Anthony J. Dufrene
November 15, 2011
Dave’s Picks: Smooth, Rough and Beautiful
November 15, 2011
Ben Labat and the Happy Devil, entrenched in the southeastern Louisiana festival circuit, is relying on previous experience in the music industry and a critical eye on sound to shape a foundation for future success.
“The ultimate goal is to build small,” Ben Labat, the lead vocalist, songwriter and acoustic guitarist, said. “Like any business you run, you build small. You don’t overextend yourself. You build small and you grow.”
Guitarist Jerry Martin, bassist David Guidry and drummer Dave Arcement fill out the foursome. The band formed in 2009 at the behest of a Central Lafourche High School vice principal, whose husband was a fan of Labat’s previous band and wanted to discuss songwriting.
“As much as a musician as I am, I am a music fan and a critic, and so are the other members in the band,” Labat said. “That’s kind of what brought us together.”
Before the group came together in 2009, Labat and Martin had experienced varying degrees of success with other bands.
Labat was the lead singer and songwriter of the Terms, whose debut album in 2006 (“Small Town Computer Crash”) entered Billboard’s Heatseeker’s Chart at No. 11. Several of his songs were featured in CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and MTV’s “Jersey Shore” and “Real World.”
He also wrote “Welcome to the Now ‘Evo Devo’” for Louisiana State University’s national marketing campaign. The song was played several times for a national audience, but his career highlight, he says, was sharing the stage with Jackson Browne.
Martin tasted his “very small piece of success” with Thibodaux-originated Underground Cartoons. The band inked a deal with MCA Records, relocated to the East Coast and completed some development work and later had some songs played on “Real World” and “Guiding Light.”
With a soothing and uplifting sound that is impossible to restrict to a particular genre, the Happy Devil blends country folk, reggae and alternative instrumentals, threading the elements together between songs with a consistent emphasis on clear, often harmonized vocals.
A message is embedded in each installment, and whether the tone of the aphorisms is conciliatory, regretful or admonishing, the music begs listening. There’s an absence of searing solos, but the mesh of instrumentals across genres showcases musical talent all the same.
Martin said his role as guitarist – which he says is unrepresentative of the various instruments he plays – is “supporting the melody and the chorus. I look at it as playing the song, not really getting in the way unless it kind of calls for an abrasive, strange part. Most of it is just supporting the melody and the structure of the song.”
Like many of the independent bands around the area, the Happy Devil has an array of influences.
Martin said he draws inspiration from the intricacies and song-complementary aspects of Nel Cline’s (Wilco) and Mike Campbell’s (the Heartbreakers) work.
Labat said the astute music fan would notice elements of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kris Kristofferson, an expansive range. He said the band’s members share ideas picked up from independent groups just as much as they do bands that have been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“If you surround yourself with success, it breeds success,” Labat said. “If you’re going to read smut magazines all day, guess what? You’re going to be a pervert. If you’re going to read Hemmingway and Whitman, you might become somewhat of a literary person.
“You listen to music that is seeded in the soul, in the heart, and it has meaning to it, and hopefully you’ll emulate a little bit of that and make the same type of music.”
The band’s ultimate goal, Labat said, is world domination. The immediate objective, however, is landing in the Voodoo Music Festival and Jazzfest lineups in 2012.
“I’d love to play a big festival like Voodoo, surrounded by a bunch of bands I love, playing to a big audience as they discover us,” Martin said.
The band expects to release its third album in three years within the next month. Fans can pre-order “Revival,” and purchase “Soapbox Anthems,” (2010) and “A Face for Radio,” (2009) at www.thehappydevil.com.
“Revival” stays true to the varied and upbeat sound the Happy Devil aims to produce. Martin provides an anthem-like rift on the guitar throughout the namesake tune while Labat ponders a soul revival amid a pop rock melody.
The Happy Devil will perform Nov. 5 at Houmapalooza, a free music festival in the Courthouse Square that will feature 10 independent bands, the next stop for the burgeoning group.
“It all seems a little unresolved, I guess, at this point,” Martin said. “You get a taste of a little bit of the industry and a very small piece of success, and you can kind of see where just a small break can lead to something else – the right person hearing the right song.”
