by Tara Mattarazzo

Peter Montgomery fronts the Irresponsibles, a Boston-based, hook-laden pop/rock outfit. Voted Musician magazine's 1997 Best Unsigned Band and twice featured in Billboard, the Irresponsibles star: Andrew Kuhn, 24, on lead guitar; Mark Nigro, 30, on bass; Dan Rudack, 28, on drums; and every so often, a guy named Adrian Belew makes an appearance (no age confirmation, but he's been around for a while).

Raised in Scituate, Massachusetts, Montgomery started playing guitar when he was 12 years old: "I latched on to my sister's Beatles albums, and I was obsessed with British rock." Early influences including the Kinks and the Stones.

Inspired by such enduring pop icons, Montgomery, Mark Nigro, and Dan Rudack formed the Irresponsibles a decade ago. "We had some good ideas right from the start," he recalls, "but we totally sucked. We were probably the loosest band in the world, and I had no idea how to sing. But I would get up there anyway and sing my ass off.

"After all, when you suck, you don't know that you suck," the self-defamed former "cheeseball" professes. "But over the years, the Irresponsibles have become a much better band.

"By 1996 I had a feeling something was going happen." Enter Montgomery's girlfriend, Christine White. Unbeknownst to the band, she sent their demo tracks to Musician, which thrust the Irresponsibles into a pool of about 3,000 contestants. When Montgomery found out, he saw the Irresponsibles in the top-200 list; but next month, their name wasn't on it. A few days later, Musician editor Dev Sherlock called Montgomery.

So, Pete, how does it feel to be in the top 50?

"Brother, we're not on there!"

Sure you are, I put you on the list myself. Oh man, this is clearly a mistake.

After the Irresponsibles won the contest, Sherlock contacted Montgomery again.

If you get a call from Adrian Belew, it's not a joke. He was one of the judges, and he's enamored with your songs. But Adrian's on tour right now, so don't expect to hear from him soon.

"Rather than wait, I pelted Adrian's management with our recordings, including a tribute song called 'Mr. Belew.' Then lo and behold, one afternoon I got a call from this Belew-guy, who seemed like the nicest person in the world." Belew's response to the tribute?

A song like that could make me famous!

"Some months later, we drove down to Nashville to record with Adrian," Montgomery says. "He has a state-of-the-art, 32-track home studio, which encompasses an entire floor of his house."

There, the Irresponsibles recorded Backwards Boy, a seven-song album produced by Belew, who also contributed on guitar, tympani, and piano: "We hung out, we drank, we laughed, and we became good friends. He has a million rock 'n' roll stories, and he's an incredible wit.

"Adrian actually has two characters. There's the King Crimson-Frank Zappa elite-musicianship side, but in his heart he's really a Beatles-type popsmith. So he really plays a double role"-a role not unlike Montgomery's own. With a distinct experimental streak (eccentric self-defacing lyrics; innovative string arrangements; a live psychedelic light show), clearly the Irresponsibles have forged their own unique style. But at the same time, says Montgomery, "I want to keep it as simplistically real as possible.

"I love to write pop songs with real hooks, catchy melodies, and heartfelt lyrics. But of course, that's the hardest thing to do. The Beatles were so good at it-so much so that you hear the sincerity dripping off their voices. You don't know how they did it, but they did. Pinpointing it is impossible; you just have to do it."