By Tony Marquis, Standard Staff
HARTLAND — Dan Blaise remembers the Road Trash Band’s first rehearsals inside in an old Hartland barn. To free up some space, they took a chainsaw and cut down some of the walls. Still, the only place for new drummer Levi Howard’s tiny drum set was in an old horse stall, full of dander, mold and excrement.
“(Levi) was in there practicing on this beat-up drum set,” Blaise said. “It was funny as hell — but he’s come a long way.”
The Road Trash Band has come a long way from a crappy little horse barn in Hartland.
On Dec. 19 at 10 p.m., the band — made up of Blaise, Hartland brothers Levi and Seth Howard and guitar player Bernie Moss — is holding a release party for its new album, which features six original songs and four covers, at the Windsor Station Restaurant and Barroom (where the band has been jamming in front of enthusiastic audiences for two years).
And last month, the band traveled to Queens College in Brooklyn, New York, to try out for “America’s Got Talent.”
Not that trying out is that big of a deal, Blaise said. Anyone who wants to spend the money and travel to an audition site is basically qualified.
But trying out for “AGT,” as he calls it, has been a dream of Levi’s ever since he was 15.
“I would always try to get all my bands to go,” Levi said. “I was so shocked that the Road Trash Band was the one that finally agreed.”
The band was among almost 3,000 people and thousands of other acts. When they first got to the college, they sat in a large room, while everybody warmed up.
Blaise described it as a “holding pen.”
“(It was) pretty chaotic,” Blaise said.
They were then given a number, then moved to a room with 99 other acts. There was just one other band, a handful of hipsters calling themselves New History, in their group of 100.
A girl sitting behind a laptop gave them 90 seconds to play. There were no amps or woofers. The electric, old-school, “straight-up” rock-and-roll band had to play their 90 unplugged.
“Dan and I will sometimes do a “Half-Trash” night, Tuesday night at the station, do some strummy acoustic stuff,” Howard said. “But we’re usually all plugged in, we’re all electric.”
The band knew there wasn’t going to be any time to set up. They played acoustic guitars and Levi hammered away at a wooden box for 90 seconds of the song “Dead Flowers” by the Rolling Stones.
“I think they just want to know that we can actually do it — that we’re not just a bunch of idiots,” Seth said.
The girl behind the laptop told them: “OK, be looking for emails or phone calls between January and February.”
It wasn’t glamorous. They didn’t see host Nick Cannon, judges Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel or Mel B or even new judge Simon Cowell.
Still, seeing the process was exciting to Levi.
“It was worth the adventure just to hang out with those guys and see how the AGT people worked,” Levi said.
It was Blaise and Seth Howard’s biggest push for the big time since joining forces almost 20 years ago.
Blaise met Seth at Windsor High School. Blaise graduated in 1998. Seth graduated in 1997. In the 2000s, Blaise and Seth started a Guns N’ Roses tribute band called Night Train. They’ve been in bands together ever since.
Three years ago Blaise (who is from Windsor, but now lives in Hartland), put down his drumsticks and picked up a guitar and the microphone. He started playing with Seth and Levi. It wasn’t long after that they found 62-year-old lead guitarist Bernie Moss, from Bellows Falls, whose claim to fame is that he once played with Joe Walsh, legendary guitarist, singer and former member of the Eagles.
“He’s like finding an old guitar in a closet that’s worth $1 million but he’s actually a person,” said Blaise. “He’s definitely the staple of our band.”
Typically a cover band, the Road Trash Band started working on its first EP earlier this year. Blaise spent 30 weekends traveling back and forth from Hartland to Backwoods Boogie Studios producer Bernie Lanoue’s recording spot in West Topsham.
Right now, the Road Trash Band is more concerned with its upcoming release party than hearing back from the “America’s Got Talent” folks. And though they are downplaying the audition, the band members can’t help but think of a callback.
“We have hopes of going a lot further,” Blaise said.