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Independents'' Day: record companies love telling talented young bands they can''t make it on their own. Grupo Fantasma knows better. (on Music).

Article Excerpt
If it were easy as fishin 'you could be a musician.--Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "Takin' Care of Business"

DIE-HARD ROCK AND ROLLERS SNICKER AT THIS example of hallowed rock lyricism, yet--and this is a phrase I never thought I would use--BTO has a point. It's not so easy when your job is playing music. It might seem so; you can quickly pick up the basics of an instrument. Memorize a few chords, recruit some friends, practice some changes, and you've got a band. Careers have been built on less. Ask BTO. Most groups, though, are not so lucky. It's hard enough to find a unique musical voice, let alone make a living.

These days, bands trying to succeed basically come in two models, proactive and reactive. Reactive bands play a couple of gigs, then sit around and whine because Rolling Stone, Interscope Records, and the Robert Palmer video girls (I'm really dating myself here) aren't showing up at the door. Proactive groups realize that no one is going to do anything for them, at least in the beginning, so they read, ask questions, and learn how to put together press kits, work the phones, make recordings, and persuade indifferent club owners to give them gigs. They may not have business-school aspirations, but they understand that they're smack in the middle of a cutthroat business environment where only the wily survive.

So it's exciting when you encounter an act like Austin's Grupo Fantasma, a young, unsigned band with great music and a head for what to do with it. Musically, Grupo is nothing short of thrilling: lock-tight...

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