Local band makes jazz, funk academic

Improvisational jam/jazz/funk isn't a typical genre for a band made up of young college students.

Then again, most suburban garage bands don't have multiple members taking college-level instruction in music.

The Hatters Mad has members who play trombone, drums, piano or organ, bass and guitar. The musicians are Dundee-Crown High School graduates Keith Pitner on trombone, Zach Golden on drums, Declan Coughlan on piano/organ and Cason Trager on bass, and Jacobs High School graduate Matt Bruner on guitar.

The band was formed in 2004 by Pitner and Golden, who were in a ska band together. During breaks, the two would just goof around and jam.

"The whole thing was improvising," Pitner said. "We decided that was a lot of fun, so we decided to make our own band out of just that.

"We just added friends that we knew that were good at their instruments," Pitner said. "Our main goal was to have something that was musically entertaining for all of us. With a lot of bands, depending on what music you play, it can get really boring playing the same thing over and over again.

"We wanted something that was fun for us, which is improvising a lot of stuff."

They had all played together at one time or another in middle and high school through band and orchestra. Most also play instruments besides what they play for The Hatters Mad, and have had outside instruction as well.

"Most of us have a jazz background, so that's what we do -- jazz improvisation," Pitner said. "We all have a pretty good musical theory background -- what notes go together, if someone is playing a chord, what you might want to play over that to improvise."

The group has played at Spring Hill Mall, Clearwater Theater and various house and school gatherings. Last year, they won the Jacobs High School Battle of the Bands competition. They have recorded a CD entitled "Commence the Jigglin'," featuring songs they wrote together with titles like "Funk in the Trunk" and "Your Breath Smells." You can hear them on their MySpace page at myspace.com/thehattersmad.

"We all take part in it," Pitner said. "For example, I'd bring in something I wrote and I'd say 'OK let's try this out.' Then we'd play a bunch of it and decide what else we want to do with it as a group.

"In the beginning it was improvisational," Pitner explained, "but it wasn't as much as you'd think.

"Everybody would play the melody together and then everyone would just kind of set up a groove for a while in whatever key the song was in and whatever chord changes we decided to write, and then one person would improvise," Pitner said. "We actually structured it like a typical jazz combo."

They were together for a while without a name.

"We played at a couple of houses, but you don't really need a name for that or anything," Pitner said. That changed quickly once they started making more appances.

"Eventually we were like, we just need a name, it doesn't matter what it is," Pitner explained. "The guitarist mentioned that he heard that name one time and thought it was really funny, so we went with it."

Right now the band is spread out with everyone off to college. Pitner is studying music at the University of Illinois, Golden is in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, Coughlan and Trager are attending Elgin Community College, and Bruner is going to a private school in New York. They plan to play together during breaks this year, and look forward to making more appearances this summer.

"We'll probably do all new music because, I don't know, we're whimsical," Pitner said.

• If you have any news about your club, school, church, business, neighbor, or even yourself, please contact Kirstin Finneran by cell at (312) 518-4993 or e-mail at kirstinfinneran@comcast.net.