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March 7, 2008

Giving back through rock

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
Mary Therese Biebel on Facebook | @TLTLMaryTBiebel on Twitter

Before singer/songwriter Ryan Montbleau quit his day job, he wove his experiences as a substitute teacher into a song.

“My calloused fingertips are covered with chalk and my hippie van sticks out like a sore thumb in the faculty parking lot. I sign autographs at night time and a bathroom pass by day … ”

Searching for closure about a relationship, he mourned, “I was that fool, paranoia-stricken lover, always trying to nail her only red dress down to the floor.”

Whatever is going on in Montbleau’s life seeps into his music, and if you attend his concert on Thursday at the Riverstreet Jazz Caf�, you’ll see it’s evolving along with his changing attitudes.

“Definitely, when I was younger I was a hard-core romantic,” said the musician, who turned 30 last year. “I feel like I’m losing it.”

“I’m a little aged, a little beaten up, thinking about things more.”

Among his recent lyrics is a sentiment that “I’d rather be 75 and sunny than 29 with the chance of showers all the time,” he said.

That sounds like a weather forecast, he admitted, but actually “it’s about wanting to grow older … moving away from things that harm you.”

A friend of Montbleau died a few years ago from a heroin overdose, and the songwriter and his band have dedicated to his memory a song, “How Many Times?” from their latest album, “Patience on Friday.”

“We wish our friend had more patience,” Montbleau said. “We wish he could have worked it out. He’d lost his parents and was trying to deal with it.

“We want him to shine on,” the songwriter continued. “When you lose someone, you want them to shine on somewhere.”

The band includes Montbleau on guitar, Matt Gianarros on bass, Laurence Sudder on viola, Jason Cohen on keyboard and James P. Cohen and Yahuba, who goes by one name, on percussion.

One dollar from each ticket sold for Thursday’s concert will benefit Rock the Earth, a non-profit organization that advocates for the environment, and Head Counts, a group that conducts voter-registration drives.

“We have no money,” Montbleau said with a laugh. “We’re still very broke. We’re our own label, and we’re completely independent, but we think it’s time to start giving something back.”