“Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk? I didn’t mean to call you that,” sang Lee McCurley, front man for the local band One Wants. The band members were all born and raised in the Baton Rouge area, and they have been playing crowd-pleasing covers at The Caterie every Wednesday night for the past four years. McCurley’s energetic facial expressions can be best compared to John Mayer on speed as he belts out the lyrics to Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.” His clean-cut good looks attract the female crowd, but he does not gender discriminate when handing out complimentary Jager bombs between songs and letting people sing into the mic. McCurley described his show as “interactively intoxicating.” The rest of the band matches his intensity but with individual flair. The guitarist to his right, Cory Landry, occasionally peers out at the audience through a dark, angled haircut; bassist Stephen Black sports a hip-hop style backwards cap and gauged ears; and Kenny Guzzardo was a blur of energetic movement behind the drum set. “We play college rock,” McCurley said. Their set list includes songs by Buckcherry, Matchbox 20, Mazzy Star and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Die-hard fan and longtime friend of the band Jonathan Munn said One Wants is the capital city’s best cover band. Munn said the consistency of the Wednesday night shows helped him through some troubled times in his life. Every time the band plays “Kody” by Matchbox 20, the members dedicate the song to Munn and his twin brother. “We’re your ‘forget about work’ band,” Landry said. Mass communication freshman Sara Hanson and Baton Rouge Community College student Jordan Schott have been coming to see One Wants religiously since school started this year. “It’s the best thing to do on hump day,” Hanson said. Both agree the interactive nature of the shows and McCurley’s facial expressions keep them coming back each week. “They include the audience and give out free shots,” Schott said. “What else could you ask for?” Schott said the band doesn’t mess up the lyrics of the songs it covers like other bands. That task is sometimes harder than it seems, however, because the band is true to their Baton Rouge roots in that liquor is a close friend and enemy. “After two, it’s straight to hell in the express lane,” McCurley said. He said the group has calmed down somewhat since the band’s inception, but that is not saying much. During its first year or so, the musicians toured along the Gulf Coast playing in bars from Florida to Houston. Just six months after the band got together, One Wants won Disney World’s Battle of the Bands in 2004. But their destructive touring nature – also known as alcohol – has caused many club owners to ask them not to come back. McCurley recalled being banned from The Swamp, a bar in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. “There was an incident with a watermelon,” he said. The band essentially trashed the sleeping quarters, leaving broken ceiling fans, raw eggs and a broken watermelon in their wake. The band claims to have somewhat grown out of its wild phase. “We’re all kind of settled down,” McCurley said. Despite their rock star reputation, McCurley is a mortgage broker, Guzzardo is a realtor, Landry is a stay-at-home dad and Black is a University graduate with an advertising degree. Needless to say, McCurley and Guzzardo do not schedule early morning meetings on Thursdays. All the members plan to stay in the Red Stick. “The ultimate goal is to play as long as we can,” McCurley said. One Wants, in addition to its weekly gig, will play a fashion show at the Varsity Theatre on Oct. 11 along with two shows at Park Place on Nov. 9 and Dec. 10. They will also play at Serranos for the Louisiana Tech game Nov. 10 and are available for private parties.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]