The Click Five

Rock band

Pop music can mean a myriad of different things to different people. Britney Spears is a pop star, some say, solely because she's popular. Yet, more than 20 years ago, The Cars played new-wave "pop" music, and were treated as well-respected musicians and pop artists. Pop music, pop stars—it's a musical genre and/or a badge of musical success. The Boston-based band Click Five ride a fine line between pop stars in the tween sect and catchy power-pop music for fans their own age (early twenties). The Click Five, who play their own instruments and write their own songs, earned their rightful place in that middle ground, as all were students at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, yet they have the keen pop sensibilities and youthful looks to make the teenage girls swoon. The grouped formed in 2003, and two years later were stars in the teen scene on MTV and Disney, with their clean-cut attire and catchy pop songs showcased on their debut album Greetings from Imrie House. "Simultaneously retro, current, mainstream-minded and knowing, the Click Five are poised to appeal to both Ashlee Simpson fans and their parents," wrote Barry Walters in Rolling Stone.

It was roughly 2003 when guitarist Joe Guese, bassist Ethan Mentzer, keyboardist Ben Romans and drummer Joey Zehr founded the Click Five. Eric Dill, a childhood friend of Zehr's, soon joined as the Click Five's lead singer. The band quickly came under the wing of manager Wayne Sharp, who suggested that band members always wear suits and ties and keep their mod look and fresh-faced haircuts. The group played venues of all sizes in Boston, but their easygoing, TV-ready-made style didn't gain the band the local credibility they felt they deserved. "We weren't necessarily having the greatest time playing some of these places because they weren't having the greatest time watching us play," Roman admitted to the Boston Globe, of their early days. "But we were always thinking way bigger than where we were. We'd be on this tiny stage thinking we were playing an arena rock show." Manager Sharp felt the same way, and sooner than they could blink, the band was talking to Lava/Atlantic Records.

In 2004 the band recorded demos and landed the gig of a lifetime, playing on Ashlee Simpson's U.S. tour. The unknown band brought along their EP Angel to You (Devil to Me), which by the end of the tour had sold 10,000 copies. "We want to get other people excited," Dill enthused to Chris Harris on MTV.com. "We want to make it a party and bring everyone together. That's what this is all about and that's why it's so much fun, because people get into it with you." With 10,000 EPs sold on tour, the band proved it. After touring and sealing the record deal with Lava/Atlantic Records, the Click Five were eager to begin work on their first full-length record. In the summer of 2005, the new album's 1980s-sounding tracks "Catch Your Wave" and "Just the Girl" hit MTV and teen TV and radio shows. "The Click Five is a true amalgam of fluffy teen-dream pinups and legitimate power-pop players," wrote the Boston Globe. "Just the Girl" became the most-requested song on MTV's TRL in August of 2005. When the album was released later that month, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 15. "Just the Girl" was written by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, who has had a number of hits with his band, including "Stacy's Mom." The singles were an instant hit on TV, but the '70s power-pop style did not win over older audiences. The Click Five's influences ran from the Beach Boys and Beatles to the Cars and KISS. That the band had members of the latter two bands on their 2005 album Greetings from Imrie House made absolute sense. The Boston Globe called the record "a bubbly collection of classic hooks and love-struck lyrics."

Because The Click Five were young and good looking, and did loads of teen press, the band was more often than not labeled as a boy band, like *NSYNC. It was a tag they couldn't shake, so they didn't try. The videos for "Catch Your Wave" and "Just the Girl" even showcased the band in a high school setting with girls running after them, ala the Beatles. "I don't think any of us have a problem with the ‘boy band’ tag; it's pretty inevitable, really," Romans admitted to Keyboard Magazine. "We're trying to expand what that can mean. We're trying to bring a lot of elements of rock 'n' roll to the kind of modern pop a whole lot of people are listening to."

The summer and fall of 2005 was a great time for the Click Five, until November, when their lead singer, Eric Dill, left the band. "Everything just came to a grinding halt," bassist Mentzer told the Boston Herald, of Dill's departure. "Going forward wasn't an option. We had to make some decisions or lose the momentum we had going. Eric [Dill] got into his own thing, wanted to work solo, pursue an acting career. We weren't headed in the same direction." The Click Five wanted to continue on, and a few months later they hired a new singer named Kyle Dickherber. Another student at the Berklee College of Music, he joined the band and changed his stage name to Kyle Patrick. As soon as January of 2006, the band began work on their sophomore album. Patrick's lower register and rock vibe added a new element to the Click Five as a band, and their music had to change a bit too (Patrick couldn't hit the high notes that Dill did on the older songs).

In between tours and finally ending at Q Divisions studios outside of Boston, the new lineup got to work on their second record. At producer Mike Denneen's studio, the band captured a new sound, look, and attitude. Denneen's past credits included work with Fountains of Wayne, Guster, and Howie Day. More 1980's keyboard pop than 1970's power-pop and Beatles' rock, the newly refurbished Click Five were harder and older than the sweet-faced boys who had graced the cover of their debut album. "Stylistically," Mentzer told the Morning Call, "we've just explored a few more areas that were always of interest to us, we just never really got to them on the first record." The band also changed their show attire to a bit more more relaxed but mature style, yet they remained cohesive and distinct as a band. Recorded with their new singer and matured lives and voices, Modern Minds and Pastimes was released in the summer of 2007. The album's first single, "Jenny," was more mature and rock 'n' roll, but still fairly clean cut. The new Click Five members sported longer, shaggier rock haircuts and attitudes; more like a combination of Fountains of Wayne, the Killers, The All-American Rejects, and Weeezer.

For the Record …

Members include Joe Guese , guitar; Ethan Mentzer , bass; Kyle Patrick , lead vocals (joined group in 2006); Ben Romans , keyboards; Joey Zehr , drums.

Group formed in Boston, MA, c. 2003; signed to Lava/Atlantic Records, released EP Angel to You (Devil to Me), 2004; released Greetings from Imrie House, 2005; lead singer Eric Dill replaced by Kyle Patrick, 2006; released Modern Minds and Pastimes, Atlantic, 2007.

Addresses: Record company—Atlantic Records, 1290 Ave. of the Americas, 28th Fl., New York, NY 10104. Web site—The Click Five Official Web site: http://www.theclickfive.com.

Selected discography

Angel to You (Devil to Me), Lava, 2005.

Greetings from Imrie House, Atlantic, 2005.

Modern Minds and Pastimes, Atlantic, 2007.

Sources

Periodicals

Boston Globe, August 7, 2005.

Boston Herald, May 23, 2007.

Morning Call, (Allentown, Pensylvania), May 19, 2007.

Online

"Click Five," MTV.com, http://www.mtv.com/news/yhif/click_5 (June 10, 2008).

"The Click Five," All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com (June 10, 2008).

The Click Five Atlantic Records Official Web site, http://www.atlanticrecors.com/theclickfive (June 10, 2008).

"The Click Five," Keyboard Online Edition,http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/click-five/jan-06/17008 (June 10, 2008).

"The Click Five: Greetings from Imrie House," Rollingstone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/7548544/review (June 10, 2008).

—Shannon McCarthy