Special to the Record-Eagle, Friday, November 7, 1997 Spontaneity and passion are trademarks of band Bentley Fillmore Band features original acoustic rock. Traverse City - If the Bentley Fillmore Band is something of a work in progress, that's all right with its members. The point is to get it right, says leader John Bentley Fillmore, while they carve out a niche as northern Michigan's all original, acoustic rock band. "One of the great things about this group is that everyone is patient and knows it takes time to get a tight, marketable product out there," says guitarist and singer Fillmore, who also does most of the writing for the group. "We're letting the music take its course and the priority is to always do what's best for the band." For now, that means staying fairly rooted in northern Michigan, where Fillmore and band members Tom Hall (bass), Bob "Flash" Flaska (guitar), Laura Murphy (vocals and keyboards) and Ken Woodward (drums) all live, and continuing to hone their sound and write material. The group first came together about a year ago, with Fillmore, Murphy and original drummer Devon Neibert as its nucleus. They began rehearsing, added Flaska and Hall, and played a test gig at javasite on-line coffee house in downtown Traverse City, and found the response encouraging enough to test some other waters over the next few months. They also released a 12-song, self-titled CD this past summer with a heartland-rocker edge and a penchant for catchy hooks. "For most of us, our influences were the Beatles, Eagles and Pink Floyd, so a lot of what we do is "bridge" music, meaning we try to cross that big, empty field between the 1960s and today's acoustic rock," Fillmore explained. "I like to write lyrical hooks and Bob is great with musical hooks, so you do hear that in our sound. So far, it's gotten a very positive response." Fillmore says that writing is something of a first love, and the range of subject matter on the disc gives testament to that. Relationships, the working class life, suicide and despair, erotic longing and self-realization are all explored, often in ballads. "I'm a very spontaneous writer, and work from spontaneity and passion," said Fillmore. "I'm sometimes abstract but I always try to tell a story. Between all of us, we have a sound where the rhythm songs make you dance and the lyrical hooks make you want to sing along. We think that's what makes us unique." Immediate plans for the band include ... selling its CD and booking dates through that medium, as well as continuing to look for performance venues that favor its ballad-driven, acoustic sound....Fillmore says they look forward to spreading their musical message throughout northern Michigan over the winter months. "We're getting the word out and letting the music speak for itself, because that's what it's all about," Fillmore concluded. "We're pretty confident we can be successful with this." by Nancy Sundstrom