Get Well spent most of last year breaking up and getting back together again. After scraping by for several years to record Soon …, the quintet’s futuristically funky debut EP that came out in 2007, Get Well ran into some lineup problems. Two-fifths of Get Well (the bassist and drummer) relocated to Austin — but didn’t quit the band.
They would drive the four hours north to play shows here, sometimes arriving only seconds before the curtain went up. Due to the distance, time for practicing or creating new material had gone out the window.
“We went on a 10-month hiatus,” said frontman and lyricist EJ Brown, writing off that odd period of time. With all due respect to other cities in Texas, the remaining Get Well members decided to stick it out in the Fort and weather the band’s uncertain future.
Brown, guitarist Jason Travis, and keyboardist Landon Cabarubio jumpstarted the band by recruiting four new members to replace the ones who had relocated to Austin and eventually moved on. Finding replacements was easy — Fort Worth is literally crawling with musicians for hire. In December, Travis brought in a friend, bassist Adam Rust, to anchor the funky rhythms, while Cabarubio borrowed drummer Aaron Dowd from his other band, The Cleanup. Energized by the new faces, the trio at Get Well’s core added another guitarist, Bobby Stubbs.
But that wasn’t all. Having worked with guest singers and rappers in the past, the band was open to adding another vocalist. Gospel-trained Lindsey Lee met the Get Well-ers at a party. “I knew she was going to work out,” Cabarubio said. “She was harmonizing to what I was playing, and it was a pretty good tryout.”
Lee’s high-pitched voice is the heaven to the earth of Brown’s heavily punctuated, rap-like narratives. As a chaotic group of seven, the reinvented band started to collaborate and write new material. “It’s interesting with a group this large,” Lee said. “We run things by each other, and it’s all or nothing. It’s a lengthy process, but it’s fun.”
Accommodating so many players is a matter of “restraint,” in Travis’ eyes. “I listen to the band so much more now,” he said. “There’s a freedom associated with being the only guitarist, but there is so much more depth and texture with two.”
Considering the tectonic shift in the lineup, it’s an accomplishment that Get Well has managed to stay true to its positive, celebratory vibe. “It’s a new dimension,” Brown said. “We can expand the sound, get more out of it. It’s cleaner and fuller now.”
After tightening up and writing for two months, Get Well ended its performance break in February, packing the house at the Aardvark. They greeted fans with new originals like “Love Is On the Loose” and “Journey to the Funk,” which is “about playing live music in Fort Worth,” said Cabarubio, referring to the city’s nickname, Funkytown.
Whether practicing in their underwear or skipping rehearsals to see other local bands’ shows, the Get Well seven first and foremost want to be friends and have fun. Otherwise, they say, it wouldn’t be worth it — just ask the members of local bands that have called it quits over the past year. With alt-country and indie rock sweeping local popularity meters, Get Well is proud to hold the banner for groove-oriented music. The music, Lee said, “has got to make us laugh. Whatever makes us laugh sticks.”
The band is focusing on live shows. Brown and company hope to generate enough cash to allow them to record new material. Even though times are tough, Get Well still manages to draw well. A recent string of dates with major-label Dallasites Bowling For Soup, who handpicked Get Well to open for them, evidenced as much. Lee said the typical audience absorbs “what you put out there, which spurs me on to do more.”
The rest of the band agrees. “I’d rather be great live than be boring live but have an amazing album,” Dowd said. “It’s about the journey of creative expression.” One day, financial freedom would be great, but for now, reality rules, and that’s more than enough.
Get Well
Fri w/Backside Pick and Scott McCurry at Lola’s Saloon-Sixth, 2736 W 6th St, FW. $6. 817-877-0666.
