Promise to not play again sometimes short-lived
By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star
February 28, 2003

Sometime last winter Tony Ladesich convinced himself that he'd never be in another rock band again.  Ever.

He was tired.  Tired of the frustrations and disappointments, tired of the personality clashes, tired of auditioning another drummer or bass player every three months.

"I was so sure about it that I told my girlfriend I was not going to play in a band again," he said.  "I figured I'd do it all myself.  Just write songs and play an acoustic guitar."

His certainty lasted about a week.  About a year ago Ladesich got a call from Chris Meck, who'd been Kristie Stremel's guitar player for nearly three years.  He and Stremel had parted ways, and Meck was looking for another project to jump into.

Ladesich's response?  "I said, `Well, I guess we'll have to be in a band together.' "

That band is called Pendergast, and its story epitomizes the Kansas City music scene: If your favorite band breaks up, wait a few minutes and they'll all show up in another band.

Ladesich knows more than he wants to about breakups and departures.  His first gig of any renown was as a drummer for Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys.  The word "direction" comes up a lot when someone quits or a band breaks up, and that's why Ladesich left the Hobart & the Boys just after they released their first album on Bloodshot Records.

"I didn't like the direction they were headed," he said.  "I didn't want to tour on an album of country ballads, and that's where Rex was going.  Plus, I wanted to finish school and focus on my other band, Sandoval."

Here's where things get a little tricky: Sandoval was a rock band with a country twist that was generating a good local buzz, especially after releasing its first (and only) CD.  However, the other members of Sandoval were also in other bands, like the Misery Boys and the Wilders.  Gradually Sandoval became everyone's second choice, Ladesich said, so he reluctantly closed shop.

"Matt Brahl and I were going to start another band," Ladesich said.  "But even he was finding what he wanted in his other band, the Snakebite Orphans.  I was never outwardly bitter about it all, but I had nothing else going.  I guess when it was all done, I felt like I'd been left at the altar."

About the time Ladesich was going through his ordeal with Sandoval, Meck was playing for Monkey Boy, a band, he said, that "nobody came to see.  We did a couple records, but I think we were too `out there' for people."

Not long after Monkey Boy faded to black, Meck hooked up with Stremel, who was making waves on her own after spending time first in Frogpond and then Exit 159.

He and Stremel worked together closely for nearly three years, including work on her first album for Slewfoot Records, "All I Really Want."  Then last March, Meck told Stremel what he really wanted was to move onto something else.

"Basically, I wanted different things musically than Kristie," he said.  "I wanted more of a rock 'n' roll band atmosphere, which isn't necessarily what she wanted.  She was content having me as a permanent sideman and using hired guns on drums and bass.  I was happy being her sideman, but I wanted a formal band, the same guys on tour and in the studio."

"We just kind of disagreed on some important things, so it was time to move on.  We did South by Southwest and finished her tour in Texas, and then I left.  It was all cool.  We're still friendly."

Meck almost immediately called Ladesich, who, by then, wanted no part of any "rock 'n' roll band atmosphere."  Or so he thought.  His follow-up to Sandoval was Secret Liquor Cure, which amounted to "a rebound relationship," he said.  In other words, it never found the direction he was looking for.

"I felt like what I wanted was Crazy Horse, but what I ended up with were the Attractions," he said.  "Now I love Elvis Costello, but he's not the right fit for me.  Neil Young is."

"It just wasn't working out.  It was never very soulful or passionate.  And when you stop having a good time or thinking when you're on stage, `There's nowhere else I'd rather be,' it's time to stop."

Ladesich used his film degree to find work that stoked him creatively and kept him from doting on his sour experiences with bands and music.  Now a producer for Channel 41, he is also an award-winning filmmaker and former director of photography for the station's Emmy-winning "Crossroads."

Work diverted his attention from his other love, music, but it didn't kill his longing to be in a band; it only dulled it.  So when Meck called last April with a prospect in mind, Ladesich reneged on his "never again" declaration.

"Chris and I had admired each other's musicianship for a while," Ladesich said. "We'd talked a few times over the years but nothing too serious.  Then I get this call out of the blue...So we got together and started playing and recording songs."

Ladesich is the band's principal songwriter, and his tunes reflect his taste in music: Young, the Stones, Springsteen, Gram Parsons.  It's rock music with country and pop accents -- "not just country or alt-country," he'd like to point out.

To fill out the band, he and Meck recruited a couple of familiar faces: Mike Meyers, who had played drums with Meck for Stremel, and bassist Matt Erwin, formerly of Pulling Unit.  For some reason, the lineup has meshed seamlessly.

"Maybe it's because we're all crusty old veterans who know what the deal is," Meck said.  "Whatever it is, this is the easiest band I've ever played in.  Everyone's comfortable with his role.  We work really hard, but everything seems to fall into place very easily."

Ladesich is feeling even more sublime about it all -- as if the band he's always wanted to be in emerged out of nowhere when he least expected it.  Though he's juggling a career and two earnest hobbies, everything, for now, appears headed in the right direction.

"I've been thinking lately about two guys I really look up to: Jon Langford and Terry Allen," he said.  "Allen is a sculptor and painter and a great Texas songwriter. Langford is an artist, a great musician and songwriter.  They're both trying to exist in two different worlds.  And I understand that."

"I've known the feeling, the anticipation, of having your own movie play at a festival in front of 500 people.  You're nervous and all that, but it's not the same."

"With a band, yeah, you're still nervous before a show, until you hit that first chord. But when you're on stage playing with a 400-horsepower rock 'n' roll band, and the crowd is really responding -- it's the most invigorating, fulfilling feeling you can have."

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