The Linear Brothers
The Power-Rockin’ Cyberband Next Door

by Maré Brennan, Delta Style

Kourtney Takeda/DeltaStyle The Linear Brothers, Stan Hargus and Ted van Landingham, in their music studio in Monroe. “Welcome to the new world disorder… We can’t even control our borders. Where you can’t find work that pays… Because there’s an illegal standing in the way.” New World Disorder By The Linear Brothers

Linear by definition is a straight line from Point A to Point B, and The Linear Brothers’ music by definition is straight up, in-your-face rock n’ roll. What started out as a high school garage band back in the late 60s has, over 30 years later, become the very model of the modern cyberband phenomenon with Baby-Boomers Stan Hargus and Ted van Landingham behind every track and every vocal. As I stand in the doorway of their 9 foot by 9 foot practice/recording studio in Stan and his wife Lynn’s home off Oliver Road in Monroe, I watch Stan pound on his electronic Roland drum set and Ted wail on his vintage, navy blue Rickenbacker 620 guitar. The Linear Brothers’ newest song, “New World Disorder,” with its driving beat and slashing power chords makes me immediately think ‘Green Day’ in an instrumental sense. Ted’s guitar slides through his Marshall amp and Celestion speakers with a power rock sound. If I close my eyes, I would swear I was in the middle of The Blue Monkey on a Friday night. Really.

The Linear Brothers offer themselves as a great example for anyone or any band wishing to get their songs heard. Matchbox 24 Radio recently included two of The Linear Brothers’ songs, “I’ve Never Seen a Miracle” and “Lunatics Holiday” on the Big Indie Comeback, Vol. 2 CD. Matchbox 24 Radio is an Internet music station based in Oxford, England, which showcases indie bands from all over the world. The Linear Brothers’ songs have even made the Australian and European Internet playlists featuring independently-produced music. With four, self-produced CDs to date and one in the works, in addition to the Big Indie Comeback, Vol. 2, The Linear Brothers live their motto, “Keep It Fun!” through their music. With a marketing mind to back up their music prowess, Ted has created the cover artwork for each of the group’s albums just as Stan has designed The Linear Brothers website, www.thelinearbrothers.com.

“A cyberband by its very definition is not designed to do live shows and can only exist because of technology,” explains Ted. Much like Steely Dan and They Might Be Giants who have produced their albums with just two musicians, that’s precisely what Stan and Ted do.

Adds Stan, “Technology makes what we do feasible. It’s amazing what you can do with $5000 to $6000 worth of equipment, but you’ve got to have the ideas and the imagination to put it together.”

With basic 16-track recording equipment, like their Yamaha AW2816 Mixing Board, The Linear Brothers get professional-sounding results by recording individual tracks and then layering or overdubbing the sound just like you would in a professional studio. Says Stan (who mixes and masters all Linear Brothers’ CD’s), “At a relatively inexpensive cost, the technology to produce your own songs and albums is available to anybody. We start with a definite idea about where we are going with the album and the songs, so it’s easier to imagine and achieve the finished product we want.”

Being the director of marketing at a computer software company and being a wine consultant and wine column writer, may keep Stan and Ted, respectively, busy during the day, but their passion for making hard-rocking music drives them to create songs that reflect some of the angst and anxiety of living in modern times, like the “New World Disorder,” “Lunatics’ Holiday,” “The Real World” and “Adventures in Living” to name a few.

Stan plays drums, bass, keyboard, some guitar, and lead vocals for The Linear Brothers, while Ted provides the lead guitar, some keyboard work and some lead vocals. Truly a team effort, the duo generally share songwriting and lyrics credits, offering their own spin to each song.

Adds Ted, “We get together about six hours a week, but we’ll put in about 20 hours independently working on songs and practicing at home. We’ll usually make a work CD with the basic track of Stan on drums and me on guitar to practice with.”

Stan and Ted’s friendship began as students at Lee Junior High where they shared a class and figured out they shared a love of rock and roll music. They started playing music as sophomores at Neville High School back in 1967, when Stan got his first drum kit and Ted got his first guitar. Their first band, Iron Cross, comprised of Stan, Ted and bassist Richard Shackelford, had a “wall of sound” style that blew others away with their Kinks-influenced “chunky, crunchy Brit rock sound.” After high school they decided to disband, but they never lost their love for rockin’ out, each amassing killer collections of vintage guitars and musical accoutrements.

Twenty years post-high school, Stan and Ted decided to rekindle their rock ‘n roll dreams and The Linear Brothers were born. The Linear Brothers band’s sound derives from our late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s rock roots. “That’s when we all started playing,” said Ted. British Invasion bands and “blue-eyed soul” formed lasting musical influences for The Linear Brothers.

Says lead guitarist Ted who counts Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Pete Townsend of The Who as two of his biggest guitar influences,
“My life changed after Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album in 1969. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd has to be the most important rock album of all time.”

Says Ted in his online blog, “One of the main reasons that I have continued to bang on a guitar for the last 20 years (at a loud volume setting, I might add) is because there is not enough ‘real rock music’ out there anymore…My approach to rock is very simple: power chords, melodic leads and words that will make the listener think! Anything more is unnecessary fluff that gets in the way of pure rock.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Keep rockin’, Bros!

If you would like to learn more about or buy any of The Linear Brothers’ CDs, you can do so online at www.thelinearbrothers.com or if you would like to buy the Big Indie Comeback Vol. 2 CD which features two of The Linear Brothers’ songs, you can go to www.matchboxrecordings.co.uk.