INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Material hits top 3

Local bassist’s band places in MTV competition

The Material, a brawny pop band from San Diego, just happens to be one of the three finalists in the Dew Circuit Breakout. That’s third in the entire U.S. — third out of tens of thousands. Front-and-center at any Material show is Colleen D’Agostino, a dynamo lead vocalist with the powerhouse lungs, commanding stage presence and movie star good looks to command the notice of anyone with a beating pulse. Simply put, she’s a true enigma. The four boys huddling around her — guitarists Jon Moreaux and Roi Elam, drummer Noah Vowles and bassist Brian Miller — offer loads of stage presence, personality, skill and good looks, too. Not a slouch in sight.

You just read the part about the cute boys twice, didn’t ya? Can’t figure out why? Does the name Downward Facing Dog ring a bell? How about Rival Goodbye? Well, if so (and we’re seriously guessing that if you read NUVO with any regularity, they do), then you most likely remember Miller: he of fat-string fame for not only those depressed dogs and bitter goodbyes, but also of The Material’s studly fame. That’s right, to borrow another tired old saying, “a local boy’s done good.”

“I saved up some money while working after graduating college and eventually moved out to San Diego,” Miller tells NUVO. “I didn’t have a job there or anything, I just wanted a change, and I knew I liked San Diego.”

Soon enough, Miller landed a job in radio sales and began looking for a new band. “I found [The Material founders Moreaux and D’Agostino] on Craig’s List,” he says, laughing. “They posted an opening for a bassist, and I was posting as a bass player looking to get into a band. I auditioned for them, and it just clicked. Within a month, we had played a show together in front of a crowd.”

Miller, who grew up in South Bend before spending a number of years in Indianapolis while attending Butler University, says that his band’s six-song EP, Tomorrow, was the catalyst for entering the Dew Circuit Breakout. By posting their songs (as well as some videos and blogs) on the popular MTV Dew site, The Material were officially one of the thousands of bands vying for a top spot. Then, on Nov. 4, 2007, it happened. The Material were voted past thousands of other bands into the top six, a move that — any way you cut it — will go down as a turning point in The Material’s budding career. And a few days after Thanksgiving, The Material was bumped into one of the top three spots. The finalists will perform live on an MTVN-produced show filmed in New York on Dec. 15 to determine the winner.

So how, then, did The Material get so far?

“Lots of voters,” says Miller, who explains that the regular national TV spots and Internet attention the band has already received have boosted their exposure exponentially. “I’d describe the dynamic of our band as ‘strangely professional.’ … We’ve all realized that the best way to get stuff done is to approach it like a business.”

All-of-the-sudden attention is flattering, sure, but Miller and his band aren’t letting it get to their heads. “I’ll get these text messages from people saying, ‘Oh my God, I just saw you on TV,’” he says. “That’s pretty cool when those things happen, but we’re just happy to be where we are.”

That said, the band is already seeing quite an increase in interest from not only fans, but promoters, sponsors and labels, too. “The place we played last night is really comparable to the Emerson in Indy. It was pretty amazing, and there were definitely a few hundred new faces there. From that show alone we made contact with a different promoter up in L.A. and now we’re playing the Roxy next week,” Miller says.

“We had a couple of [label] guys come out and watch us in L.A. a few weeks ago, but as far as any real sit-down talks go, we haven’t really gotten into that yet. We’re just focused on getting out there and getting new faces to get onto Dew Circuit Breakout Web site and vote for us. Once it’s all said and done, we’ll start hitting it with the labels.”

Sounds like a plan. Check out the sweet, sprawling sound of The Material at www.myspace.com/thematerial. And when you’re done there, be sure to click on the Dew Circuit Breakout link (found on their MySpace page) and “max out the vote” for The Material.