But sometimes it takes only theslightest bit of luck to tilt the scales. When Grey Gerling, a close friend andHoctor’s college roommate, used the band’s homemade recordings in a number ofhand-drawn animations for his online company, BarfQuestion Films, the music dambroke. Those who saw the videos grew intrigued by their soundtrack and began toask about getting a copy of Sulek’s unique, dynamic blend of pop, rock, folkand classical music.
“He was like, ‘People are asking foralbums and stuff. Think you could ever put one together?’” Hoctor recalls. “Sothat’s how the first album came about. We just pieced together all these songswe had written for fun and never had imagined selling at all. It pays to beinvolved with something else to help you grow.”
The four-man band of self-taughtmusicians released Songs from theDoctor's Office in 2008 and followed it up quickly with last year’s Believer’s Lane. Hoctor says that theband’s homemade sound not only comes from relatively inexpensive instrumentsand recording devices like 8-tracks, but also from diverse tastes in music andhaving two songwriters.
“I write half the songs, but David(Kelly), the piano/banjo/guitar player, writes the other half. And a few ofthem come together as a full band,” explains Hoctor, who adds that he takes twodays for a song while Kelly takes six months. “Some songs are more folky, morerocking, some are more like surf music. Some are based around piano, some aremore based around the guitar. So we dabble in all areas.”
It may sound like the band createscomplicated parts to make this dynamic sound, but that’s not the case.
“We’re forced to have simple parts foreverything because none of us are really masters at our instruments; if anyoneis good, it’s David,” Hoctor says. “As far as the guitar parts and bass parts,they always have to be pretty simple, so then we’re forced to make reallyinteresting arrangements. We have simple parts, but when they come togetherthey make an interesting and exciting song.”
Some things might change for the nextalbum, when the band takes on an outside producer (a close friend of the band),but the core of the band will remain the same. The group plans to recordtogether as a band like they did for their first album.
“It’s going to be really interestingbecause we have a lot of fun recording it ourselves,” Hoctor says. “We oftenwrite parts as we record, but we’re going to have to rehearse before we go intothe studio and have our parts down. The sound should be way up and above whatwe’ve done before. It’ll be something new, but we’re still old Sulek and willbe along the lines of what we’ve done before.”
The band is gaining momentum with moreshows due to the increased popularity, but they would like to think the reasonfor the group’s existence remains the same as day one.
“We go to shows with our oldinstruments and people give us weird looks, but we do what we do, we have fun.And people can tell that,” Hoctor says. “We never dreamed of being an actualband and releasing albums and making money. That feeling has kept us true tosomething. We’re in this just for the sake of music, just for the sake ofhaving a good time. We still have that in us, and we’re proud of that.”
Sulekplays with Ehson Rad and His Band on Thursday, July 8, at 9 p.m. at Linneman’sRiverwest Inn.
