Alive & Ticking: Las Vegas band Clockwise navigating its way to notoriety

Like so many other aspiring Las Vegas musicians, Austin LeDuc grew up dreaming about signing with a major record label.

Accomplish that, the singer assumed, and a successful career in rock 'n' roll was sure to follow.

"When I was growing up, I thought once you got the record deal it was just a matter of releasing the album, releasing a song and, once it spins a couple of times and people can't deny how catchy it is, you've got it made," LeDuc said in a recent phone interview from his Las Vegas home.

But more than two years after his band, Clockwise, signed with RCA Records, LeDuc recognizes that the music business is no fantasyland.

Though the group's first album, "Healthy Manipulations," finally hit shelves on Nov. 5 more than a year after it was recorded, mixed and mastered LeDuc and his bandmates are still waiting for the nation to latch onto their sound.

Because, while Clockwise's first single, "Lay Her Down," has spent weeks in the rotation on local station KXTE 107.5-FM, the song has yet to be released nationwide. That is expected to finally happen during the first quarter of 2003, leaving the band with something of a dilemma in the interim.

"Basically, nothing is happening yet, because everything is based on the exposure that comes from radio," LeDuc said. "We're telling our agency to get us tours, tours that are suitable and reputable, and they sit back say, We can't get you a tour until you've got a single on the radio.' But it's hard to get people to call (a station) and support a band unless they've seen them play.

"So we've got this major chicken-and-egg scenario with who's going to do what first." While they wait for "Lay Her Down" to go nationwide, the four members of Clockwise are spending the holidays at home. The hard-rock band plays The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday at 8 p.m., opening for two of the genre's more established acts, Hoobastank and Taproot.

LeDuc, bassist Alfonso Bernal and drummer Dave McMahan, all 24 years old, were born and raised in Las Vegas. LeDuc and Bernal briefly attended Durango High School together; McMahan went to Bonanza.

"We were a bunch of westside punks," LeDuc said.

Guitarist Scott Beare, 31, moved to Las Vegas from Missouri at age 12, later enrolling at the original Las Vegas High.

Local music fans might remember LeDuc, Bernal and McMahan from "Phatter Than Albert," the band's longtime moniker before April's switch to Clockwise. LeDuc said they decided to change the name when they left behind their early sound, which combined elements of hip-hop and rock.

"We'd wanted to change it for a while, even while we were recording the album," he said. "Me and Alfonso felt stupid stepping to the stage and saying, 'We're Phatter Than Albert.' And we used to be a lot different band, more party-based, and it became much more aggressive and rock 'n' roll based. So the old name couldn't fit less."

And, as LeDuc points out, he's around 5-foot-10, 140 pounds, making the old name even less fitting.

So how did they select Clockwise?

"Out of sheer frustration, because coming up with a name is not an easy task. So I just started spitting stuff out, phrases or groups of words that people are used to," LeDuc said. "I was looking around the room and it was like, 'Clock ... Clockwise.' But I'm very proud of it now."

LeDuc is also proud his band rose from Las Vegas' local music scene -- a scene often overlooked by industry executives.

"Honestly, being from Vegas it can be an uphill battle just even trying to get a label to notice you. It's much easier if you live in Boston or Massachusetts or Austin (Texas) or L.A.," LeDuc said. "The labels assume Vegas is a joke, that it's all lights and glamour and that there's no reason to see if there's any talent here."

LeDuc's band went as far as New York City to get noticed, playing legendary club CBGB's in an attempt to attract talent scouts. Even that didn't work.

"We had a 50-person list and maybe like four (label reps) showed up," LeDuc said. "That's where being a Vegas band became somewhat of a detriment. But that part of the story is long since gone for us."

Indeed, after hiring a a Manhattan-based lawyer to represent them, LeDuc and company finally caught the ear of RCA President Bob Jamison, who signed the band in October 2000.

"Healthy Manipulations" was recorded in producer Dan Brodbeck's London, Ontario, studios from May through September 2001. Several snags then delayed its release, including the exodus of several guitarists from the lineup. (LeDuc said the band will continue on as a four-piece unit for now.)

While they waited for the album to appear in stores, Clockwise's members toured as frequently as possible, even opening for Alice Cooper and on the recent Sammy Hagar-David Lee Roth tour.

Friday night will be different, however. With the album out for more than a month, fans have had a chance to familiarize themselves with its lyrics. And that should provide a stronger connection between the singer and the audience.

"I can't wait for that almighty thrill of having the people not only be down for you and smiling back, but singing along with the words," LeDuc said.

And while he respects the two bands that will follow his own at The Joint, LeDuc fully intends to claim Las Vegas for Clockwise.

"A part of our minds will be focused on whooping the stage's ass," he said. "And anybody that tries to come up after we get done playing has got their work cut out for them. Because I definitely don't want anybody coming in and whooping any harder ass than me."

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