One Wants at the Caterie

• By RACHEL SHEPARD
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Apr 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:20 p.m.

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Sometimes one song can take you back and remind you of the good old days. That’s just what you can experience every Wednesday night at the Caterie with One Wants.

Band members Lee McCurley (vocals), Cory Landry (guitar), Stephen Black (bass), Kenny Guzzardo (drums), and Jacob Cardona (sound engineer) play covers of the music they love every single week.

“We play covers of bands we grew up with that we really liked. We mix it based on our personal preferences and my vocal style,” McCurley said. “I can’t sing Toole nor do I want to sing Toole, but stuff like Matchbox 20 and Lifehouse is [different]. We like to cover songs that other people aren’t covering too. We try to play those songs that people can say, ‘I remember that song,’ and all of the sudden it’s familiar again.”

One Wants doesn’t just stand on stage and play, they like to put on a show. McCurley explains that the Caterie’s personal atmosphere has created a venue perfect for the band to work with its audience.

“I like to interact with the crowd a lot more on a personal level. Every time we’re at the Caterie I keep every body involved, cut up a little bit, and just make it more of a show than just a couple of guys playing songs in jukebox mode.”

In December of 2004, the band started out playing Wednesday nights with their original songs, but soon moved to covers and have become an important part of the Caterie’s weekly line up.

“We started out writing originals and just acquired that Wednesday night spot,” McCurley explained. “The first night we played to a crowd of about 20 people on a PA system that cost less than a baseball card. It eventually evolved and grew into a consistent group of people coming in. The word spread and we became a staple there and we’ve had it ever since. It’s kind of what we’re known for in Baton Rouge now.”

Since the band plays often, they are constantly working on producing a better show for the regulars and the new people who come in every week.

“When we first started about 25 percent of the crowd were regulars and we would see them every single week,” McCurley said. “It gets monotonous and challenging because we think we have to change every week so people will have something to come back for. We recently revamped our set list and we just have to keep entertaining and raising the bar.”

One Wants believes that watching how other bands have been successful and playing frequently will help them improve.

“There’s a club in Los Angeles that has an 80s hair band called Metal Skool. They play every Monday and it’s basically two and a half hours of a circus,” McCurley said. “They have celebrity guests come do karaoke and people come just to see the spectacle. We’re trying to incorporate a lot more interaction like that so people can do more than come and just watch a band play. We try to get the crowd involved quickly and I think it’s more their show than it is ours. We just have fun. It’s not such a rigid show with guys on stage playing their instruments.”

One Wants’ fun attitude comes from their individual personalities. The started out trying to fit the rocker mold, but as McCurley explained, soon found they were much more comfortable just being themselves.

“We jumped in and all followed the trend of how you’re supposed to dress and how you’re supposed to act. Looking back it was stupid. Later we all fell into our own and stopped trying to be these type-cast band members. Once we just started acting like ourselves and just entertained, everything fit into place.”