Tycoon Dog storms Geneseo
Visiting band offers eclectic mix of sounds

By Sam Bell
Asst. Features Editor

Imagine sitting in a field, the wind whipping around your body and carrying the sound of acoustic guitar and some bass. You think to yourself, Wow these guys are really good. They sound like the Grateful Dead meets Tom Petty meets individuality. Such is the sound of Tycoon Dog, the infamous rock band visiting Geneseo and The Statesmen this Friday and Saturday.
The band, made up of four guys based in Manhattan, has been traveling all over for almost a year now. Since last summer, Tycoon Dog has traveled over 25,000 miles, spanning the country from Wisconsin to New York, Indiana to Michigan, headlining festivals and playing in bars and clubs as well. Their sound is unique, appealing and spectacular thanks, in no small part, to all four of the skilled band members.
The band is comprised of four friends. There's Scott Bailey, the co-manager, who is also the lead guitarist and singer/songwriter. Bassist and vocalist Billy Burtt contributes an urban jazz sound. Burtt, who is talented in the field of jazz, has participated in high-level jazz projects, including playing with Miles Davis's producer. Despite having lived his whole life in Harlem, he does not deny his family's Southern roots, but instead incorporates what he knows into brilliant music. The drummer and vocalist Peter Ray, a Maine native, has been instructed in jazz, drumming and performance since he was a teen, later touring with reggae and jazz bands. As Bailey describes him, "He is a skinny white guy who is into jazz drumming. He has serious connections with students all over the Northeast, and he's studied with people like Keith Copland and other heavy-hitting jazz guys ... and I am lucky enough to play music with these guys." Last, but never least, is Santo, the percussionist, whose style is Latin based. Santo is from the Lower East side of Manhattan and is into salsa, Latin pop and experimental music. He has studied with Ray Mancini, and holds a strong background in Latin and ethnic percussion.
Bailey elaborates, "Everyone has a wide range of musical background. The result of this is an appealing form of updated classic rock, which speaks to a wide range of people."
"We are an older band, with 40-plus years as performers. But we're little kids at heart. I feel like this is a lucky and fortuitous coming together of influences and good people."
Tycoon Dog began in a way that makes your average citizen step back and wonder, "Hey what am I doing with this life of mine?" Bailey went to Cornell University and invested 10 years in a law firm before he quit. In doing so, he put together himself and three other guys who were musically gifted and ambitious. He stopped having an income; he started having fun with the band. He started living.
"I grew up in the country," Bailey explains. "Then I went to school and held a professional career in New York City. I found that there is weird tension between the country and the city. I was like a hillbilly living in the city. It made me think of me being at my uncle's house in West Virginia, where the key status symbol there was the number and quality of coon dogs a family has. And in the city, your respect is wrapped up in your capital and wealth. So I figured, the urban symbol for this is a tycoon, and the dog was the country.
"That's where we get 'Tycoon Dog;' there's this image of a crafty-looking dog, a hillbilly on a porch, with a glint in his eye. A tycoon is wealthy in money or knowledge; I thought the whole thing was a cool image. People remember it, identify with it. It worked all over."
And all over is where they went. While touring, they caught the number-three single in Germany, and gathered together increasing numbers of fans. Tycoon Dog plays festivals, bars - anywhere that music and people come together. Bailey reflects, "We play to the college age and older hippies and in every kind of environment. ... We've found upstate New York is more real, more down-to-earth. The people are fun to hang with; I think our experiences have been better with less urban environments, outside of big cities."
It just so happens that Geneseo falls outside a relatively large city. And Andy Wiles, a DJ for WGSU, started playing a Tycoon Dog CD on campus and it had a positive response. People loved them. Wiles then contacted Bailey and eventually the gig was born for Friday, March 10 at 11 p.m., and Saturday, March 11 at 10 p.m., at an all-ages show at the Statesmen.
The band holds many influences. Among them are the Grateful Dead, Los Lobos, Bob Dylan and other kinds of American rock. Santo explains, "I am inspired by Pancho Sanchez, the Palmeris, who are Latin pianists, and Paul Simon." Music in general is inspiring for the band. Bailey adds, "I like the idea of a band playing, no matter what. Like the Dead - making up their own life, doing their own thing, and being immensely successful. It's the archetypal American success story."
Santo adds, "I've been playing music since I was 10 years old. Music brings people together; there's a communication factor about it. It is a universal language with no boundaries. I got the bug for it, for better or worse. ... I want to keep playing, continue living the good life, playing music and staying healthy. Percussion adds groove to music; it gets people moving. Percussion is where it all started; it's a heartbeat and it's skin on skin."
What makes this life so great for Tycoon Dog is to keep playing, keep reaching people like Geneseo students who appreciate the beat, the work and the brilliance of the skill. Bailey explains, "Imagine doing exactly what you want to do, with all your best friends. That's what we do. We carry with us to every set-up five people behind the scenes, like Simon, our co-manager, my girlfriend the publicist, the lighting crew and stage help ... we get everything done together. I wake up in the morning with ideas from my sleep, what I can do differently. I get great new ideas; my life has become centralized around doing Tycoon Dog differently ... There's excitement towards what I am doing. I am thrilled by it."
Santo seems to agree: "I look forward to getting up, to being alive. I look forward to challenges; they keep my blood going. I look for the variety. I like seeing what's gonna happen today."