Backbone > Ear Whacks
Better than the Real Thing?
Joshua Tree U2 Tribute Stirring a Rattle & Hum
By Sharon NIchols

In 1971 I was singing “Come On, Get Happy” into my hairbrush. It was so hip to be Laurie Partridge. Weird, but people in 2003 are still trying to pull off Partridge Family spoofs. Weirder still, these people are adults. Does this give anyone the heebies besides me? Enter the world of counterfeit musicians. Tribute bands. A trip to TributeCity.com will reveal the sidesplitting freak show of bands of all genres, in all nations. Imagine the guy in Vegas—”King of Diamonds”—who emulates Neil Diamond’s every mannerism. Spare me. Fantasize about the Chinese version of Freddie Mercury. Scare me.

Bono clone anyone? From Brisbane to Budapest, there are 24 U2 tributes with pseudo Bonos screaming in the name of love. I was lucky enough to pin one down: singly nomenclatured Laird of Long Island’s successful Joshua Tree. He looks the part. He sounds the part too. But today, instead of pursuing his own musical career like he once did, this talented singer emulates the front man of the popular perennial rock band.

“I was born with that Bono mug,” muses Laird, “that Don Henley look, that Robin Williams-on-Slim-Fast thing. With this face, it was either U2 or a Don Henley tribute band. Or learn to skate and wait for auditions for Mork and Mindy on ice.”

During some mid -’80s gig, Laird was onstage in a New York club when guitarist Joe Cumia looked up from the audience at Laird’s noggin and exclaimed, “You Bono-looking mother!” The two became friends and quipped about forming a forgery. “If you have enough beer in you and squint just right,” says Laird, “some guy can look just like Mick Jagger. Except that he’s a 30-year-old playing a 60-year-old.” However, people still constantly asked Laird, “You know you look like Bono?”

Instead the duo hooked up for some serious original projects, slugging it out for years—demos, showcases, auditions for record companies with band after band, including their ’80s GTX, and ’90s grunge No Alternative. They nearly made their break on several occasions, managed by Tommy Mottola at one point, Roger Daltrey another.

“We came close many times,” says Cumia. “But it’s not how talented you are, it’s how lucky you are. Or whether your manager has the best coke.” Once the pen was nearly to the paper in a deal with cbs. But as David Lee Roth says, “Here today, gone later today.” You get your 15 minutes—if you’re lucky, you get 15 more—but unless you have staying power, you’re in the cutout bin before you can say hairband.

After 20 years the guys retired to spend more time with their families. But after joking again about the U2 thing on the nationally syndicated Opie and Anthony radio show last year, fate began to twist their arms. They hooked up with keyboardist Ron Smith, bassist Pat Rotolo, and drummer Ray Sicoli, making their Joshua Tree radio debut to enthusiastic reviews. Suddenly, the joke wasn’t so funny anymore. After a handful of rehearsals, they tried out the real scene.

“It blew up overnight from a joke to a snowball,” says Cumia. “Our show at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan last August sold out. The place was mobbed. It was our second show ever. How many bands, tribute or otherwise, can say that?”

More Than Just Shades
“I have to dye my hair black,” says Laird, “but Bono lives in the dye bottle himself. When Joe dresses the part he resembles The Edge. The bassist looks like Adam Clayton. It’s important. Obviously, you don’t want an oriental guy playing The Edge. People go to such great lengths on Tribute City, but some don’t look the part; some sound pretty awful.”
“Of course, looking the part isn’t nearly enough,” says Cumia. “You can’t baffle U2 fans with bullshit. You’ve got to dazzle them with brilliance. We’re entertaining without being overtly U2. In one band, the Bon Jovi character yells over to the Richie Sambora guy. He’ll be like, ‘Play it Richie!’” Cumia laughs. “Like, you know what? The guy’s name is Josh! We don’t pretend to be U2. We put across an illusion, but the attitude isn’t there. We’re ourselves. People don’t think I’m The Edge.”
Laird concurs. “I don’t do a fake Irish accent onstage,” he says. “Leave that to Tom Cruise. I’m a native New Yorker. I joke around with the crowd and say, ‘I know what you’re thinking. He looks like Bono. He sings like Bono. But he sounds like Joe Pesci.’”

