According to Mr. Webster (9th Collegiate Dictionary), one of the various meanings of the word plow is “to proceed steadily and laboriously.” And of course there are all those other definitions involving farm equipment and what you can do with it. Now there is yet another meaning for the word.

The band known as Plow perfectly fits the part about proceeding steadily. Anyone who caught their set at the Whammy Awards show can attest that Plow lived up to their name. They plowed steadily through their brief 20-minute set and made their presence known.

Plow have only been together since last summer, and only seriously started gigging in the fall. It took them awhile to come up with the name.

“We were bumming around, not having a name,” said Shane Wyant, lead vocals. “The name ends up working really well for what we’re doing.”

The other members of Plow - Dan Middleton, bass; Eric Bair, guitar; and Jason Bair, drums - have been working musicians in the area for some time. The Bair brothers were part of Little Green Men, Middleton came from Spork and Wyant worked in Tested On Animals.

“We were all in competing bands,” said Middleton. “It just kind of worked out that when we all started losing members we got together and the chemistry was just right.”

This chemistry has paid off in a big way during Plow’s brief existence. They were nominated in two Whammy categories: Best Hard Rock/Metal Performer and Best New Performer, which they won. They also received write-in votes in a number of categories and were the top write-in vote-getter for Best Live Performer/Band. Not bad for a band that hasn’t seen it’s first year yet.

“The Whammy Awards are really cool,” said Middleton. ‘It’s nice to see something that’s voted by the people.”

“Yeah, it was really cool,” added Wyant. “And it was nice to be able to play. The people who came out to see us or any other band, got to see bands they probably never heard of before.”

“We got one of the best reactions of anyone that night,” said Middleton.

“Our attitude,” said Wyant, “was we’re gonna come on hard. We just went for it. We got everyone’s attention, and that’s what we went for.”

Anyone who sees Plow live knows that these guys have this attitude every gig.

“We put a lot of hard work into it,” said Wyant. “We don’t want to just go on stage and start messing around. We take pride in sounding like the recordings, and then put our little spin on stuff.”

“Anybody who comes out and sees a show can tell we put a lot of work into it,” said Middleton. “Every bar owner that we’ve encountered so far is patting us on the back and is wanting us back because we keep people up and we keep them thirsty.”

So, what’s next on the agenda for Plow?

“I really don’t have a good answer for that,” said Middleton. “I’m riding this, but there’s gonna be an album. We don’t know how soon that will be, but there’s gonna be something.”

“A lot of people who come to the shows have been asking about original stuff,” added Wyant. “People are coming up to us asking, ‘What do you guys sound like?’”

“We’re definitely starting to write,” Middleton said. “It’ll be in the rock/modern rock category. We’re not necessarily in the metal category. We not screaming and barking into the microphone. We can sing. We’re blessed with some really talented guys, so we can pull off just about anything we want to do.

“We’ve written a couple of songs, and the response has been huge. We had a tough time for awhile, because of getting he right personnel. Now, we’re writing, and we have a studio that Shane, my wife and myself all work at. We can actually sit down and do a lot of work.” (Middleton is a recording engineer at Digitracks.)

Plow’s ability to hold an audience, whether it’s with their newer original material or note-perfect covers, has been noticed by more than club audiences. Without trying, the band has received sponsorship from Miller Lite. “That wasn’t something we set out to do,” said Wyant.

“They came up to us. That was about three months ago.”

“The story about this,” added Middleton, “is that the Miller Girls were at a club we were playing. Their boss thought he heard the club playing a CD of his favorite song, but when he got to the stage we were still playing. He was impressed enough to offer to sponsor the band right on the spot.”

Plow are definitely “proceeding steadily and laboriously” for only having been together a short time. And the band is totally aware of, and even a little incredulous at all the attention they’ve been getting.

“Thanks to all the people who support us around here,” said Middleton. “They’re huge. They’re the reason we’re doing all this. It makes

me very happy to see the people who come out and watch us. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be playing.”

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