Montville Band Heads for the Big Time

For the group of local young musicians that goes by the name of “Llama Tsunami and The Without Helmet," it’s already been quite a year.

After winning the nationwide “Give it Voice” competition, the band is getting free plane tickets to Austin, TX, to take the stage for a prime spot in the Red Gorilla Music Festival—a thousands-strong music event run alongside the infamous SXSW. They’ve also scored $10,000 worth of equipment from Shure, the audio company that sponsors the contest.

Llama Tsunami is a nine-piece front, which deals in ska, a fast-paced music style that blends the rhythm found in reggae and Latin American music with horns and punk rock stylings. The members of the band include two trumpet players, a sax player and a trombonist. Together with the drums, guitars, bass and vocals, Llama Tsunami puts out an upbeat sound that’s also very danceable.

Josh Middleton, who plays trumpet, and Ben Perry, who plays guitar and bass, are 2006 graduates of Montville High School. Two other band members are  '07s and there is still one member who is graduating this year. Four members of the group had also played in the school’s jazz band.

Llama Tsunami members have spread out as far as Ithaca to Burlington and Providence. Geography has posed its own set of challenges for the band, but they still make time to play during their breaks from school.

“We wouldn’t be able to do any of this with so many people if we weren’t all really for it,” Middleton said.

Many Llama Tsunami songs written by Perry tend to be more playful, while Maria Shishmanian (trumpet vocals) explores other topics like relationships. Ultimately, the whole band pitches in to write songs and parts for instruments. Having a broad range of skill and band members that are versed in playing instruments makes composing songs far easier.

“We figure out a way to do it even when we don’t have one or two,” said Perry.

Many of the band’s songs on the July 2010 album “Get Serious,” reveal a keen sense of humor, from a sarcastic takedown of the workout-obsessed in “Rock Hard Abs,” to a jab at self-absorbed adolescence in “Emo Kid,” to the salty “Here There Be Pirates.”

The band is cautious about appearing pretentious, preferring a laid back attitude. “We kind of want to be the anti-snobs,” Perry said.

They believe that a lot of other bands lose sight of the importance of having a good time with music. "When you get really serious and you knock down anything with a recognizable melody just because it’s not serious enough—that’s just silly,” said Middleton.

As result of their offbeat name and song topics, both Middleton and Perry can recall the band taking plenty of flak from others.

The song “Get Serious,” is the band’s answer to detractors who told them they were wasting their time with goofy songs and that their music was going nowhere. Fittingly enough, that was the song that won the contest for the band.

“We turned all the negative comments that people gave us and turned them into song lyrics,” said Middleton.

And Llama Tsunami turned those lyrics into an album.

“It was the first time working with a real producer,”  Perry said of Llama Tsunami’s recording sessions, which the band paid for itself. “In the end, I think we were a lot stronger as a band and the finished product came out really well.”

Though the album was a big step, they went through a rough time soon after. Two players dropped out, requiring them to find replacements. Perry and Middleton are philosophical about the changes. “In some ways it's better, in some ways it's worse,” Perry said. “It’s different but still good.”

Back in November, Perry submitted “Get Serious” to the “Give it Voice” contest website. He waited until after he'd submitted the song to tell the band they were in the contest, and it was up to them to promote themselves, if they wanted.

Using the Internet, they were able to garner the votes to win a spot at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, where they squared off against other regional winners before a set of judges. After winning this, it came down to a nationwide vote to select the U.S. favorite. Llama Tsunami won by this contest with almost 3,000 votes over the runner-up.

This was a big change for a band that was used to being made fun of for its name or music style. “Seeing this support was kind of overwhelming,” said Perry.

Should you be in the Austin area a week from today, you can see Llama Tsunami play at The Blind Pig at 10 p.m.

Middleton and Perry agreed that the band’s dedication had gotten them as far as they had. “All the recent success, if you can call it that, is the product of our need to perform,” Perry said, “rather than any need to become giant superstars.”

So what’s next when the superstars get back from Austin?

“We kind of got this far without a big overlapping plan,” said Middleton.

One idea they have is to split an EP with Threat Level Burgandy, a band that they’re friendly with.

Some of the current shows they have scheduled include concerts at Three Rivers, and the NFAID concert at Norwich Free Academy.They will be playing a Providence gig as early as March 12 and another in May.

The band has a website, but currently their Facebook page has the most up to date information. Llama Tsunami also has aspirations to use its recent success to get bigger shows and to share the ticket with higher profile groups. Still, the band likes playing at small venues.

“It’s not like were going to stop the smaller shows.” Perry said. “We’ll play in your backyard. That’s fun.”