The Pittsfield-based cover band has been around for a number of years -- no one can agree exactly how long. But after some member turnover and the sudden death of drummer Chuck Burgess in 2007, the rock group has found its rhythm again.
At first glance, they're an unlikely crew. The local band veterans include: Jim Rosier, 52, of Dalton, who's an independent contractor by day and lead guitarist by night; Andy Tinney, a 40-year-old electrician from Dalton who replaced Burgess on drums; and bassist Jeff Coty, 43, a Pittsfield resident who also drives for UPS recently joined the band.
By contrast, the band's vocals are powered by two young women from Pittsfield, both newer self-taught musicians. General Dynamics employee Erica Pulley, 24, plays rhythm guitar and sings harmony to the lead vocals of Becky Smith, 25, a stay-at-home mom.
Put them all together, and you get a crowd-pleasing repertoire of cover tunes that's got the group playing all summer long.
Here the self-proclaimed "goofballs" talk about gigs and getting along during a recent Wednesday night rehearsal:
Q: Do you guys have any particular way to kick things off at a show?
BS: We do come with a set list. But it's not the same every time.
JS: We try to mix it up.
AT: If we get there and they're older folks we try to cater to them.
If they're younger, we try to cater to ‘em.
Q:
AT: My age --
Q: Haha. I mean, what would you play for an older person versus a younger person?
EP: Like a more classic rock -
BS: Like more like a Judas Priest instead of All-American Rejects.
Q: So are you a straight up play through band or do you like to banter around during your sets?
EP: We're always trying to get the crowd involved.
Q: Any strange or interesting requests from people? Or do you get unusual characters at your shows?
BS: We definitely get unusual characters. [All laugh]
EP: Yeah, we've had some strange people but I don't think we've had any strange requests. We get a lot of song requests.
Q: Are there any particular songs that get requested a lot?
BS: A lot of stuff people request we don't play, honestly. We try to play good songs that not every other band plays.
JR: But what do we have that people like all the time? [Looks to group]
BS: AC/DC
EP: And Ozzy
JR: And we do Metallica now, so that kind of thing.
EP: Yeah, usually in more of harder rock.
BS: And we have one girl in Adams that always wants us to play "Gives You Hell" (by the All-American Rejects).
JR: Yeah, and the other one that always does really well is Kid Rock.
Q: Do you guys go somewhere and by sheet music or do you play by ear? How do you work that out?
JR: It's a combination of all that stuff.
BS: And we look online.
EP: Andy learns from 12-year-old boys on YouTube. [All laugh]
Q: So do you all come from musical backgrounds or are you newer musicians?
JR: I, um, started like 6 months ago. [All laugh]
EP: No, he's been playing for like, 20 years.
JR: More like 40.
EP: Really? [More laughter]
BS: Jim and Andy have been in other bands together. Jeff's been in a couple of other bands. This is the first band for both me and Erica.
JC: I was in the Jake Larkin Band - that was a pretty good band, and the Barstool Preachers, that was a great band.
Q: Are people really surprised when they see you all play? I mean, you don't really see a lot of females in a lot of local bands, especially doing lead.
JR: Well, when we first started getting more popular - and for some reason, Adams really loves us - but up there, I used to have a lot of people come up to me and say, I was really surprised that girls could pull off singing guy/rocking songs. We do a lot of guy rockers like AC/DC, Judas Priest and stuff like that. They were very surprised that we could do stuff like that.
EP: I think we get a lot of girls who come and up and say it's cool that [Becky] can do the male songs and she sings great, you know, everyone compliments her voice. So I think we have a lot of people who are impressed.
AT: I was forced into this band. [All laugh] Really.
EP: He really was.
JR: I agree.
AT: I had retired.
Q: So when did you come back?
AT: Well, me and Jim had played together for a while, and he told me if I didn't come play with you guys, he was gonna kill me. [All laugh]
Q: Is Jim a highly-trained killer?
JR: Oh yeah, I'm wicked dangerous. [Rolls his eyes. All laugh.]
EP: He can only see out of one eye, so I wouldn't worry. [All laugh]
Q: Has the music scene, playing around here, changed much over the years?
JR: Well for me, yeah, because it used to be unbelievable years ago, totally amazing. Then it completely died. Now I think it's getting good again.
