Rosetta Pebble

For the ancient Rosetta Stone, see Rosetta Stone.

Rosetta Pebble

Rosetta Pebble is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan. Their name, "Rosetta Pebble" is a vague reference to the ancient Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Pebble achieved a small degree of popularity in Detroit, parts of Michigan, and northern Indiana during the first half of the 2000s due to the band's folky, pop songs. Influenced by Folk rock (most notably the music of Cat Stevens, James Taylor), Jack Johnson, the Beatles, and Pete Townshend), Rosetta Pebble play a more pop-oriented variation of folk rock. The band is also commonly classified into the category of acoustic/soft rock.

History

Rosetta Pebble was formed by Eric Frakes and Steve Gulian in the summer 1999, in Barcelona, Spain. Both musicians, originally from the Detroit area, had arranged to meet up overseas that summer, and share song ideas they had each been writing independently. On leave from a year teaching in Indonesia, Gulian had been traveling home westward and Frakes met up with him in Germany. The pair performed their first collaborations on the streets of Barcelona and San Sebastian for late-night revelers whose feedback in the form of attention span and pesetas helped to separate the musical wheat from the chaff, and financed the purchase of a nice hand-drum, as well as enough sangria and tapas to keep the two motivated. The duo continued traveling throughout Europe that summer, performing wherever they could, and fine tuning the songs that would later become their first CD. “Rosetta Pebble”, as an official group, was born upon their return to Michigan at the end of that summer.

Music

As a two-man song writing collective, Gulian and Frakes began recording at Hit City in Indianapolis, Indiana, where they worked with local producer, musician, and sound engineer, Tim Brickley. With Brickley’s creative input and production Pebble’s debut CD, Stories That The World Once Told, came into being in 2002. The group’s sophomore project, Clear Across Summer was released in the fall of 2005.

In performance, the two alternate between playing acoustic guitar and sing lead vocals or handling the percussion and harmony vocals. Their one-of-a-kind drum set could be considered a work of art in itself. Its collection of hand percussion from far-flung parts of the world has been artistically arrayed on iron stands created by several Michigan metal sculptors.

Core Members

• Eric Frakes: Rhythm Guitar/Harmonica/Vocals (1977-current)
• Steve Gulian: Lead Guitar (1977-1981); Bass Guitar (1982-current)
• James Gross: Lead Guitar (1977-1981); Bass Guitar (1982-current)

Guest musicians

• Tim Brickley: Bass Guitar/Keyboards/Rhythm Guitar/Producer
• Chris Plansker: Keyboards
• Bill Osler: Drums
• Jeff Reynolds: Bass Guitar

All teaches at various schools in the Grosse Pointe School System

Discography

• Stories That The World Once Told (2002)
• Clear Across Summer (2005)

External links

• [1], The Official Website of Rosetta Pebble

References

1. Powell, Amy. "Band Releases Second Album.” The Grosse Pointe Times. 30 Nov. 2005: A3.
2. Fouty, Ann L. “Rosetta Pebble Becomes a Piece of the Puzzle.”The Grosse Pointe News. 1 Dec. 2005: B1
3. Miller, Jennie. “Trio of Teachers Perform Unique Acoustic Sounds”.”The Grosse Pointe News. 16 Oct. 2005: A20