Artist of the Week	Mark Constantino by Donny Kutzbach

(photo: Rose Mattrey)

On the surface, Mark Constantino appears an average, mild mannered, happy-go-lucky sort of guy... then you watch him explode onstage. Sweating, screaming and flailing he seemingly channels Bad Brain’s vocalist HR and a snake-handling preacher bent on some twisted salvation. With The Exit Strategy, Constantino’s adrenaline-filled, pounding vocals act as a crucial counterpoint to the taut, precision dynamics and sonic intricacies of guitarist Steven Kabza, bassist Tony Flamia and drummer Tim Turcotte. (It’s also worth mentioning that Constantino does a performance 180 singing pretty melodies in the keen indie pop collective Amateur Thief.)

It might surprise the average face in the crowd at an Exit Strategy show that the guy out at front and center stage will be keeping the Queen City safe the next day. Who would suspect the singer from a post punk band would also don a blue uniform for the Buffalo Police Department? You’re still just beginning to know the man behind the booming holler.

Upcoming show: The Exit Strategy celebrates the release of its eponymous, first full length CD (on the Art of the Underground imprint) with a show this Saturday (Nov. 12) at Mohawk Place with guests Laser Awesome, Lemuria and Tracy Morrow.

Who inspires you? “My mother and father have been the biggest influence on my life. I’ve been extremely lucky to have two parents that have always loved and supported me even when I’ve made some questionable decisions. I’m unbelievably fortunate, they always attended any events I had as a child and they still come to almost every show. You’ll hear my mother, she’s always the loudest. Another big influence on me has been T.C. Smith. He was one of my first supervisors at my place of employment and he taught me a ton about the real world. Also my girlfriend, Molly, has been very supportive and understanding about the fact that so much of my free time is spent practicing with the band.

Musically speaking, my hero has always been Ian MacKaye from Fugazi and Dischord Records. He’s a true revolutionary in my opinion.”

Speaking of Ian MacKaye, The Exit Strategy often gets compared to Fugazi and other Dischord bands but what are your other musical influences? “We do get compared to Fugazi a lot which is a unbelievable honor and they have influenced us as musicians. After a recent show we played in New Paltz a bunch of people compared us to Les Savy Fav. I think we are influenced by The Jesus Lizard and The Gang Of Four a bit. It’s tough because at the same time one of our goals is to stay as original and unique as possible. It can be extremely difficult at times; so much has been done and redone, musically speaking. You also can’t be offended when your band draws comparisons to some or your favorite artists.”

The core of TES (yourself and drummer Tim Turcotte) were previously in Sonic Boom Project. What is the difference between the two bands? “It’s difficult to compare them actually. I don’t really consider Tim and myself as the core of The Exit Strategy just because we were part of The Sonic Boom Project. I think the core of The Exit Strategy is the four of us creating together. It gives me goose bumps sometimes because we click so well together. The bands are also very different as far as goals and expectations. The Sonic Boom Project was started as purely fun and The Exit Strategy is taking on a more serious tone. So it really is difficult to compare the two. Musically though the Sonic Boom Project had more of a straight-up rock sound ... The Exit Strategy has more of an angular/jagged thing going on. It’s noisier but there’s a lot of breathing room within the songs as well ... I guess you would call us more of a post-punk band.”

Tell me about the new album. What was the process of writing and recording it? “When we started the band we immediately started writing. We were unbelievably prolific and still are. All these ideas basically started flowing out of us like pent up aggression. Steve, our guitarist, would come in and just start playing these great guitar parts and everyone would jump on them like wild animals. It was beautiful to be a part of.

We would rehearse for sometimes up to five hours picking at every detail. Going over things time and time again until we got every song exactly the way we wanted. When we wrote bunch of songs that we were proud of we decided it was time to record. We pitched the idea to Mark Nosowicz who runs Harvest Studio. We like everything we’ve heard from him and he understood what we were doing so we decided to do the record there. Recording was great, Mark’s an excellent engineer and a good person so everything went pretty smooth. He also came up with some really cool ideas that adds to the record so were extremely happy.”

The Exit Strategy is a powerful live combo. What’s your idea of a perfect gig? “We are really making a big effort to play out of town more. We’re on a label called Art Of The Underground and we know the only way we’re going to sell records is if we play more shows out of Buffalo. So I guess right now the perfect gig for us would be anywhere that hasn’t heard us, preferably in front of people and with Tracy Morrow on the bill!”