Something Different For Indie Rock

By: Ben Brown
Photo credit: Lin Daffron


Something Different for Indie Rock

The instruments are the same, but the concept is completely unique for Make Phantoms, one of Richmond’s newest Indie bands. The band plans to introduce a different type of Indie rock to the city and plans to sell their songs to TV shows and commercials.
“Make Phantoms is aimed at being a departure from piano-driven indie rock, where we're really looking to branch out in styles, moods, and instruments,” said Mark Strong, the guitarist for the group. “It won't be Radiohead, by any means, but it'll be nice. Quaint, even.”
Other than Strong, the group features Ben Willson, the lead singer and pianist and Alex Borealis, the drummer.
The band is planning some live shows for the near future, but it is displaying a strong focus on selling songs and music to commercials and TV shows.
Selling music directly to a corporate institution is a relatively new idea for Indie bands, and some music lovers have issues with an Indie band selling songs to TV shows.
“A huge part of being in a band is playing live shows,” said Aaron Hawkes, a Richmond native and aspiring musician. “You shouldn’t just plan on selling music to the industry.”
Make Phantoms wants their fans to enjoy their music and their live shows.
“We’re trying to get our music anywhere we can. We actually landed "Aeroplanes” on a yet to be aired but ‘green lighted’ Spike TV show called "Blue Mountain State", which has business ties to “Smallville” and “Varsity Blues, ” said Willson.
Jonathan Lee is the manager at the Sound of Music Recording Studios. He said that every band wants people to listen to their music, but “bands shouldn’t make music with the purpose of being in a commercial. It doesn’t make for good music.”
Willson and Strong have had some success with selling music to TV shows. They first started in a band called We Know, Plato!
We Know Plato! established a following when their song, “Satellites” was heard nationwide in a scene on the TV show, “Gossip Girl” on Nov. 10, 2008.
We Know, Plato! split up in the summer of 2009, but Strong and Willson kept playing music together and formed a new band.
Make Phantoms doesn’t seem to be concerned with critics and maintains that it will play live shows. The band wants a following that with “follow them on this journey.”
Strong thinks that the band will be successful, but does not plan on selling out.
“I want to make a living while maintaining Indie status,” said Strong.
Willson has simpler views for the band, “I just want people to listen to my music.”

Being a Pastory is a 'Sweaty' Job

www.people.vcu.edu/~jcsouth/slideshows/brown

By: Ben Brown

It’s a white 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon. The model is called the Custom Cruiser.
However, to several kids in the Manchester, Bainbridge and Hillside Court areas, this is not just some old station wagon; this is the church bus. And the driver is the Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Sweat, 57. Everyone around here calls him Pastor Tom.
“That’s what people know me as,” Sweat said.
Brinnay Bell, 11, chuckled as she smiled showing all of her teeth. “Pastor Tom is funny when he drives his car,” Brinnay said. She usually gets a ride with Pastor Tom to most church events. Sweat shrugged his shoulders, wrinkling his black argyle sweater and letting out a bit of a grin.
Pastor Tom then moved through the room shaking hands and hugging people. The smile never left his face as his cheek-bones lifted up his thin, black-framed glasses.
Sweat is the senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, 1211 Porter Street. He hasn’t served a full year there, but he is bringing new programs and hopes to revitalize the community in the Manchester area.
“My concern is people are not congregating. I want folks to come together and get to know each other,” Sweat said.
That was the idea behind God’s Garden, one of Sweat’s ideas. It’s not much of a garden now; in fact, it’s just an empty lot next to the church that has been plowed and tilled over. Fruits and vegetables will be growing there soon, Sweat said.
Getting to know each other was also the inspiration for the “dog run” as Pastor Tom calls it. It’s a fenced area where people can let their dogs roam and the owners can get to know each other.
“It’s a gesture of ‘Hey, you’re important to us,’” Sweat said.
He hasn’t always been in the role of a pastor in an urban area. Most of the churches where he served in the past are suburban. Pastor Tom got the opportunity to serve at Central United Methodist and accepted the offer.
“I just didn’t want to see it die,” said Sweat.
Apparently several churches that are struggling have shut their doors for good and closed. Sweat would not stand for this at Central.
“I felt compelled and had a compassion for churches in transition, usually in lower economic communities, and I had a real concern about what was happening to these churches,” he said.
Central United Methodist Church used to boast more than 1,000 members. The church can trace its roots back to 1786, and the building that Central uses now has a cornerstone laid in 1900.
Sweat shared the history of how the community changed and people moved to the suburbs.
Just before Sweat took the job, the church was averaging about 40 people for a Sunday morning service and a choir of seven people.
Many people would see this as a lost cause, but Sweat didn’t. He accepted the position at Central knowing this would be different. With a smaller church comes a smaller budget.
“I did take a cut in salary, but that was my choice, my decision,” Sweat said.
A cut in salary meant that Sweat had to find a couple of odd jobs to make ends meet. Another position opened up, and he jumped on the opportunity. Pastor Tom is not only the senior pastor and the bus driver, but he has another title, too.
“I’m also the church custodian now.” Sweat said he doesn’t mind the work, and he’s at the church anyhow.
“I look at it as a good workout,” Sweat said with a grin.
Ann Shultz is a member and Central United Methodist Church. She says that Sweat is a hard worker.
“Tom is not afraid to get in there and roll up his sleeves and work right along with you,” Shultz said.
Why does he work so hard?
Sweat wet his lips and breathed in through his nose and said: “I still want to believe that some of the best years for this church are in the future.”
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