Best R&B/Hip Hop/Funk Band/Performer
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49.22% Strut Train*
Others with Votes:
1998 Winner: n/a
1997 Winner: G-Money Band
* On the ballot
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By Dean Robinson
True believers have known for quite some time now that Strut Train is indeed the funky band that could, can and does - kick out the heavy-duty jams, that is.
Having achieved a stunning triple play at the whatzup Best of 2000 Readers Poll Awards show February 15 at Columbia Street West, the funky five keep
proving that they’ve got what it takes to make a crowd move in all the right directions. Readers of this publication (and likely a few who just like to look at the
pictures) voted Strut Train’s debut release Aww Yeah! best Local CD/Rock, while naming the group Performer of the Year and best R&B/Hip
Hop/FunkBand performer. The shoving-room-only crowd at CSW affirmed the selections with raucous screams and applause.
"We’d like to thank everyone who voted," says Strut Train trumpet player Ian Mosher. "We’re happy to be recognized. I definitely want to give a shout out to everyone who was nominated. Tons of great bands. It’s nice that it’s something that was voted on by people in Fort Wayne. The majority of the crowd that we saw at (the awards ceremony) was musicians and it’s nice to know that we’re accepted among other musicians as well as just other people in Fort Wayne."
Just the same, the question remains: What makes Strut Train go?
"We are where we are today due to word of mouth," says saxophonist Matt Cashdollar. "When we first started playing, the people supporting us was mainly just a clique of our friends. They told some people, then they came to a show, liked what they saw and told some more people. That’s what got us a fan base big enough for people to vote for us."
Cashdollar admits that the band - also including drummer Duane Alexander, bassist Tony Timms and guitarist/vocalist Dave Pagan - engaged in a little bit of
campaigning, which is perfectly legal. The band reminded fans about the 2000 Best of Readers Poll on some flyers and on their internet website
(www.struttrain.com), the latter considered by Cashdollar to be the most effective form of promotion since it’s "the fastest way to get your music worldwide."
MP3 downloads aside, the band has plenty of work to do on the local grass-roots level.
"We want to keep working as hard as we have been in Fort Wayne, but also to expand it as far as we can go," Cashdollar says. "We look at it as sort of a spiral. We’ll play in cities close to Fort Wayne and then just spiral out."
So far, Strut Train has ridden the spiral to clubs in Muncie, Richmond and Chicago. The band is a regular favorite at the legendary Blue Bird in Bloomington.
Cashdollar says that the group hopes to utilize connections to line up shows in some New York and New Jersey nightclubs by the end of summer.
Though the club circuit has embraced the young funkmasters, Cashdollar says that Strut Train also is interested in reaching a younger demographic.
"The people who are probably the most excited about music, CDs and live shows are the people under 21," Cashdollar says. "People over 21 can go to clubs
and see bands all the time. People under 21 can’t do that so they go to concerts. When I was that age, going to a concert was a big deal. Whatever concert is
was was the highlight of the month.
"In Fort Wayne there are lots of places to play, but not a lot of places to play to all ages. That’s something Fort Wayne could grow on."
Strut Train gives the town a pinch to grow an inch with an all-ages gig at Picasso’s (part of the Piere’s Entertainment Center in the Marketplace of Canterbury)
on March 9 with Northern Kind and Chaotica. As a member of IPFW’s Vocal Jazz Group and Symphonic Winds, Cashdollar is gearing up for a 10-day tour
of Colorado to take place in March. The aforementioned ensembles - plus the University Singers - are scheduled to perform at Columbine High School.
"We’ll be playing a composition by David Gillingham called ‘And Can It Be,’ " Cashdollar says. "The piece is based on a hymn and it uses the really beautiful
melody of the hymn throughout the piece. Then your hear a bunch of stuff that’s ugly in the middle. The piece symbolizes the school - which stands for
everything good and pure - and then the violence that disrupted it. By the end of the piece, you get the feeling that everything’s going to be all right. It should
be a very emotional performance."
Back in the Fort, however, the emotions exhibited by Strut Train are a bit less complicated. The band blasted into 2000 with a track on 96.3-FM’s extremely
popular Extreme Essentials 4 CD and wrapped it up as whatzup’s Performer of the Year. Cashdollar and crew are sure to spread the love around, as the
guys dig the local scene and make sure to make the rounds at shows performed by their local contemporaries.
"I try to make it out as much as I can," Cashdollar says. "I have lots of friends in bands. But going out and watching bands is never as fun as when I’m playing,
you know what I mean? It just takes it to another level."
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Copyright 2001 Ad Media Inc.
