Faculty Band Gets National Airplay

Author: Laura Rockefeller

Although most Middlebury students only know Matthew Dickerson, Daniel Scharstein and Bill Frey separately in the classroom as professors — associate professors of mathematics and computer science and former professor of psychology, respectively — together these three men make up the blues band Deep Freyed.

In 1995 this group of musical scientists began meeting in Scharstein's basement to have jam sessions and play the blues. Initially, they had no intention of performing professionally.

"For a long time we were just getting together for fun," explained Scharstein.

However, they soon found that they really enjoyed playing as a group. They were creating music that they hoped other people would enjoy as much as they did.

One thing led to another and the group began performing all over Vermont, and even beyond.

The group came together by chance. Having met when they began teaching at Middlebury, Dickerson and Frey often went fishing together and found that the conversation soon turned to their mutual love of music. In fact, Frey was already playing in another band. It was this connection that brought Scharstein into the group. He auditioned to be a drummer with Frey's band, but the final result was different to what either had expected.

Frey had been craving an opportunity to play more of his own music, so he left his band and suggested that he, Scharstein and Dickerson play together on their own.

They started having jam sessions in Scharstein's basement and the group took off from there.

Since that time the group has played in numerous locations. Many of their gigs have been at places like the ski resort Sugarbush, or out of state at performance venues at Dartmouth College, Tufts University and the Sit'n Bull nightclub outside of Boston.

Closer to home they have performed for "First Night" at the Middlebury Inn, the Red Moon Café in Rutland, the Holly Hall in Bristol and for the Young Writer's Conference at Bread Loaf.

Coming up this semester Deep Freyed will be returning to perform on campus at the party Ross Commons is hosting for the release of their latest CD, "Faces of Blue."

The music that the band plays is a fun, toe-tapping blues, mostly written by Frey and Dickerson, although some songs, like the instrumental first track on the most recent CD, came from jam sessions where Scharstein was able to create interesting rhythms with his percussion skills.

Many of the songs make one want to sing along, not only because of the tune, but also because of the stories they tell or the universal feelings that they express. When asked where the ideas for his music came from, Dickerson explained, "Our songs just come from the experience of every day life."

They are inspired by "the experiences of being a father, a husband and the world in general." Dickerson pointed out that, after all, it is not surprising that their songs should be so heavily based on observation since their main lyricist is a member of the Psychology Department.

The group's first CD was released two years ago and the second, "Faces of Blue," has just appeared. The time between CDs has been taken up by writing and arranging new songs to be recorded.

The process was elongated by the need to renew old songs for the frequent gigs the group was playing.

However, the members of Deep Freyed found time in between performances to work on developing and refining new material to be recorded. Two of the songs on the latest CD were put on the track listing only after the recording date had already been set.

New exposure for the group is on the way as one of the pieces from their new CD is about to be featured on a nationally syndicated radio program, "Blues Deluxe."

Dickerson had dropped off their first CD for a Vermont radio station to listen to two years ago.

The DJ at that time decided to sent it on to the national "Blues Deluxe," which played one of the tracks from the first CD and now plans to feature one from the second. "Statue Man" will be featured on the show, which reaches approximately 2.1 million listeners and over 80 radio stations across the country.

"Deep Freyed" has certainly come a long way from their jam sessions in Scharstein's basement.