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 Photo by Jeremy Grand The Unattended Are Here to Have Fun By April Jimenez You walk into Metasin and plop down at the bar next to a regular guy. He's drinking his beer and chatting with his friends, other, laid-back, regular guys. You think nothing of it. So imagine your shock when those everyday ordinary dudes get on Metasin's graffiti-covered stage and blast out a sound that is anything but ordinary. You've just imagined the Unattended. This five-pieced, genre-bending group categorizes their music as fun - not indie, or rock, or punk, just fun - take from it what you will. Putting labels on music is not fun. Front man Brendan Stiles has been there, done that. Playing in signed bands White Trash and the Erratic were what he considers good practice for the real thing: the Unattended, his perfect vision of what music should be. "I've been dicking around in the music business forever, and I would love to get signed a third time - it would be the perfect fuck you to the people who said you can't do it your way," said Stiles. And although Stiles approach epitomizes the could-care-less, we're-here-for-fun attitude, these guys are pretty serious, about music at least. As a matter of fact, the Unattended roll call reads like a Who's Who of New York music. Aside from Stiles' pedigree, the group boasts longtime LI rhythm guitarist and scene stalwart Steve Goldstein, who played in Evelyn Red and Sonic Blonde. The "other" Steve, Bertrand, who is usually referred to as "regular Steve," as opposed to "irregular Steve," played lead for White Pigs. Brian Wishin, drummer for metal heads Twisted Fate and Skinned, and bassist Keith Thompson, who chooses to forget anything he's ever done before the Unattended, round out the group. For each, the Unattended is a departure from what they are used to. Goldstein, or "irregular Steve," was used to writing all of the music in his previous bands. Here he enjoys the ride. "Brendan writes all the music and I'm there to help bring his vision to life! I love the songs and the energy of the band, and the guys in the band are so much fun to play with. I like the fact that we don't take ourselves too seriously, we just have fun jumping around like idiots on stage," said Goldstein. So besides being deceivingly fresh-faced, these guys have a few other tricks up their sleeves to set themselves apart from other bands. For example, they give free tax advice. "I don't think any other band is offering that these days. I mean, we may not give you the best tax advice, but we will surely give it to you. I think that separates us from other bands ... just make sure you claim yourself as a dependent, okay?" jokes Goldstein. Admittedly, trying to make your mark on the Long Island music scene is difficult, but that won't deter the Unattended from doing everything and anything to own your ears. And if that means giving out some bad tax advice, so be it. Stiles sums up the dog-eat-dog mentality of the scene: "Are we looking to rule the world? Maybe. But we definitely would love to make another record." |
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