Name” is one of the most popular views on your website. Could you go through the process of writing that one?
Charley – Blake and I wrote that one. I was in Wal Mart with my mom, and Blake and I were texting ideas back and forth on our iPhones.
PR – It’s a sure bet they weren’t writing them like that in the 70’s.
Charley – True. But we rarely have paper or pens with us when an idea hits. But we always have our iPhones, and it’s easy to run ideas by each other in real time.
Fielder – I still have the original “Solo Traveler” lyrics on paper.
PR – Do your ideas come to you consistently, or do you have dry spells?
Charley – We’re in the process of writing a full-length album, and there’s stress everywhere, because we all know we need to come up with new songs. That’s when nothing comes to us. We’ve never put out a real, finished CD, and would like to have something ready by this fall.
PR – Have you thought about entering any of the national talent shows?
Charley – There was one time when all the moms decided it would be a good idea for us to enter “America’s Got Talent”. We shot that down pretty quickly. I think I speak for all of us to say that’s getting your fame the wrong way, having it handed to you rather than earning it. I’d rather do it the way Led Zeppelin or the Stones did it. Just play and get heard. If you’re good enough, fame comes in time.
PR – What’s in the future for the group?
Charley – I think as far as the band goes, we’ll just ride it as far as it will go. We don’t really take the time to worry about becoming famous or whether it just fizzles out. We’re just working on being the best that we can, and wherever being the best that we can takes us, that’s where we’re going. For me personally, though, I think I’ll always be involved with music, whether it’s this band or another one. I plan to study sound engineering in college, to stay involved with music one way or another.
At the conclusion of our interview, having nearly exhausted the chips and salsa supply, it was time for the guys to head over to Dodie’s. There was an all-you-can-eat crab legs special waiting to be conquered.
The Neckties play most Wednesday nights at El Potrillo de la Sandia at the Harbor in Rockwall, and will be opening for Joan Jett this Saturday at QueFest in Robertson Park. For details go to www.thenecktiesmusic.com.
“Lies” ~ The Neckties ~ Grapevine ~ May 22
Photographs – ©2010 Michael Insuaste