AT: I think changing the drinking law [from age 18 to 21] and the smoking laws [no smoking inside bars and clubs] really changed things for a while.
JR: Yeah, but now things have pretty much come full circle, I think.
Q: But what do you think brought it back?
AT: Boredom.
EP: I think [Jim's] right about cycles.
JR: Yeah, people got out of live music and started to really like deejays because people wanted to hear what they wanted to hear and just dance. But it's pretty thrilling, I think, to go out and hear someone right there, especially if they're good.
BS: I think a lot of the bands out now are pretty good.
Q: For you nowadays, what makes a good gig?
JC: People who are into the act.
AT: Appreciation, definitely appreciation.
BS: We definitely aim for getting people to dance and appreciate what we're doing.
EP: But if you just have a group, even if it's not a lot of people, if they're enthusiastic and they're up and dancing and cheering after every song -- that makes it worth it all.
Q: You guys are booked solid for the next couple months. How do you think that happened?
JR: Coty's hot. [All laugh]
EP: And he smells really good. [More laughter] But I don't know. In
the spring we really just took off all of a sudden.
Q: Did you work at it? Did you really want to get yourselves out there?
JR: Yeah, from the beginning. We always have the drive to do better.
BS: I started taking over the MySpace page and made up a Facebook and made a gig list.
EP: I do booking and we actually had someone try to sabotage us. Somebody called the radio station, Live 95.9 FM, posing as Jim saying we weren't available to play Live on the Lake. It was crazy!
Q: Have you recorded anything of yours ever?
BS: Nothing professionally or anything.
JR: We started doing originals, which were really wicked too. But then we stopped doing originals because we thought we needed to be more popular first. We felt as a cover band, we were really strong.
Q: Do you think you'll ever lean back that way?
JR: Oh yeah.
EP: Yeah, I think with him and Andy, they really want to.
JC: I've only been playing with the band for like, three months, so I'm still soaking everything in. [All laugh]
Q: One of the laments I hear from a lot of other bands trying to get people to come out to a gig is that people are really hesitant to try something new. What would you say to convince people to come to one of your shows, aside from the fact that Jeff smells nice?
EP: We have a really good time. Put together, we do put on a good show. We're very animated as a group. And then we also interact a lot.
BS: Like I go out and dance -
EP: We talk to the crowd. We're definitely very interactive, which I think appeals to people.
Q: What makes you stick with it and stay together?
JR: A lot of fights, just like any family. [Laughs] But really, honesty and progress.
EP: In the last three or four months, we've learned so many new songs, and they appeal to people. So when we go out on a weekend and play a song we just learned Wednesday at practice and they love it, and we do it well and we get a response, it's really gratifying.
Q: What are some of those newer songs you've been working on?
BS: We do "Gives You Hell" by All-American Rejects. We're doing the new Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You." We do "So What?" by Pink.
EP: Theory of a Deadman. Fall Out Boy.
JC: Then it just starts going back and forth.
BS: Yeah, I think we're going to start leaning "Dani California" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We still take time to learn the good classic stuff.
JC: It's kind of weird though, we go from one extreme to another.
JR: Yeah, from "Brown-Eyed Girl" --
JC: To Tom Petty to Metallica, it's like, well what kind of cover band are you?
Q: So what makes you different from other cover bands?
AT: For one thing, we never play note for note. Jim is one of my favorite guitarists to play with because he never plays not for note. He'll ad lib and do his own thing. It's not monotone --
JR: You've got a lot of dynamics, a lot of switching up.
Q: Any other goals or songs you want to try as a band?
JR: I personally would like to see us leave this county a little bit and start opening for bigger places in Albany or Northampton.
EP: At the same time, we want to start playing some of the newer places around here. Get some good pocket change and have a good time doing it.
About the band:
Becky Smith - Lead Vocals
Jim Rosier - Lead Guitar
Erica Pulley - Guitar/Vocals
Andy Tinney - Drums
Jeff Coty - Bass
On the Web: www.myspace.com/hottotti
Upcoming gigs: Saturday, 8 p.m. at the PNA in Adams. Their biggest show this summer will be playing Live on the Lake at Burbank Park on Onota Lake in Pittsfield on July 29.
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