June 25, 2009 · 1:38 PM

The thinking man’s rock star

By April Corbin

Elliot Szabo at the Bunkhouse.

Elliot Szabo knows a thing or two… or three, or four.

Ask the local musician about copyright law, and he’ll give you a quick rundown of how smalltime artists can protect themselves. Compare at-home to in-studio recording, and he’s got plenty to say: “Save up and pay for in-studio. You’ll never get the quality you want with the AC in your mom’s bedroom going off in the background.” From there, he’ll spark a discussion on the music industry and ramble on about the ‘50s recording scene, spoken word artists in New York City and indie documentaries.

Audio Clips

Elliot Szabo

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    Crawling
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    Georgia Beaches
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    Majesty
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    Persian
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    Window

More on Elliot Szabo

Szabo’s do-it-yourself attitude and intelligence are apparent. He isn’t afraid of reinventing himself – he’s done it before. Years ago, Szabo was a screamer in a hard rock band aiming to be the new System of a Down. Now, his sound is refined. It sounds a bit like Duncan Sheik and takes inspiration from Elliott Smith and Jethro Tull. It’s acoustic rock, with a dash of folk.

Szabo is the frontman and namesake of his band, Elliot Szabo, which includes Kenny Byrne on drums and Gary Coveny on bass. Originally, the band went by Elliot Szabo and the 215, but after some line-up changes and Byrne’s expressed hatred over the name, “the 215” was dropped. Szabo briefly pushed for Elliot Szabo and the Group – a poke at Bob Dylan and the Band. His joke was lost on others, and eventually they decided to go the simplistic route.

Szabo recognizes the contributions Byrne and Coveny make to the music and says he’s excited about a future addition to the band: a keyboardist. Mostly, though, he’s counting down until this Friday when he’ll celebrate the band’s EP release party at Sinister Rock Bar.

Past Event

Elliot Szabo EP Release Party
  • Friday, June 26, 2009, 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
  • Sinister Rock Bar, 1700 E. Flamingo , Las Vegas
  • 21+ / $10

More on this event.

It’s taken the band six months to complete the project, months longer than Szabo thought it would take. But when asked by his wife if he feels a sense of accomplishment now that the EP is done, Szabo willingly admits he doesn’t.

“It’s never really done,” he says. “It’s just the point where you decide to walk away from it.”

Between Two Points on a Map includes five songs (listen to them here), and unlike many acoustic rock EPs, not a single one was written about a woman. Actually, Szabo isn’t going to sing about undying or unrequited love anytime soon.

“I can’t write about my wife,” he explains. “She made that a rule when we first got together.” (On his end of the deal, she’s supposed to attend at least 50 percent of his shows.)

Elliot Szabo performs at the Bass Pro Shops.m

Elliot Szabo performs at the Bass Pro Shops.m

Mostly, however, after years of writing about love and heartbreak, Szabo decided to aim for a fuller musical experience. His inspiration now comes both from personal experiences – “Georgia Peaches” is a blunt song about his mother – and dreams - “Windows” won’t make sense, he says, unless you have the same imagery in your head as he had when he imagined the song.

Finding new inspiration isn’t difficult for Szabo; he’s used to starting over. In 2007, the local musician left a Midwest scene he understood and loved where he’d opened for national artists, played from Louisville to Chicago and even braved a miserable six-hour wait on Soldier Field to audition for American Idol. But a new job for his wife meant Szabo was heading to Las Vegas.

“When I moved out here, everything I had in the Midwest was gone,” Szabo recalled. “The slate was wiped clean.”

Soon, he realized the bad reputation of the Vegas music scene was unfounded. “The scene is what you make of it. If you’re involved with it, you think there’s a scene. If you’re just expecting the music to come to you and be in your face, then there’s really not.”

Elliot Szabo performs.

Elliot Szabo performs.

Szabo blames it on the multitude of entertainment options on the Strip and in town. He jokes that he has trouble getting his friends to come out to his shows because they’d rather go to Ditch Fridays. He doesn’t mind, though. He’s the type who understands why people talk through opening acts and doesn’t mind when out-of-state friends are so distracted by slot machines they miss part of his show.

Such realistic expectations translate into modest career goals. Szabo says he can’t imagine being flocked by fans and living a high-profile life. Just making a sustainable living off music would be enough.

“It’s not like I’m sitting in my bed thinking, ‘Alright. I put a CD out. When’s the contract going to come?’”

1 Comment So Far

Great Show at the Sinister! Loved the music. Listened to the free CD I got at the door. It's awesome! I want more!

Posted by: propilot47 on 6/30/09 at 3:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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