THE OCTOBER: SOUTHERN BAND, BRITPOP SOUND

Dustin Burnett and his Kentucky bandmates make their Push onto the national stage with their own brand of danceable rock

The October

Is it strange to name your band after the month you were born? Perhaps strange to some, but for The October's Dustin Burnett, that particular month signifies a huge turning point in his life. As the leaves changed colors in the autumn of 2003, Burnett began to write and record music that had a faster pace and was more beat driven than his previous band, Lightheaded.

The result was The October's debut, Push Me Off the Side of the Earth, an album rich with danceable songs that combine 80s new wave and British rock influences. Burnett wrote the songs, played all the instruments, recorded, mixed and mastered the album, but he lined up a team of rockers to make his musical vision a reality: James Lindsey on guitar, Matt Wiley on bass and Aaron Spraggs on drums.

The band has performed at ASCAP's 2004 CMJ Music Festival showcase and an ASCAP-sponsored party during The Sundance Film Festival. Burnett, Wiley and Spraggs gave Playback the scoop on their upcoming release.

What do you think sets your band apart from the rest?

Burnett: Even though we pull from a lot of influences that other bands do, I don't really think that there really is a band that "sounds" like us. What we are doing is a bit different. And as of lately, our live show sets us apart.

The October is essentially from outside of Louisville, KY. What is the music scene like there?

Burnett: Well, where we live, there is NO scene. We drive to either Louisville, KY, Evansville, IN, or St. Louis, MO, to do our "local" shows.

Wiley: Louisville has a good music scene with bands like VHS or Beta, My Morning Jacket, Slint and Days of the New. It's about three hours away from where we live, but it's the closest place where we've established a following.

How did your interest in music begin? What are some of your earliest memories of music?

Burnett: Probably listening to my mom and dad's records was my earliest memory. They listened to Boston, the Police, the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

Wiley: My earliest memories are of being very small and sleeping in my dad's guitar case as he would play to me.

Spraggs: I was about 3 or 4, and my uncle always had his drum set out. The more I was around the drums, the more I wanted to play them.

When writing songs, do you find you start with the lyrics or music?

Burnett: A song idea can come to me at any moment. It comes from what someone might say to me, from a movie, or from a feeling. I will start with either the melody or the lyric. A lot of the songs that I write will start with a beat or a groove, which may not be typical for the type of music that we play, but we are all so moved by the beat of a song. I overlooked that for years.

With such a limited local scene, do you find that music portals like MySpace.com are useful in building your fanbase and promoting your events?

Burnett: MySpace is insane. I avoided those types of portals at first, but lately we've been getting 50 to 100 plays per day on that site. It's a phenomenon! It has given us and fans the ability to reach out and communicate with each other.

Wiley: Yeah, MySpace has been crucial to this band in developing a following that otherwise would not be possible.

By Jin Moon