Moving humbly toward success

Despite large following, local band stays true to music

By Kyle Webster

Posted on Feb. 05, 2004, at 12:00 a.m.

mary beach

ROCKIN´ OUT - Eric Frye, guitar and lead vocalist, and Jim Bradeen, bassist, rock out the North Pod Tuesday night at Java Jive with the rest of Now Transmission. The band played at Ushuaia last night and will play at Bumstock.

holly barber

ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER - Campus band Now Transmission earned the most votes in Bumstock 2004´s Campus Vote.

Few bands can obtain the same sort of following that the local rock alternative band Now Transmission has in less than a year. The band was officially established in March of 2003 and has been performing around campus, Maine and New England ever since.

The band is made up of Ray Labbe on guitar, Andrew Desmarais on drums, Jim Bradeen on bass and Eric Frye as lead vocalist.

Over the past year, Now Transmission has performed at Java Jive, Rock Against Rape and a variety of other concerts. They are slated to perform at least two more shows on campus in the upcoming semester. First, they will be performing at the Feb. 26 Frequency in Memorial Union. Following that, Now Transmission will be one of seven campus bands to perform at Bumstock 2004. The band was voted in under the new Campus Vote program, where they finished first and beat the second place choice by a large percentage.

“We’ve been pumped up since we found out [we won],” Desmarais said.

According to Labbe, the band began as Desmarais and Labbe playing around in a variety of bands for the past three years. They then met Bradeen and their former lead singer. After that lead singer left, Frye was recruited, and Now Transmission was born.

The name Now Transmission has no real meaning, according to the group.

“We were sitting at the union randomly writing down names,” Labbe said. “It really can mean whatever.”

Although they do claim that it is hard to find places to perform in the area, they say they really enjoy being at the University of Maine as a band.

“To be honest, there is nothing that will ever compare to playing at UMaine,” Desmarais said. “Since the first few shows, we’ve always had a good turnout.”

They don’t really attribute this to any one aspect and they deny the fact that they truly have a following of sorts, claiming that, in the long run, they are in it for the music.

“Our goal is just to play,” Labbe said.

In terms of getting signed or going beyond New Hampshire, the location of their furthest concert, they take a rather humble approach.

“Other people are worried about record contracts or making it big,” Desmarais said. “We just want to play our music.”

Now Transmission has recently released its first CD, Enjoy the Pause. The CD can be ordered through the band’s Web site: www.nowtransmission.com.

Campus Currents: Bumstock