By Lauren Krugel
Two members of Ottawa rock quartet Tweak have yet to hear their own songs on the radio.
With two of their singles, Time and Engrave, playing regularly on local rock radio station 106.9 The Bear FM, vocalist Jason Sultan-Khan and guitarist Frank Beecher never seem to tune in at the right moment.
“One night especially, I was listening to The Bear all day and I turned it off and half an hour later, I got a call from a friend saying 20 minutes ago, they heard me on the radio,” says Sultan-Khan with a laugh.
With the recent release of their first self-titled album, increasing radio play and an upcoming show at Barrymore’s Music Hall scheduled for Jan. 29, Tweak has become a fixture in Ottawa’s music community.
But now, members of the four-piece hard rock band say it’s time for them to expand their fan base to outside the city’s borders.
“Our next step is to keep plugging away at this thing and go outside the city. There’s nothing wrong with moving outside and exposing yourself outside your city,” says Sultan-Khan.
Tweak has fans from as far away as the United Kingdom and Japan. Sultan-Khan says the band is trying to make its albums available to their growing fan base overseas.
“There’s a whole world out there that wants to eat up our music,” he says.
Many local artists have managed to become successful outside Ottawa while still staying true to their hometown, says The Bear’s music director Kath Thompson.
“I would love nothing better than for the next Canadian star to come from our neighbourhood. It would be awesome,” she says. “But sometimes you need to be pushed out of the nest.”
Thompson has worked with many Ottawa musicians, including Tweak, in getting their music played on the radio.
“The guys from Tweak are very promising,” she says. “I don’t think they’re foolish to pursue their rock and roll dreams.”
Tweak’s current incarnation cam into being about three years ago.
Sultan-Khan, who was then frontman for another band, says he was ditched by his guitarist and needed to find a replacement fast.
And Beecher, who was a friend from one of Sultan-Khan’s classes at Carleton University, was more than happy to oblige.
Before leaving for a show, Beecher said he needed to “tweak” a few of the chord progressions.
“We just looked at each other and decided if we were ever going to start a band, it would be a really cool name,” says Sultan-Khan.
“Well, two weeks later, we decided to start a band.”
Within a matter of days the duo picked up a bassist, Eric Ramsden, and a drummer, Chris Emery. The four musicians have been playing together ever since.
Sultan-Khan says one of the keys to his band’s longevity is to let each band member have his say.
“If we were to put a term to it, it would be a democracy. We’ve always worked like that, and it’s always worked for us,” Sultan-Khan says.
The members of Tweak are reluctant to pigeon-hole themselves into any particular musical genre, but generally have a rich, full sound complete with powerful vocals and heavy guitar riffs.
Avid consumers of all types of music, Beecher and Sultan-Khan cite hard-rockers like Sevendust and Tool as a few of their favourites.
“Every band is influenced by what they listen to. You can’t deny that,” says Sultan-Khan.
But Beecher says many of his musical influences come from other places.
“My parents were huge classical music fans. I’m sure that influenced me in some way as well,” he says.
Tweak put out its first seven-track CD last September and hosted a sold-out CD release party at local nightclub Zaphod Beeblebrox last month.
Putting together their self-titled album was a long but rewarding process says Beecher, who produces other bands’ records at his own studio, Chaotic Sound.
It was especially hard to do, Beecher says, since the band members have day jobs to work around.
“It’s easy to say, ‘let’s make an album,’ but it’s hard to actually go and do it record-label style where you book off a month and go to some resort out in Hawaii with a beautiful studio and be creative all day,” Beecher says.
“So you have to do it bit by bit.”
Sultan-Khan and Beecher say they look forward to headlining the Barrymore’s show with fellow Ottawa bands Fluid and the Stone Melodies.
One of Ottawa’s larger concert venues with a capacity of more than 400, Barrymore’s has hosted renowned acts such as the Tragically Hip.
“It’s fun because you’ve got a big sound,” says Beecher. “It’s also fun because you’ve got the possibility to play for more people.”