Right on Time

How East Hundred became the Marty McFly of rock.

by M.J. Fine

rock/pop

EAST ENDERS: (L-R) Susan Gager, Brooke Blair, Beryl Guceri, Will Blair and Dave Sunderland. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

How did East Hundred come together? "Like when you're playing Tetris and that one damn piece you need before you lose the game comes out and fits right in," says Beryl Guceri over e-mail. See, guitarist Brooke Blair and his drummer/brother, Will, needed a singer when their old band fell apart. Their friend Guceri needed a score for her senior film project. The three played around with the Turkish folk-pop song "Ruzgar," and the band was born. East Hundred swelled to a five-piece with the addition of Dave Sunderland on bass and Susan Gager on keyboards. The music's atmospheric, but it rocks. Denali fans will swoon. Local linchpin Devin Greenwood produced their gorgeous second EP, Copper Street Performer, and then the band flew to Chicago for mixing by post-rock ace John McEntire.

City Paper: How did you start making music?

Will Blair: Dave and I put a band together for the sixth-grade talent show. We spent most of the year on one song, but that's all we needed. Our target audience was the fourth-graders, but the kindergartners really seemed to be getting into it. We were hooked, so each grade our band sort of morphed into a different sound, and different members. Brooke was a year older and doing the same thing, but his bands were always better, and cooler. They always got to headline, and we always opened up for them. It wasn't until after high school that Brooke "allowed" the younger brother and his friend to start taking music seriously together.

CP: How did East Hundred evolve from the first EP to Copper Street Performer?

Brooke Blair: Will, Beryl and I were pretty much at the tail end of an electronic phase, so a lot of the basis for the sound on the first EP is electronic, atmospheric and heavily layered. We were pretty much writing and recording the songs at the same time, so we weren't as focused on how to pull them off live; it was more of a studio-based band at that time. Once we started playing out, the songs naturally took on a more energetic, rock feel, so we started to grow more in that direction. This affected the next group of songs we started writing and by the time we recorded Copper Street Performer we had played the songs a bunch of times live, so it was about capturing the energy. Now, the new EP we are working on is even more straightforward, gritty and rough around the edges. It's sort of a reaction to the first two EPs.

CP: How did you hook up with John McEntire?

Beryl Guceri: One night, after drinking heavily, Brooke found his e-mail and decided to write him a message to see if he would be interested in mixing CSP. He wrote back the next day.

CP: What was it like to work with him?

WB: You know in Back to the Future how Marty McFly, this young kid, would always chase Doc around with questions, concerns and uncertainty. And Doc, having recently mastered his craft and almost too smart for his own good, occasionally grew impatient, but also had such a calm, kind soul and ultimately believed in Marty's abilities in time travel?

CP: What's the worst thing that happened at a show?

BB: Nothing too bad has happened as of yet. Bad sound can kind of put a damper on things, but nothing a few shots of whiskey can't fix, even if your monitor is screaming at you like a small child that needs to be put in the time-out chair.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)

East Hundred play Fri., June 27, 9 p.m., $8, with Crooked Looks, In Flight Radio and Ladycop, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.thekhyber.com.