The bass player
is your nephew? Heck yeah!

Robyn’s Hood
By Robyn McCloskey

When my nephew Matt was in the second grade he starred in that year’s class production of How the Yucky Plucky Duck Became Sir John Swan, a take on the classic story The Ugly Duckling.
After the performance, his teacher hurried over to us and said, through tears no less, that she was confident this would not be the last time we’d see Matty on the stage. We heartily agreed, since he is family and in our humble unbiased opinion, he was, without a doubt, the best performer of all the other 7-year-old performers, again in our humble unbiased opinion.
As the years passed, we began to think that prophetic teacher was on to something. Matt was the kind of kid who was born to perform. After all, his grandfather at one time was a recording artist for Impala records, and his dad played guitar in many a garage band of the ’70s, so he came by it honestly. At family gatherings, he often would be the center of attention whenever all the cousins got together and decided to put on a show for us adults.
But even without an audience, we’d often find Matt playing air guitar on the diving board of the swimming pool in his grandparents’ back yard, or break-dancing in the middle of the family room for no apparent reason. Any time Matt found two sticks, or two spoons, or two of anything for that matter, he’d invariably end up banging them on a table, thereby turning it into an impromptu drum set.
On my wedding video we have a shot of Matt, at the ripe old age of 5, usurping the dance floor and impressing everyone with his best Michael Jackson impersonation.
When Matt graduated high school, his dad took him to dinner and asked the proverbial question: "So, Matty, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Matt answered him with just one word. "Famous."
About five years ago, Matt was in his senior year at NYU. With three and a half years of college behind him, and just one semester to go before graduating, he decided to drop out. He wanted to pursue his dream of making it as a musician.
The family strongly urged him to finish school. But since we are a family that also teaches its children to pursue their dreams, follow their hearts and go with their gut, we didn’t put up too much of a fight. Somewhere along the line, Matt must have been paying attention, because that’s exactly what he did. He pursued his dream. Followed his heart. He went with his gut.
Amazingly enough it has served him well. Seems he’s spent the last few years touring the country as a bass guitarist for the up-and-coming, head-banging, hard-rock band Rev Theory.
It’s a band made up of five really nice guys whose music and appearance belie their kind hearts. They all have long hair, with the exception of one Mohawk. Their combined body piercings are countless, and they’ve done their part to ensure that tattoos don’t go out of style any time soon.
But underneath their ever-changing facial hair is just a bunch of talented, hard-working guys keeping it clean in a dirty business. And it’s beginning to pay off. Their hit single, Hell Yeah, is featured in an EA Sports Madden ’09 video game, and the title song of their second CD, Light It Up, is the official song for the WrestleMania XXIV countdown promo.
On Aug. 6 they will make their national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And if you happen to be in Atlantic City on Aug. 22, or Point Pleasant on Aug. 25, you’ll have a shot at seeing them in concert.
A bunch of us in the family are hoping to catch one of those shows. We’ll leave the little ones at home — most, if not all, of Rev Theory’s lyrics are not exactly G-rated.
But should anyone ask us if we happen to know the talented bass player, the answer will be a resounding "Hell Yeah!"
After all, he’ll be the best one up there . . . in our humble unbiased opinion. ••
Robyn McCloskey’s column appears each week in the Northeast Times. She can be reached at crmccloskey@verizon.net