Rory Lewis, currently a 5th year Ph.D. student and instructor at UNC Charlotte in Computer Science and Information Technology, can't hide his secret anymore-yes, he's in a band.
Lewis, 46, leads a double life. As a student at UNC Charlotte, he is dedicated to his research and career as an instructor within the the field of information technology.
Aside from that, though, he's passionate about rock 'n' roll. Lewis fronts the Rory Lewis Band, accompanied by band mates Josh Stallard on bass, George Mattison on horn and Eddie Kennelly on drums. Their sound is a throwback to old-school rock and punk of the 1960s and '70s, with a tinge of jam band ambience added to the mix.
While the band remains relatively obscure in the immediate Charlotte area, the Rory Lewis Band has quite a following on MySpace. The site's tagline states that the band is "the most downloaded unsigned band on the Internet," a claim Lewis himself admits has been somewhat exaggerated.
Despite these rock star inclinations, Lewis is known at UNC Charlotte as a mild-mannered scholar who focuses on studies in artificial intelligence and has even bridged the gap between math and rock 'n' roll, identifying numerical patterns within famous works of music by Mozart and Beethoven.
Lewis paused to talk about his love of mathematics and rock 'n' roll in a recent interview.
IN THE PAST, HAVE STUDENTS FOUND OUT ABOUT YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN A BAND?
"It's been very interesting because students seldom bring it up, unless I was playing in bigger shows - they would sometimes ask for backstage passes," Lewis said. "I've never really known about it except once, this one guy in my class raised his hand and said, 'Mr. Lewis, did you know there is a guy with your name who has a band?', and the whole class laughed.
"So that made me realize that most of the class knew, but they seemed to respect the idea of me being a professor and musician."
STARTING OUT
Lewis didn't officially create a band in the US until he moved to North Carolina in 1996 from his native Durban, South Africa.
His band was lucky because there was a bar called Loafers, which was the biggest band bar in Charlotte at the time. They would hold a bikini contest during which three bands would compete to see who brought in the most people.
"Someone came over that night and asked us to open for Jerry Lee Lewis, and of course, we have the same name - and the Jerry Lee Lewis show (this is 1998) was going to be broadcast live.
"We had just started out so we could only play about 15 minutes of material," said Lewis.
"Unbeknownst to the promoter of the show on p. 32 (of the show agreement) or whatever, it says Mr. Lewis is not responsible if the hotel booked or is supplied with an open bar, so of course, the 68-year-old Jerry Lewis sees the open bar; it's 4:30 in the afternoon, and he is passed out on his back.
"My band and I then have to go on stage around 7 p.m., and towards the end of the show, the promoter tells me that I have to stay on stage for an extra hour - we didn't have that much material.
"Meanwhile, all the radio stations have started broadcasting, and here we are sucking big time; and the DJs are asking, 'Well, is he Jerry Lee Lewis' son?'
"I thought that this was the end of my band experience, but it exposed us a lot; and even though it was horrible, we ended getting so many gigs from that show.
"We just lucked out in being able to be on that show - other bands were just salivating because we were on stage.
"And the band that came after us was The Violent Femmes, and they were backstage laughing at us because they knew we didn't have enough material because we were speaking to them right before the show.
"Luckily, they hurried up and tried to get on stage faster for us."
ADVICE FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS IN BANDS
"The idea that any band is going to be big - wipe that dream out of your head.
"From a mathematical point of view, when FM was great (which is a book that I am doing with Mark Kemp) from 1968-'78, if one could get onto FM [radio] by any means, almost regardless of how good your music was, you were huge and set for the rest of your life.
"The days of The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Madonna and David Bowie are gone. The last vestiges of a band having the power of FM are probably ZZ Top and U2.
"Never again are so many going to be listening to FM. They are playing DVDs and using the Internet, where as in 1964, five out of every12 people could name the top 10 songs of that week.
"Now we don't even know the top 10. It's a function of the past.
"When your mom was young, there were two things for entertainment: the TV and radio. Now, there are many things.
"In the '80s, most university students attended one or two big shows per month. Those days are gone.
"Till this day, the bands that brought in the most revenue from sales and touring were bands that were great on FM.
"You can name any band today, and four years from now, you won't hear about them - whereas, your children will be listening to The Beatles.
"My advice for a band in college is to go for it if you really love music, but don't let the driving force be of fame - because that illusion disappears. Focus on school unless you absolutely love music, which I did. I love to do my math and then go to my band and play music."
For more information on the Rory Lewis Band, visit their website at whttp://www.rorylewisband.com.
