They might be Beatles

I ask them what their band is really like. Their response? "This interview will be just like Behind the Music. Only without drugs, sex or girls," says Geech, the band-leader, trouble-maker and guitar-player, while Eric updates me on the latest goings-on with Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock. "That's why I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly," he says. Eric, if you can't guess, is the class clown of the band, a natural drummer.

Don't let Capital City fool you: they may have a strong Beatle resemblance with their bowl-cut floppy hair (that's Geech and Walt, Eric's the clean-shaven one), but these guys are all-American, 30-year-old boys who play with software for a living and play in a band for the beer and the pool halls.

These Beatles look-alikes started playing three years ago when Geech (yet another band leader with a weird name that he won't explain), needing an outlet for life beyond a nameless Internet company, approached his co-worker Eric Herman to play drums in an outside band. Eric was accepted into the band because not only could he drum, he "could integrate software, too!"

And the band went from there, somehow ending up with Walt Blazewicz , their current bass player, the true Beatle-look alike (and also a software developer), who has played in more than four bands. This is the band he stayed with, however, after answering one of those signs in Davis Square that no one ever reads.

"Ever heard of planets aligning?" asks Eric. "It was supernatural."

Today Walt, who's been playing bass in the band for about a year and a half, Eric and Geech say they seem to see their music taking off (though in the past they say they've had their ups-and-downs) with their new CD Am I Invisible, a growing base of music fans in Massachusetts and New York and the inclusion of their single "The Sound" on a Japanese compilation record. And this from people who've never quit their day jobs!

Walt likes the freedom of the nine-to-five job while Geech is choosy and would rather skip over the whole "wedding and bar mitzvah gig" experience and values a stable job. It isn't surprising, considering that the members are older_ and are all, at heart, software geeks.

They get very excited when they describe the toys that helped create their music, describing all sorts of objects like a matchbox on their loudspeaker, techniques for echoing and how to put nine different things going on at the same time on tape as well as the many, many drums they got to use to make the CD. They tried to make it a bit moodier and add atmosphere and loved that their producer, also a drummer, came in and helped them out.

Capital City tries to create a serious image with their music, whose lyrics remains vague with notions like, "Please don't run away" and "Please don't go to heaven without me," backed up by mellow Strokes-like drumbeats and hallucinatory guitar sounds.

But don't believe the image: they're a lot funnier.

They also don't have a great sense of direction; the band has a little trouble finding the coffee shop, which is surprising considering that they're local boys and their new CD was produced in nearby Somerville.

The band categorizes itself as "Wilco Meets the Kinks" and not Kid Rock meets Avril Lavigne.

"We're poppy-rock, indie rock, not-quite-radio-ready rock" says Geech. "If the Strokes, Cold Play and Sloane played on the radio, we'd be radio-ready. In a world where Kid Radio and Pink play on the radio, no we're not a radio-group," the guitar-player by-night says.

Geech writes the lyrics and the melody, brings them in and hammers it out with the other band members. Although based on real events, Geech tries to make his lyrics a bit more universal. "I contemplate where I am and where I stand in the world. I want [the music] to be placed outside of time," he says.

Different people have different reactions to the band's music, ranging from comments like "Geech's vocals are a little strange" (Delusions of Adequacy music website), to "very catchy" (Boston Herald). They do take a bit of getting used to, unless you have a regular habit of dropping acid, since lines seem to move in and out of hearing (the band used echoing techniques on the CD) along with repetitive repeatedly rising minor violin melodies on some tracks, organs and Geech's voice _ more like chanting, since he doesn't seem to like melody. They even throw in a little acoustic guitar for added texture.

The guys like getting to know their audience. Geech's ideal (and slightly more realistic than England) venue? Take the amount of people sitting in Brown 'n Brew on a Wednesday night, reduce the size by three-quarters, and get them all sweaty and hot together _ now that's a great crowd.

"And lots of girls," adds Eric _ although Eric's ideal venue is a bit different (probably still with lots of girls, though): fly the band in somewhere, play for a bit, and fly back out. Innovative and invisible. Also he would love to return home to Michigan where he hails from and play at the local hockey stadium, "so I can be close to my family."

Geech dreams of having the perfect concert at the Reddington Rock Festival in England. "I think they have better taste in England," he said.

And why Boston? "In New York it's so competitive. You can see a million bands at a million bars. Here people will actually stick around, even if their friends aren't in it."

Geech likes the Boston seen because people will often come up after the show and give him constructive criticism, where Eric offers another positive. "It's such a rush to play for people, especially when you see people dancing during the set," he said.

And true to their getting-to-know-you ethos, the band grills me on my musical background _ when I say I've played an instrument, they get on my back about playing more often _ and at the end, offer me a practice session. Electric oboe, anyone?



Capital City: Am I Invisible? CD-Release Party: TT The Bear's _ Oct. 24, with Choo Choo La Rouge, Tiger Saw and Ruby Lashes.