It’s rough gaining traction in any local music scene – and it’s rougher still when that local scene doesn’t support homegrown bands.
“The music scene here seems to have peaks and valleys,” said Secaucus native Damien Marianucci, bassist for the Hudson County alternative rock band Timelord. “When there’s a peak, bands like ours, that write and perform their own original music, can do really well. When things drop off I’ve noticed that’s when cover bands take off and seem to do really well.”
Marianucci would consider the current Hudson County music scene, whose nexus is Hoboken, in a valley.
He and the other three members of Timelord – Peter Orozco of North Bergen, Christine Miller-Polselli, and Zack Seely – pondered the local music scene last week on the heels of the release of their second album, “You’re Trying to Kill Me.”
“It seems a lot of people in this area aren’t all that interested in live music,” said Timelord founder and frontwoman Miller-Polselli. “It’s like people don’t want anything that hasn’t been spoonfed to them.”
“It seems a lot of people in this area aren’t all that interested in live music.” –Christine Miller-Polselli
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“I wanted the group’s sound to have a lot of energy, high energy,” she said of the first album and of the Timelord sound. “But I also wanted to emphasize melody and lyrics. I’m really drawn to lyrics and particularly lyrics that tell stories. Although when I write, I often start with melody first, then I’ll add chords behind the melody.”
She said that there are some groups whose overall sound don’t impress her, but whose songs are still interesting because of the strong lyrical content.
“Story telling in songs has sort of gone out of style,” she added.
After two members of the band left, Marianucci and Seely joined to form the group’s current lineup.
Seely, who plays lead guitar, said classical guitarists are his greatest influences.
Although Marianucci plays bass guitar for Timelord, he got started in music playing drums. As a bassist now, he said he still “thinks like a drummer” and tries to “fit in between Orozco’s beats.”
“I think you can really hear our progression on this [second] album,” Orozco said. “On the first album, Christine worked out a lot of the music on her own and then would bring it to us. This album is much more collaborative. You can actually tell we were in the room together talking.”
The result, he added, is a smoother sound that blends better than before. As their sound continues to progress, Orozco, who lives in North Bergen, wants to add more salsa flavor to the mix, and n fact even plans to add some different beats when the band performs live.
“It will be interesting to see how audiences respond,” he said, “because in live concerts I may just add a few elements that aren’t on the album version of some songs.”
Such experimentation, he added, may even come as a surprise to his fellow band mates.
Founder Miller-Polselli seems surprisingly sublime about the prospect of stepping back to give the other musicians in the group space to do their own thing. The group is currently working on a song that was primarily written by Marianucci.
“It’s interesting for me to work this way,” she noted. “It’s Damien’s song, but I have to sing it so I’m going to have to fin a way to make it work for me. It will be an interesting challenge…I guess as long as the lyrics and melody are there I’ll be okay.”
Timelord will perform its next show at Hoboken’s Saints and Sinners on July 17.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.