Streamline stays positive in tough music industry

• By JOHN WIRT
• Music critic
• Published: Jun 12, 2009

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Local rock band Streamline can claim three hometowns — Rochester, N.Y., Los Angeles and Baton Rouge.

Streamline began six years ago in Rochester with singer-guitarist Mike Hogan and keyboardist Jon Scholl. After adding bass player John Viavattine, the band moved to Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, the trio hired Brian Ireland, drummer with the nationally known Something Corporate, to play a Streamline recording session. Ireland and the trio from Rochester got along so well that he joined the band.

Meanwhile, guitarist Brad Ourso, a long-time member of Baton Rouge band 35 Zero, moved to Los Angeles. Ourso joined a pop-rock band called On The Surface, which featured Ireland’s girlfriend as vocalist. Ourso met Ireland’s Streamline band mate, Hogan, because Hogan and On The Surface’s singer were roommates.

“Mike and I started talking music and we hit it off,” Ourso said recently. “Streamline needed a guitar player so I ended up joining them.”

Ourso’s defection from On The Surface to Streamline in 2007 spurred some hard feelings but Streamline proved to be, at least in rock-band years, a lasting partnership.

“It was obvious that we liked writing and playing together,” Ourso said.

From its Los Angeles base, Streamline began touring after it released a self-titled EP. The touring took Streamline to Baton Rouge, where Ourso had attended Catholic High School and LSU.

Streamline’s Baton Rouge reception was such a pleasant experience that the band considered relocating to south Louisiana, a region of the country less expensive than the Los Angeles area and more convenient for national touring thanks to its central location.

“The whole L.A. thing was a great experience,” Ourso said. “But when the band started to jell, we wanted to pursue this as seriously and efficiently as possible.”

By last year, all of the members of Streamline had moved to Baton Rouge. The band released its second EP, The Alchemist and the Arsonist, last month. Streamline recorded the disc’s seven tracks at its official band house, which functions as rehearsal space, recording studio and residence for two band members. The group searched for months before it found a house far enough from other residences to prevent disturbing-the-peace calls to the police.

Streamline’s members bring diverse musical tastes to the group. Ourso loves the classic rock of Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac. Bassist Viavattine brings funk and jazz fusion to the mix. Keyboardist Scholl’s interest in electronic music can be heard in “Ghost,” a track on the Streamline EP.

“Everyone comes from different areas of music, but we can all find a few bands that tie a thread between us,” Ourso said.
The band’s original songs range from rock to modern country, acoustic to heavy rock.