Good Luck Jane finding fans with smooth pop sound
Joey Busse's discovery that he might have a future as a singer happened in a mundane but obvious place — the shower.
Busse, an Arlington Heights native, used to croon in the shower in an attempt to imitate pop vocalist Jason Mraz, one of his favorites.
“I sang all the time, trying to sound like him,” Busse said. “Then I just realized that hey, I can do this pretty well myself.”
Busse is now the lead singer of Good Luck Jane, a pop band whose members hail from the Northwest suburbs. Following the 21st-century model, the band has developed a following in the Chicago area and around Champaign, where all the members go to school, by releasing original music on their own and performing as often as they can.
The band has a show Friday night, May 20, at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago.
“We all take this band seriously; we want it to succeed,” Busse said. “So that means getting your stuff out there and keeping it there. It can be hard, but it's what we all want to do.”
The band's busy performance schedule has helped it cultivate a group of devoted fans, Busse said. Whether playing a sorority house in Champaign or a club in Chicago, the group tends to see the same group of devotees at every show.
“It's awesome,” he said. “We see these girls — most of them are girls — at all our shows, singing along with us. It's a great feeling.”
Good Luck Jane's sound draws from the smooth pop of artists like Mraz and John Mayer. Consider the song “Jane” from “Crossing Borders,” the six-song EP the group released earlier this year. (It's available for download on iTunes.) Busse's heartfelt vocals are accompanied by acoustic guitar and a midtempo pop groove. On the dreamy ballad “Like I Do,” Busse is backed by synth and piano before the rhythm section crashes in.
“We're not as hard as a lot of the pop-rock that younger bands are putting out,” Busse said. “Our sound is a little smoother, and I think that helps set us apart.”
The five members of Good Luck Jane — Busse, guitarist/keyboardist Andrew Slutsky from Lincolnshire, rhythm guitarist Dan Wywrot from Lombard, bassist Danny Katz from Vernon Hills and drummer Jake Cooper from Buffalo Grove — started the band when they came together as students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All five have just finished their junior year at the school.
Songwriting duties, which originally fell mostly on Slutsky's shoulders, now are split among all members of the band. The five have to weave their songwriting and rehearsing time into busy college schedules that include the Big Two: socializing and studies.
“It was really difficult at first, with classes and all,” said Busse, who's majoring in communications. “But we've managed to figure it out, though we definitely have to sacrifice some going-out time in order to get the music done.”
The band plans to release a new EP of original songs later this summer. And of course, the live performances will continue. Busse said the band is excited about its upcoming show at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago (which follows a recent show at Reggie's Rock Club in the city).
“When we finish school, our plan is to base the band in Chicago,” he said. “It's a great town with tons of venues, more than in Champaign, so for a band like us, it's perfect.”
Looking ahead, Busse said landing a deal with a record label would be a great next step, but he stressed that in this brave new music world, it's not a necessity.
“If the opportunity came our way, then yes,” he said. “It would make it easier and less expensive for us to record, which is a big thing. But it's not something we're pursuing night and day. The Internet gives us the possibility to get our music out whenever we want, to anyone in the world. That's pretty amazing.”
<b>Good Luck Jane (with The Born Ready, Farraday and Goodbye Coastline)</b>
<b>When: </b>6 p.m. Friday, May 20
<b>Where: </b>The Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, (773) 281-4444
<b>Tickets:</b> $10; see <a href="http://www.beatkitchen.com" target="_blank">beatkitchen.com</a>