Original rock band celebrates new CD 'All Things Flow'

CORVALLIS - On a recent weekday night, The Flow can be found rocking out in a cozy storage unit they've retrofitted into a recording studio in south Corvallis.

Made up of four veteran musicians, the Flow is the product of a chance meeting a decade ago between the folk duo of Bill Smyth and Rita Brown and hard metal band members Don Thorp and Mike Gratten.

"Rita and I were a folk duo and we were completely acoustic and doing lots of vocal harmonies," Smyth said. "We had penny whistles and banjos and things like that. We went down to Platinum one night and Knock Out John was opening for these other guys and they just blew our heads right off."

"I got whiplash from it. They were like the loudest- most hard-rock band around then," Smyth laughed.

The four first joined forces in a Joe Cocker tribute band called Mad Dogs and No Englishman. But the band, which had an unwieldy nine members, eventually fractured.

"We branched, literally right off from that with Bill's songwriting," Thorp said.

All four share a deep love of music and tight musicianship and harmonies built on practice and collaboration.

While Smyth takes on most of the writing, it's a collaborative process and everybody contributes ideas.

"Bill's probably the most humble and open songwriter," Thorp said.

"Things just occur to me," Smyth said. "You get a good idea and it just sticks in your head. I've been doing that since I was a little kid."

Smyth keeps notebooks handy for when inspiration strikes and acknowledges that sometimes songs seem to have their own time schedule. He recalled a song he wrote that is on the group's new CD called "Macon Jones":

"I was giving up folk music and wanting to just play hard rock," Smyth said. "And that's when the folk song that I'd been trying to write for the last decade comes pouring out."

Members of The Flow have also played with or are currently part of numerous other mid-valley bands, including Fate 55, the Neil Gladstone Band, Sons of Confusion and 49 Fingers.

Not surprisingly, considering their varied backgrounds, The Flow's original rock is infused with many influences, most notably acoustic folk and blues.

When they're not practicing or playing local venues such as Calapooia Brewing Company in Albany and Sunnyside Up Cafe in Corvallis, the Flow's members are busy professionals.

"We have commitments. We all have kids and grandkids," Brown said.

Brown and Smyth are both employed at Oregon State University, where Brown works in an administrative office and Smyth is on the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences faculty. Grattin works at John & Phil's Toyota in Corvallis and Thorp is the general manager of Pioneer Plastics in Millersburg.

The band's name was inspired by Smyth's research at OSU, where he investigates properties of flow in ocean systems, as well as waves, currents and tides.

"Although, there's something else about it that was sort of inspiring to me," Smyth said.

The band's name also refers to the work of famous psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who who studied happiness and determined that people are most satisfied when they are engrossed in doing something that they are good at - when they are in a "state of flow."

"It kind of feels to me, like that's what you're trying to do when you're playing music," Smyth said.

Grattin agreed that after a long day at work he often finds several hours of rehearsal with the band to be reinvigorating rather than tiresome.

It's an enthusiasm shared by all members of the band.

Brown said when she tells people that she's in a rock band, the response is often incredulous.

"I guess we're pretty conscious, like, we must be the oldest band around here," said Smyth, gesturing to the surrounding studios off Wake Robin Avenue. "Most people our age tend to slide into mellower music."

"We're sort of endeavoring not to mellow with age," Smyth said.

CHECK IT OUT

WHO: The Flow

WHAT: CD release party for 'All Things Flow.'

WHEN: 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11.

WHERE: Old World Deli, 341 S.W. Second St., Corvallis.

INFO: www.allthingsflow.com.