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School of Communication

“We’re not McMusic!” Matt Gerovac, singer and guitar player for The Matt Gerovac Implosion says. “I think the music industry can be seen as parallel to the fast food industry. The powers that be make it very easy for people to get fat—force feeding them food that just isn’t good for them. It’s the smaller, independent restaurants where you get that food that pleases the palette and doesn’t cause indigestion.”

The Matt Gerovac Implosion is a distinctive soul/groove band that combines the eclectic backgrounds of the band members. Gerovac, who graduated from CSU with an English degree in 2001, formed the band just less than a year ago with fellow musicians Matt Banner, De-yampert Giles, and Phillip Torres.

Singer and guitar player Gerovac is Croatian but spent his childhood in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Drummer Torres is Irish and Puerto Rican and originally from Orlando, Fla., while bassist Giles and keyboardist Banner are both African-American.

This unique mixture of influences incorporates funk, hip-hop, soca, calypso, and African sounds and, despite the odd grouping, also produces music that has been compared to the likes of Jason Mraz, Maroon Five, and Jack Johnson.

Though still a relatively new band, they’ve opened for such acts as the String Cheese Incident, Ekoostik Hookah, Tim Reynolds, Melissa Ferrick, Bernie Worrell & the Woo Warriors, Freekbass, NRBQ, and Leela James.

“We’ve never had a bad response at shows because the music has a positive message—unity, peace, and consciousness,” Gerovac said. Regardless of the optimistic responses they receive at shows, Gerovac still finds it hard to get the band publicity in a world dominated by media conglomerates.

“Unfortunately, without the right affiliations and a budget for ad space, you can kiss mainstream media coverage goodbye.” Gerovac said. “Grassroots marketing is the only way we get the word out, and through college radio and newspapers. I don’t mind because the people that do get into our stuff are usually free thinkers—those capable of making their own decisions.”

Cleveland is not well regarded for fostering local bands to stardom, and Gerovac understands this. “There is so much good art and music in this town, but unfortunately many of us have to go elsewhere to accomplish anything career-wise,” Gerovac said.

“Cleveland may be a hater city, but haters are honest,” Gerovac said. “I used to complain about the Cleveland music scene and how it wasn’t supportive and no one came out to shows, but that’s just not true. Now that I’ve been around the country a bit—playing and listening to music—I’ve found that Cleveland is amazingly talented on a whole with great music and beautiful art. So, it isn’t a lack of quality, but a lack of people buying art and music; we’re a broke city and we spend our money wisely—so, if you can make it in Cleveland you can make it anywhere.”

“I’ve also found that people are hard to impress, but once you win their ears, they’re very loyal,” Gerovac said. Currently, the band goes on weekend mini-tours out of town on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights to accommodate their day jobs.

Giles and Torres are working musicians while Gerovac and Banner are co-teachers at Woodside in Cleveland Heights, teaching classroom music to preschoolers through sixth graders.

“It’s a dream job—sometimes we look at each other in the middle of class and wonder what we’re doing in front of all these impressionable minds,” Gerovac said. “But seriously, I think we do a good job, and there’s nothing better than witnessing a child’s learning process.”

Within the next year, the band plans on finishing recording their debut album, and will shop it around when it’s complete.

“I want to keep up the progress—we’ve been steadily building a regional following so I just want to build more and more momentum,” Gerovac said. “It’s getting exciting. I think the music and overall feeling of the album will be tough to ignore.”

For a show dates and a sampling of their music, head to the bands Web site at www.matt gerovac.com.

The Matt Gerovac Implosion will be playing the following up-coming dates: Wednesday, Nov. 24, 9 p.m. at the Odeon Concert Club- 1295 Old River Rd., (216) 574-2525, with Paul Fayrewether; Saturday, Nov. 27, 10 p.m. at the Southside- 2207 W. 11th St., (216) 937-2288; Sunday, Nov. 28, 6 p.m. at the Beachcomber- 1146 Old River Rd., (216) 566-9400-Traditional Pig Roast to Benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Friday, Dec. 31, 9 p.m. at the Grog Shop- 2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd., (216) 321-5588-Fourth Annual New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball with Moon the Giant and XELA.

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