From Northern Express, January 1998 (Excerpts) Bentley Fillmore - Acoustic rockers reach out with 1st CD John Bentley Fillmore is one of those optimistic, can-do, throw-your-head-back-and-laugh, up-for-anything, full-speed-ahead persons who crackle with energy. With hair down to his waist, elfish boots, fingerless gloves and an impish grin, songwriter Fillmore seems just the man to front the acoustic rock band, Bentley Fillmore. A little bit of magic may be just what it takes to make an acoustic rock group work in Northern Michigan, which has its fair share of folk musicians, but not a lot of places to play. With a new, self-titled album under their belts, the bandmates are pushing hard to promote the disc and get their sound out in front of audiences. "It's definitely a trick; you have to use your imagination," Fillmore concedes. John, who grew up in Midland and moved to Interlochen in 1986, says the band has been together a little over a year now, crafting three-part harmonies that hit you right off with the album's first cut "Red Light, Green Light." As a songwriter, Fillmore got his start performing at a Christian coffeehouse in Midland after receiving a guitar from a friend. "Right from the get-go I decided that I didn't want to take any lessons because I wanted to develop my own style," he recalls. "I wrote my first song when I was eight and for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a singer in a rock band." "Really, I'm an impulse writer," he says. "A song starts in my heart like a seed and after a long period of time it grows and comes out of me. I'm not steering it - it just comes out or it doesn't work at all. A song has to be spontaneous, it has to flow out of me, or I don't pursue it." Today, he's interested in writing from personal experience with an emphasis on good hooks and melodies. With plenty of confidence in his song writing and the band's appeal, Fillmore is most in search of a good manager to take the band up a notch in the direction of a national recording contract. "Ideally, we'd like to play all festivals this summer and then head south for the winter," he says. "We're not a bar band - our appeal is to a broad-based age group from young teens to older listeners." by Robert Downes