Listening in the as-yet-unfinished basement of a rather stately Alpine home, the song intro is almost unmistakable (unless you're old enough to remember Queen's "Under Pressure") — first the sizzle of the cymbals, then the classic 7-note bass guitar rift accompanied by the synthesized claps leading into the catchy sing-along chorus: "Ice, ice baby … ice, ice, baby…"
The Vanilla Ice tune is a familiar anthem of the '90's hip-hop generation, but this particular version is being played by baby boomers who mostly perform for corporate types.
It's the signature song for Duane Newman — a mild-mannered product management director by day, but when the music begins to play, he transforms into rap impresario Duane "Ice" Newman. He's one of the front men for a musical group that gives hope and rhythm to all of the middle-aged wannabes who would love to be able to actually live out their rock and roll dreams by playing in a rock band.
The name of the group is "ManageThis," a five-member band of Utah business executives who have taken their collective love for music and turned it into their on-stage passion. The quintet all work in the Lindon office of software maker Symantec.
Each band member is an accomplished musician. In fact, keyboard player Carine Clark is a concert pianist who also happens to be the chief marketing officer for Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec, as well as the mother of two teenage boys.
While they sometimes get paid for their performances, lead singer and bass player Steve Morton said for the most part, it's a labor of love.
"We get paid to set up, but we play for free," Morton — vice president of product marketing — laughingly said was their unofficial motto. Setting up all the gear usually takes about 21/2 hours, he said, with much of that work done by their "sixth" band mate and sound engineer.
"We thought about changing the band name to 'Expensive Hobby,'" lampooned Tom Rhoton, band guitarist and vocalist, and Symantec vice president of marketing for the Americas.
Drummer Jordan Posey, senior manager for product marketing, said the "nice thing" about playing together is they all have jobs that allow them to afford to enjoy their avocation.
In fact, the band will be among the finalists at Fortune Magazine's Battle of the Corporate Bands competition this weekend in Cleveland.
Each year, bands from corporations across the country perform at regional contests in hopes of being chosen the nation's best corporate band. Judges select eight for the finals at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"ManageThis" made it through the semifinals in Los Angeles and will compete at the finals in Cleveland on Oct. 2 and 3.
"The thing that really gets of going is when the crowd gets into it … we only play stuff that people dance to," Rhoton said.
He added that they try out new songs frequently "and if the crowd doesn't react to them well, they're gone."
"We do love playing music … but the reason primarily for our success is that people can tell that we like each other and that we have fun on stage," Morton said. "We get as much fun out of practicing and hanging out as we do playing the big gigs."
Having played together for the past five years, ManageThis has played in such exotic locales as Singapore, Malta, Cannes, Vienna, Austria, and various high profile venues around the United States, Pusey noted.
Rhoton said in that time, the band has played for a variety of audiences, including numerous corporate functions, a high school prom and even a Cub Scout pack meeting.
"We started playing and a 10-year old Cub Scout yells 'Freebird!' at us," Morton said. "How quickly you fall … from (one day) playing on the Hollywood Sunset Strip to being heckled by a 10-year-old."
Most of the band members have families with young kids and proudly exalt that their kids like the idea of having their parents in a rock band.
"My daughter, Sophie, is 10," Morton said. "She said she has two favorite bands, the Jonas Brothers and ManageThis."
The group has done about 80 gigs over the past five years and said they hope to keep performing as long as they continue to have fun on stage and with each other. The key, Clark said, is to keep their hobby in perspective.
"We don't take it (too) seriously," she said.
"We like to play together, but don't take ourselves so seriously."
e-mail: jlee@desnews.com