Wellabee: Wellabee

Eclectic Records

Playing Time: 42:52

D. Malcolm Fairbrother

It's not an easy trick at all, this breaking into the music business. Having all the talent in the universe amounts to very little if one is out of step with the trends of the times; being in step is certainly not a guarantee of being triumphantly received by a public whose fickle nature has been demonstrated over and over again. The art of being in the right place at the right time, more commonly referred to as 'blind luck' seems to be the dominant factor. What's a poor up-and-coming group to do?

A case in point is Wellabee, a seemingly affable collection of young men struggling to escape from the confines of Sarnia, Ontario where they came together out of the demise of several lesser ensembles, and garner a wider North American audience. Wellabee is a rather traditional two-guitar, bass and drums quartet empowering the musical vision of their lead vocalist/lead guitarist and lyricist Mark Tetreault. Although the other group members (Neal Evans, Leonard Milhouse and Jeremy Ive) contribute to the writing of the music, one senses that Mr. Tetreault is firmly in the driver's seat.

Being a four-piece popular music band would be somewhat problematic if this group showed an inclination to be something more than a punk-grunge influenced foursome. Their musicianship is respectable given these self-imposed limitations: although there is a tendency to be somewhat repetitive in their construction of material, this is to be expected, given their relative inexperience. Wellabee certainly plays with enthusiasm, but their choice of musical idiom does not really challenge their skills, for how elaborate does a band need to be to play raging punk blaster? What more do you need to do than grind out growlingly fuzzy licks to approximate this style?

Wellabee begins with Orange, an angry song of angst and alienation, quite reminiscent of what punk groups were producing in the pre-Nirvana days. There are several songs on this opus that fit this genre, namely Collar a drum-driven snarling bit of throwaway punk, and It's Not Sunday, a song that fairly leaps into engaging existence only to charge headlong into awkward chord-changes that somewhat undermine its momentum. Ballads such as Graduation and Whisper are placed effectively to break up the cacophonous drive of the more spirited numbers; the former begins with some delicate guitar-plucking that soon intensifies into a scream that launches a song about the uncertainties of the future as one stands on the threshold of adulthood, while the latter is as delicate as this group gets, a tender piece of chrome on an otherwise crushingly powerful machine-and about as soft.

Tuck In My Shirt?! is an effective bit of mayhem, a dissonant diatribe against dress codes and other authoritarian standards, but it is hardly a fresh visit to undiscovered thematic territory despite its earnest enthusiasm. Christine is an anguished ode to an unattainable, perhaps forbidden, younger girl; the piece starts out promisingly enough with a sadness that quickly deteriorates into a repetitive teenage mumble of helplessness: if that was Wellabee's intent, they nailed it.

Atypical of the predominant tone of the CD, the final song is almost a shock after its ten predecessors. Oreo Fence (Spring Is Here Again) is sweet and delicate, at least by comparison; it is perhaps the one song that comes close to sustaining a hook to underscore the mixture of melancholy and awe at the changes not only in the seasons of the natural world, but also those found in the human heart. But, too typical is a song like Her Picture. This number muscles out musically, its own sense of importance delivering a stature that unfortunately doesn't take the song in any strong direction; it becomes a seemingly good idea left undeveloped despite its leaning toward being a strong piece of power pop music with maybe just a hint of country!

It seems to this reviewer that Wellabee is exploring the marketplace by trying every genre at its command rather than deciding what it really wants to be, retro-grunge rock band or a neo-millennium punk outfit. Once they decide, they should concentrate on strengthening and developing their material, making it concomitant with their skills. Right now, their dichotomy of potential and inexperience has given them a range of material that, although mildly entertaining and somewhat promising, ultimately leaves the listener waiting for them to focus on a tighter second effort. This reviewer believes they can easily maximize their obvious potential and awaits their next CD to witness a much anticipated breakthrough.

[More information about Wellabee may be found at http://www.eclecticrecords.ca - Ed]