The dicemen cometh

Around these parts, the metaphor of life as a roll of the dice actually resonates truth. We’ve all seen someone either on the losing or winning end of this roll as we stroll downtown. Around here, it’s not simply a cute saying. Life is literally a gamble.

The Hardways pay homage to their hometown by carrying this philosophy in their music. In life, as in dice, there is the easy way to achieve a goal, and there is also the hard way.

But these gambling men—Jesse Easter (lead guitar/vocals), Spike McGuire (rhythm guitar), Tyson Schroeder (bass guitar) and Steven Sperber (drums)—approach their music with such focus that they hope to leave little to chance.

“I have taken the Lady Gaga approach for the last few years, in that we are really following what’s happening and delving into all areas,” says McGuire. “If I’m not writing or practicing, I am trying to read up on the industry and see what’s going on.”

They know where they want to end up. “Our goal is to play big, big shows,” says Easter.

They know what they want out of their sound. “We play rock that’s right down the middle to where you can fit in a lot of bills, a lot of venues, and it’s nice to not be segregated,” says Schroeder.

And they understand their constraints within the changing music industry. “It’s a more diluted playing field,” says Sperber. “It’s a bigger plane so everyone levels out.”

But nowadays simply knowing the what, the where and the how is not a guarantee for success. Because of their understanding of the music industry—Easter and McGuire work for 505 Records—they have taken steps to ensure that when their moment of opportunity arises, they’ll be prepared. Part of that is understanding the music business is precisely that—a business.

“Being a self-produced band is like doing things the hard way, so it serves as a model,” says Sperber.

“It used to be music was 70 percent of the battle,” says Schroeder. “Now, even though we put as much effort into the music as we can, it’s only 30 percent of the battle, the rest is marketing and playing the right shows.”

That’s the message they hope to send with their CD release party for their album Perpetual Motion on Feb. 4 at The Alley: That they aren’t simply guys on stage playing instruments, but that they have a vision of what they are capable of accomplishing as a band, not simply as musicians.

Still, the struggle of attracting a wide audience continues, which is one of the reasons that they try to make accessible music, and not simply for a niche audience.

“Our music is really radio-friendly, but it’s not necessarily like what you hear on the radio,” says McGuire.

But, of course this requires a balancing act of not compromising sound, while still making it marketable for a national audience. However, The Hardways are committed to the craft of songwriting.

“I think a detriment to a lot of bands today is that everyone is playing to shine the brightest, but our number one goal is writing and playing for the song itself,” says Mcguire.

And, Schroeder adds, to convey that theirs is a positive message, “There’s none of that girl-broke-my-heart stuff.”

“We’re tired of people complaining, we are tired of relationship songs,” says McGuire.

“One day we will write a ballad,” says Easter. “But it will be a positive one.”