Wyandotte Native Now Rocks to a New Tune

Wyandotte native and grad Jeff Cantwell will be playing in downtown Wyandotte Friday night.

The no-cover show is set for 10 p.m. to midnight at .

A veteran of the local music scene, Cantwell plans to play a couple of acoustic sets. He said the sets will consist of a mix of covers and originals, drawing from influences such as Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead and Damien Rice.

Throughout the night, Cantwell will be joined onstage by friends and former bandmates.

The Glamour Wore Off

Cantwell's career has taken quite a path from his early days studying the jazz trombone to the music featured in his latest gig.

Cantwell has been writing music and playing in bands for more than a decade. Having started out studying jazz trombone at Wayne State University, the 1997 Roosevelt grad eventually left the program and started the piano rock group Nebali.

Cantwell compares his old group to Ben Folds Five, another piano rock band. For Cantwell, the comparison isn't necessarily a positive one.

Despite the band's modest success, Cantwell said, Nebali was losing its appeal.

"Even Ben Folds wasn't good at being Ben Folds anymore," Cantwell said. "Why would I want to be a second-rate that?"

At 22, Cantwell met his future wife and step-daughter. His taste in music was changing and his priorities were shifting. His band's days were numbered.

After a couple of years in Nebali, the "glamour of singing piano rock tunes to disinterested crowds of about five people at metal bars all around the state" wore off, he said.

As the band was ending, Cantwell started dabbling in the guitar and found it to be his new inspiration. The band ended, ex-Nebali bandmate David Aaron Houston joined Cantwell and the pair started a new project.

After a series of shows and unfinished recordings, plans for a new rhythm section never materialized and the project fizzled out.

Still, Cantwell recalls the music and gigs fondly. Especially his partnership with Houston.

"He understands instinctively what I'm trying to do and can easily encourage me to keep going with something I didn't think was working or to discard something that simply isn't," Cantwell said.

Houston will be joining Cantwell at The Rockery.

A New Attitude

Prior to Cantwell's most recent gig at The Rockery, he had put his performance days on hold.

And Cantwell seems OK with that.

He talks as excitedly about his wife, children and extended group of friends as he does his music. Rather than hauling music equipment all over Michigan, Cantwell spends his time coaching girls softball.

But as with most musicians, Cantwell knew that one day he'd start playing again. It wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when.

He performed at The Rockery in March and said it was so successful, he's doing it again.

"I think I still knew that my performing days were not over, not for good," Cantwell said.

Cantwell said the crowd can expect a well-rounded set of some of his favorite songs and some of his own inspired compositions. There will be no rock-star posturing, no desperate pleas for attention. Just a man, his friends and family and a fun night out.

Things have changed for Cantwell, and while the days of cramped trips to metal bars are behind him, perhaps that's for the best.

"At the risk of being a tired cliché, I'm not playing for those people anymore," he said. "I'm just trying to have a good time."