Musically, however, Joshua Tree has nailed it. “We sound exact,” says Cumia. “Laird’s voice is amazing. It’s sick. He’s a chameleon who emulates everyone. He can hit all the notes Bono doesn’t hit anymore live. And people don’t think of The Edge as an extremely talented player, but it took time and money to get the sounds necessary to emulate his style—the right amp, the proper guitar. And Ray set up his drum kit exactly. We’ve had many huge U2 fans, people who’ve seen U2 dozens of times, and some of the reviews are almost embarrassing. They say we sound better than U2 live; these are people who’ve seen U2 12 or 15 times.”

The gimmick that sets Joshua Tree apart from other U2 tributes is that they go for the studio versions of songs. “We don’t focus on emulating the live performance,” explains Laird. “There are enough bands that do that, renting the latest tour videos, mimicking every gesture and step.
“We recreate the songs the way people remember them from the radio, the full-length studio versions and symphonic backgrounds.”
To accomplish this, the band brought in a fifth player to avoid samples and backing trax. U2 only has four members. “Our keyboardist does all those cool things U2 doesn’t do live,” explains Laird. “U2 plays to sequenced tracks onstage.”

“There are keys, second guitar, and vocal parts that four people physically cannot do live,” explains Cumia. “Ron Smith is our sequencer, picking up the slack. U2 has state-of-the-art, dual Mac G4s, so when you see them with headphones on, they’re playing to a click track. We call Ron ‘Brian Eno.’ He’s cheaper than two Mac G4s.”

So, how critical is it for tribute players to be fans of the band they’re modeling? According to Joshua Tree, very. They’re all big ones. “Our first drummer wasn’t a fan,” Laird recalls. “He didn’t tell us until after a month or so into it. He hated the songs and played them as if he were in Led Zeppelin. He was unhappy playing beneath his talent, and we were unhappy with him. So we buried him in the woods and got a new guy.”
“Joshua Tree was a comfortable niche for us to jump into because we’re fans,” says Cumia. “Of course, there are fans and there are stalkers. Some people know how many earlobe hairs The Edge has.”
Laird adds:”We constantly test each other’s trivia knowledge. Who knows what album came out when, what songs U2 did on what tours. We’re into details.”

Do details include being vocal about politics the way U2 is?
“Laird’s the evil Bono,” jokes Cumia. “Nuke the rainforest. I’m right wing. Joshua Tree and U2 are bipolar. Put me and Laird in the same room with Bono and The Edge, and the universe would implode. It’s not our job to be political, it’s our job to sound exactly like they do.”

“Bono’s always in the news saving the baby seals, or the rainforest, or Sting’s hairline,” says Laird. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him or anyone who’s vocal about causes they’re passionate about. It’s just that he and I don’t necessarily agree. I don’t think it’s a musician’s job to give long-winded, save-the-world speeches onstage. We’re interested in U2 because they’re musicians. Some people just want to dance.”

Joshua Tree stands firm that tribute bands are an important dimension in the music world for several reasons. “Bands like The Doors or Led Zeppelin don’t exist anymore,” says Laird. “Other bands don’t tour at all. Rolling Stones tickets are $200. Your average blue collar working stiff just wants to go out, have a couple of beers, and have more or less the same experience without exorbitant ticket prices and nosebleed seats. We provide that.”

Ultimately, the goal of the group is to do what they enjoy. “It’s not just going onstage and being a parrot,” says Laird. “It takes talent, dedication, and hard work. We’re proud of what we do and it’s fun. I mean, come on. We get paid to do what we love. Making a living doing what we’d gladly do for nothing. Isn’t that the best gift in the w orld? It’s like getting laid and finding diamonds under the pillow.”

Joshua Tree hits The Chance in Poughkeepsie on March 8. Meanwhile, check out www.joshtree.com for mp3s, videos, and to purchase your Joshua Tree thong.