Minus Six

By Gabrielle Tee
Your Mom – The Mix
Wednesday, September 8th, 2004

“If you’ve seen them before, you’re a fan. If you haven’t, you’re about to be.” – MINUS SIX

A crowd of about thirty is packed into The Dead Poet’s, a small coffee shop in Moline.

Upbeat, rockin’ music blares out of the small speakers. My friend and I don’t hold back. We dance, cheer, and sing along to this awesome high school band that we’ve stumbled upon: Minus Six.

The next two hours are filled with a good mix of catchy originals and covers from Ben Folds to old standards like “Jump, Jive, and Wail.”

That was back in December, and six months later I’m getting to meet the four guys responsible for this kick-ass music that is somehow still stuck in my head.

Kevin Carton rocks out on the piano and lead vocals. Kameron Rummans jams out on the bass and doubles as comic relief and sweet back-up vocals. Tyler Kaschke tears it up on the drums, and Matt Sivertsen is the man behind the sweet sax lines.

Minus Six is a piano, drums, bass and sax quartet. That’s right kids, no guitars.

But don’t be fooled by that. These four Quad-Cities natives can rock like you wouldn’t believe.

Think Ben Folds meets Dave Matthews Band, with their unique Minus Six sound added in.

“One day Ty, Kam, and I were all jammin’, and Matt just started playing with us,” Kevin said. “In the beginning we had a lot of frustrating practices. Kameron and Tyler had only been playing their instruments for a few months.”

Kameron, Kevin, and Tyler will all be juniors at local high schools this year and Matt graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in sax performance. The four officially formed Minus Six in May 2003, and began playing local coffee shops and birthday parties that summer.
From the beginning they tried to work originals into all their shows.

Kevin and Kameron, who have been friends since second grade, write the majority of the music. “When you write songs, you’re inspired by something, whether is be someone else’s love, a girl you like, or a neighbor moving away,” Kevin said.

Minus Six continued playing shows all through their sophomore years, attracting more and more people at their regular monthly shows at Dead Poet’s Espresso.

On Jun. 5, 2004, they release their first independent CD. “Overdue” is a 16-track CD filled with the group’s best originals. They have fun, quirky love songs such as, “Celtic Auvoir” and “Denny’s.”

They also have more serious, emo-ish ballads, “The Pain” and “Let Go.” You can purchase their CD and T-shirts at all their shows. Check out their Web site, www.minussix.com, for details and show dates.

Although they have only been together for about a year, Minus Six has a growing fan base, particularly females.

“They’ll be all these girls coming up after the show, throwing their numbers out at Ty, Kam, and Kevin,” said Matt, who’s been happily married for two years.

It’s no surprise that girls are asking for autographs and numbers from these three. Not only are they good-looking, talented musicians, but they are all such sincere and funny guys, even off stage.

I was quite nervous going into the interview, but they were all welcoming and kept me laughing the whole time. Kameron did a mean Chris Farley impersonation, and the band even performed two of their new songs for me.

What’s next for Minus Six?

They are starting to venture outside of the Quad-Cities a bit and are doing a show in Naperville, IL, this month. There is also talk of going back into the studio to record a second CD.

They plan to keep playing their music and doing their own thing for the next two years, and then will decide what to do as far as college or trying to take Minus Six to the top.

Kevin said, “I’ve encountered a lot of people that will tell me “You realize you’re not gonna make it [into the music business], right? And that just makes us want to prove them wrong.”

Of course, Minus Six also has many supporting fans behind them with hundreds of people showing up at out-door shows, wanting autographs, pictures, and spreading the word about their shows.

You can tell that whether they sign a major record deal or just make a name for themselves around the Quad-Cities area, these guys just love what they’re doing.

Throughout their shows they dance around, venture into the crowd, and really get the audience involved and feeling the music. Kameron said it perfectly: “I just love getting up in front of people and doing what we love: playing music.”

So if you and your friends are driving around on a Saturday night looking for some awesome, original, can’t-help-but-dance music, come check out Minus Six. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Bring friends and come early, ‘cuz when the coffee shops are small and the music is this rockin’, seats fill up fast!