Rock ‘n’ roll dreams

The resurgence of ’80s bands such as Journey, Van Halen and Motley Crüe are evidence that dreams of performing rock and roll never die. Rock fans keep the genre going, playing old songs over and over again, inspiring old rockers to create anew and new bands to begin careers.

Down ’Til Now is one such band.

Hailing from the Charlottesville-Madison area, the band has been playing since 2001-02, with Travis Lillard on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Greg Aylor on lead guitar, Mark Jenkins on bass guitar and the most recent member of the band, Chuck Crenshaw, plays percussion. Lillard, Aylor and Jenkins have been friends since childhood, and Jenkins and Lillard are cousins.

Though the band plays a large repertoire of cover songs, they have produced two studio works, a self-titled CD in 2004 and “Ragged Run Sessions” in 2007. Two of the songs from “Sessions,” “Found What I Can’t Have,” and “Bottom of a Bottle,” have been picked up and aired by Charlottesville-based radio station 97.5 3WV.

All the band members, in their 30s and 40s, are married men with children, except Lillard who has none. Each has a non-musical career by day. Lillard is a laboratory technician in a health-related field, Crenshaw is a sales representative for an office supply company, Jenkins works with computers and Aylor is in construction management.

Lillard says they don’t consider themselves at the level of their rock idols, but they opened for the Marshall Tucker Band at the Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas a few years ago.

Not every band gets to do that.

But it is the band’s fanbase that keeps them going.

The band plays venues in Culpeper, Charlottesville and Ruckersville. They have also performed at Mossy Creek in Fishersville, Mulligan’s at the Verona Holiday Inn and on Friday night they rocked out at Downtown 27, formerly the Clocktower Tavern, in Staunton.

Linda Powell, the general manager at the Clocktower says that Down ’Til Now is a band that was previously booked before new management took over the club in September.

“We’re always looking to do something different,” she says. “We’re working with the bands that were scheduled through the end of the year. Recently we looked at a Southern rock band and a Reggae band.”

Culpeper’s Hazel River Pub, called “the Pub” by band members, is Down ’Til Now’s home port.

“We’re most popular there and they treat us like rock stars. We love to play to a packed house,” says Crenshaw.

Lillard says the band frequents smaller bars and nightclubs, generally between 100-200 person capacities. He feels performing at smaller venues is as important as playing larger places.

“You can’t take the little places for granted. You never know who will see you,” he says.

It took the band two years to get into the Pub in Culpeper and they have been playing there for more than two years.

Down ’Til Now performs a large mix of classic and modern rock songs. According to the band’s Web site, http://www.downtilnow.com, cover songs include Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla,” Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Night,” Green Day’s “Holiday” and Matchbox 20’s “How Far We’ve Come.”

One interesting part of the live show is a medley they play, which includes Cake’s version of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Kansas’ “Carry On Wayward Son.”

After the medley, Lillard says that the band and the crowd, composed of 20- to 40-somethings is primed and they can introduce some original work.

“It catches people’s attention,” says Lillard, who with his other band members chained 4 to 5 similarly keyed songs together. “It helps to avoid those empty moments, when you have to retune the instruments. The songs are instantly recognizable with their riffs.

“People don’t readily recognize your songs, so [the medley] helps keep their interest,” he says. “You have to feed off the energy the people give to you.”

Down ’Til Now plays about 25-30 percent of their own material, which Lillard says makes them different than other local bands. The band is currently working on its schedule for 2009.

Crenshaw says the stage at the old Clocktower is awesome and is most like the places they prefer to play, with its stage against one wall, facing the crowd.

“I always enjoy going [to Staunton],” he says. “We’re a live band really. People hear our recordings, but we like people to give us their love and we give it right back to them.

“The future is what it is,” Crenshaw says, adding, “The dream of being a rock star has come and gone. But we would like to continue to make original music.

“As long as people continue to come and see us, we’ll continue to play.”