School's out for the Plastic Constellations

"How long have you guys been a band?" The waitress has just checked the IDs of every member of the Plastic Constellations before handing over a beer pitcher. She gets a few laughs before she gets an answer to her question. "Ten years," singer/guitarist Aaron Mader tells her, awaiting the usual response. "Really?" Really. They're only 23, 24 years old, but the Plastic Constellations are more seasoned in the rock 'n' roll business than many older musicians. In fact, they've been at it long enough to have nearly fallen apart.

Instead of letting adult life ruin their childhood dreams, TPC's members rallied around an album that has finally landed them the record deal they've always wanted, with a hip national indie label. Their new album, "Crusades" -- which came out Tuesday on New York's French Kiss Records -- is all about pursuing your passions, even if it's a battle. "We're always going to be a band that's in it for the right reason: because we love it," Mader said.

Added co-frontman Jeff Allen, "I think that's probably the best thing that came out of us forming in high school."

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The noisy, high-strung rock band -- part Fugazi, Foo Fighters and Foghat -- formed a decade ago when the four members were freshmen at Hopkins High.

Their camaraderie was on full display last week, when they capped off a taping at the Current (89.3 FM) with beer and pizzas at the timelessly cool Mancini's supper club in St. Paul. They were disappointed it wasn't karaoke night, especially since Mader's singing voice had just been described as "a manly Kermit the Frog" by one of the Current's engineers.

"Thanks, I think," was Mader's response, as his bandmates feebly tried to contain their laughter.

Instead of karaoke, though, the Plastic Cons genuinely seemed enamored of that night's band at Mancini's, Steve Millar & Diamondhead. Their set list featured such "Love Boat"-ready hits as "Lady in Red,"Mambo #5 (Little Bit of Rita)" and, best of all, Lionel Richie's "All Night Long."

"I used to really be into Lionel Richie and a lot of that kind of cheesy R&B stuff when I was a kid," said Mader, who moonlights as Laserbeak, a producer/beatmaker for hot rapper P.O.S. and his Doomtree hip-hop crew.

No doubt sensing a skeptical interviewer, bassist Jordan Roske insisted, "It's true. I remember he had a lot of that kind of music."

Close enough to know one another's childhood guilty pleasures, the guys in TPC never stopped getting along. They just stopped getting together as often as they used to.

"It was easy being in a band when we were in high school, because we'd automatically see each other five days a week," Allen explained. "It wasn't so easy when real life set in."

TPC's adventurous but confused 2004 album, "Mazatlan," came at the end of a long stretch of dwindling "band time." They were going to college and/or working day jobs. Allen and Roske were getting more serious with their girlfriends (now their wives).

It was certainly a sharp contrast to 1995, when they were ninth-graders with nothing better to do than rehearse in their parents' basements, trying to become the next big thing out of the Twin Cities.

"We thought we'd be signed to Matador Records in like three years," Mader remembered.

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They certainly appeared to be on the right path. Their first real gig was opening for Low at First Avenue when they were about 15. Their first real album, "Let's War," earned local buzz in 1997. Prince even appeared to dig them when he saw their set at the last Mill City Music Festival in 1999.

Near the beginning of TPC's career, Mader essentially cornered Lifter Puller frontman Craig Finn in the airport. Mader's dad even arranged it so Craig sat next to Aaron on a flight to Chicago. Needless to say, the elder rocker learned all about the younger band.

"I feel kind of bad about it now," Mader said with a laugh.

Ten years later, Finn leads the über-hot New York band the Hold Steady, who are also on French Kiss Records (along with acts such as Les Savy Fav and the Detachment Kit).

French Kiss president Steve Hahnel, who had caught TPC live twice at the urging of Finn, finally tried to sign the band last summer after hearing the songs that would be on "Crusades." He sees certain similarities with the Hold Steady.

"There's a sense of very similar camaraderie between them," Hahnel said of the band members. "There's also a quality that each exude from the stage -- and sorry to use a cliché -- I would say that it's 'realness.' When you see each band onstage, they don't look like 'band guys.' They don't look like they're dressing up for anyone or adopting a false affectation."

"Crusades" marks a step up in national presence from local imprint 2024 Records, which issued "Mazatlan" (and is co-releasing the new album). But it's also a big leap musically.

The album bottles the youthful, explosive energy that has defined their live shows. That all-or-nothing earnestness also comes out in the lyricism of such songs as "Belly of the Beast" and "Bring What You Bring" -- fervent, almost rabid, rallying cries for young rock 'n' rollers. Or young poets, painters, writers, etc.

"At first we started young and so thrilled we could burst," Allen sings in "Sancho Panza," about Don Quixote's sidekick (there's also a track called "Quixote").

By song's end, the "aging" crusaders had laid down their mission statement: "Others move on, but we're still keepin' on/ Livin' on much less sleep/ A shared smile, a turn of the dial/ Our lives are just too short." It's weighty stuff for guys in their 20s.

A big factor in the album's genesis was the unexpected death in 2003 of Matt Davis, frontman of the Iowa rock band Ten Grand and a good friend of the Plastic Cons.

"That was definitely a low point, but it really turned us around," Allen said. "Matt was such a positive guy. He did what he wanted to do till the day he died, which was being in a band. His death, I think, helped reignite the passion we had for our band."

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As serious as they've become about their music, though, the Plastic Constellations clearly haven't lost their juvenile sense of adventure. In fact, not long after Davis' fatal seizure, they "bonded again" over a trip to a Wisconsin Dells water park. Then came a festival in Iowa, where Roske suffered heatstroke before taking the stage.

"Do you think it was all those 40-ouncers?" Allen asks mockingly.

As they get ready for a monthlong tour with the Hold Steady next month, with those day jobs on hold, it seems like the bandmates are most looking forward to spending time together.

Actually, they're already having fun again. As the Mancini's band starts up its version of "Lady in Red," the guys light up at the same time.

"I wouldn't mind if we were doing this someday," one of them says.

Wow, they must really like each other.

Chris Riemenschneider: The Plastic Constellations

Opening acts: Doomtree, the Stnnng, Shoeshiners, Hawaii Show.

When: Friday at 5 p.m. (all ages) and 10 p.m. (21 and older).

Where: Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $8. 612-333-7399.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658