Entertainment

POP MUSIC: Centro-matic survives without much fanfare

12:00 AM CST on Friday, March 3, 2006

By THOR CHRISTENSEN / The Dallas Morning News

Some rock bands would celebrate their 10th anniversary with a huge all-star concert, a greatest-hits CD or, at the very least, a round of tequila shots. Centro-matic prefers to mark the milestone with a simple bug metaphor.

"We're like a musical cockroach on the floor, with all four legs kicking around," says Will Johnson, singer-guitarist and songwriter of the Denton quartet. "Although the girl I was speaking with the other night said, 'No, it's really more like a perennial desert flower.' "

Flora-fauna debates aside, Centro-matic has survived a full decade as one of Texas' best rock bands, as well as one of its most low-key. Despite putting out 10 spellbinding albums – including Fort Recovery, which comes out Tuesday – the group gets little media attention and even less airplay.

Blame it on the tempo. Most of Centro-matic's songs fall into two categories: "slow" and "slower," a style that makes for dreamy listening but one that won't land the band in an iTunes ad.

The lazy pace, says Mr. Johnson, is a combination of small-town living and musical ineptitude.

"I'm not trying to bash myself, but a lot of it comes from the fact that my guitar playing was, and still is, to a degree, pretty pedestrian," he says. "I'm not a fast player. I don't shred."

He doesn't have to. His lack of guitar chops puts the spotlight on his haunting melodies, as well as on the sharp playing of bassist Mark Hedman, drummer Matt Pence and pianist-violinist-keyboardist Scott Danbom.

"Nobody's expendable," Mr. Johnson says. "If one person has to leave Centro-matic, it's over. It's done."

Centro-matic formed in 1996 after the breakup of Funland, the Dallas rock trio that had a short, ill-fated deal with Arista Records.

"That didn't leave the best taste in my mouth for the big-label world," says Mr. Johnson, who played drums in Funland. "I remember somebody at Arista using ridiculous language like, 'We were expecting A+ and A- songs, and all you gave us were B and C songs.' It was ridiculous. Don't talk to me like that. Talk to me like a person."

So Mr. Johnson vowed to keep Centro-matic independent and to stick to small labels that wouldn't mess with the music. (It's now on the Austin-based Misra Records.)

"There's no massive sums of money coming in for a recording budget. There's no tour support. But this is the way we want to do things – at our own pace."

That leisurely pace allows plenty of time for solo albums and side projects, such as South San Gabriel and the Undertow Orchestra. As he speaks by phone with a reporter, Mr. Johnson is riding in a tour van in Tennessee with fellow Undertowers Vic Chesnutt and Mark Eitzel.

He'll reunite with Centro-matic on Saturday at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, the first date on a U.S.-Canadian tour that stops April 14 at the Granada Theater.

Musically, the new Fort Recovery doesn't stray far from past Centro-matic CDs. But lyrically, it marks a shift for Mr. Johnson, who's known for writing the most indecipherable songs this side of Michael Stipe.

"A couple songs on this record are a little less angular and more autobiographical, which is a part of becoming older," says the 34-year-old singer.

" 'I See Through You' was written with a quote from my late grandfather: 'The more I learn about this world, the less I find I'm afraid to die.' And as I was writing the song, I realized I was writing it to the kids I don't yet have but hope to someday."

It's typical Centro-matic – a rare rock band that actually thinks about the long term.

"I look at the number 10 and I'm kinda like, 'Wow, we're old,' " Mr. Johnson says. "But we're in it for a long haul of steady, steady climbing ... I think we're excited about sticking around for another 10 years – or maybe even another 10 years after that."

E-mail tchristensen@dallasnews.com

Centro-matic performs Saturday night at Dan's Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St., Denton. 940-320-2000. You can hear Centro-matic's Fort Recovery

CD streaming free at www.misrarecords.com

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