Creative.Life.Support Showcase

Jon Check with special guests

Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Mr…. Creative.Life.Support Showcase

Jon Check with special guests

Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Mr. Small’s Theatre, Millvale

(800) 594-TIXX

If you come with Jon Check, it may change your life.

At least that’s what this local singer-songwriter croons in the opening number of his self-titled debut album. And if soulful, barroom blues-rock sung by a guy with the vocal caliber of someone twice his age is your cup of tea, then he just might be correct in saying so.

Now, if this is the case, you’re more than lucky, for you don’t have to come with Jon Check at all — he’s coming to you.

Check and his band will be headlining a showcase of local Pittsburgh artists including Shelby Star, Jazzam, Liz Berlin, aFugate, Matt Harkness and the Blessed Few Saturday, Nov. 11 at Mr. Small’s for the release party of his new album.

This collection of eight laid-back rock tunes, in fact, is a Mr. Small’s baby — it was recorded and mixed entirely within the Millvale club, which doubles as a nonprofit studio for local musicians, Creative Life Support Records.

But the story of Jon Check’s musical development started long before last winter, when the album was recorded, and certainly before Saturday, when it will be unleashed on the public. Incidentally, Check’s musical history began with a parental advisory label.

“I was no older than 10, pumping Guns ‘N’ Roses,” Check said in a recent interview with The Pitt News. “I remember being excited by the bad words and being taken with who the band was. I just felt like a badass, which is funny, because my music is nothing like Guns ‘N’ Roses.”

While it may have been metal that hooked him at first, it was Queen that reeled Check in for a life of musical ambition.

“My parents bought me a live video of Queen and it basically taught me how to play drums. I watched Roger Taylor’s (Queen’s drummer) bass drum vibrate, and that’s how I learned to keep time. I would just copy the beats,” he explained.

Queen videos and hours in front of MTV soon turned into Check’s first garage band, or basement band, as he would perform Aerosmith covers for his parents and neighbors in his house.

“There are videos…” said Check, trailing off cautiously. “My brother and I, eight and 10 years old, just going nuts playing Aerosmith as a duo. And we were pretty decent!”

While an eight-year-old Steven Tyler impersonator must have been quite a sight to behold, Check began playing in more serious bands in high school and, before long, was playing around Pittsburgh as a Pitt freshman.

Eighteen years old during his first semester, Check was playing, and staying, in bars long before most Pitt freshmen even dream of it — performing with older musicians, including his brother, certainly had its perks. But, ever the serious musician, Check actually saw music as work and school as play, calling his experience on the 18th floor of Tower B “nearly criminal,” with a smirk hinting at freshman insanity.

“It was always something very separate to me, music and school,” he said. “There wasn’t much cross-pollination. When I would get too serious with music, Pitt was more of an escape for me. School made me take myself less seriously. I could go out with my roommates and forget about trying to become a rock star.”

It’s a good thing Check didn’t stop trying for too long, however, because before he had even graduated in May of 2006, his band was together recording its first album. And laying tracks in a real studio proved to be more challenging than any schoolwork Check had ever been assigned.

“Working in the studio is a total mind-f**k,” Check said frankly. “You’re forced to encounter all your weaknesses. I went in there with the songs worked out in my head, got there and realized I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily, I surrounded myself with musicians I totally trust. I mean, Greg (Barbone, bass and keys) is credited as my co-producer as well as therapist on the record.”

The result was eight songs that Check cites as “a Born to Run-length album,” is truly a collaborative effort. Liz Berlin, co-owner of Mr. Small’s and member of rock group Rusted Root, sings on the album, and each of Check’s musicians takes his turn in the spotlight, creating a musical atmosphere that feels warm and fun. This is party music for your most laid-back of shindigs.

With traces of Blues Traveler’s energy and Ben Harper’s funk underlying catchy hooks, Jon Check’s debut is something any Pittsburgher can be proud to call his own.

If you remain unwilling to come with Check, here’s why you should from the man himself: “I’d like to say something like ‘free beer’…but it’s just not going to happen. There are not a whole lot of people who go out on a whim to check out something new. I’d say let’s buck the trend here. If you haven’t heard of me or the fantastic bands playing, come on out.”

Check paused in thought.

He smiled slightly and said, “Plus, the show will be over by midnight, so you can make it back to Oakland to party anyway.”

Editor’s note: Jon Check is a former assistant news editor for The Pitt News.