Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Pavlik & Smaltz: Friends rise together

Bill Smaltz and Kelly Pavlik have been friends for years. But this year has been the biggest for both.

Smaltz is the lead singer of local band Tilt 360. Pavlik is the top-ranked world middleweight contender.

Recently their friendship was illustrated when Smaltz and Tilt 360 wrote a boxing-themed song for Pavlik. “Point Blank” has been played at venues Pavlik fought at, used in Pavlik's highlight reels and appears on Web sites devoted to him.

Pavlik says of the song, “It's really good. I'll give him credit for that.”

They met training at Jack Loew's Southside Boxing Club in Youngstown. Smaltz said they grew close because both were into music and boxing.

Smaltz met trainer Jack Loew in 1993 when he fought in the first K.O. Drugs High School Boxing Tournament.

“Jack has really helped the South Side,” Smaltz says.

Loew has run the Southside Boxing Club for 18 years. He says it started as a hobby, but has become a full-time job. Loew says there are four pro fighters and 17 amateurs training at Southside, including Pavlik.

“A kid like Kelly doesn't come along that often in life, and I was fortunate enough to get him,” he says.

Pavlik began training with Loew when he was 10 years old.

“I knew he was talented, but you can't tell when someone is that good,” Loew says.

“I hope Kelly opens a door. He's really helped my career. Hopefully he opens that door to the world,” Loew said.

The response has been there. Loew says he gets a lot more e-mails and gets asked about Pavlik everywhere he goes.

“It's been great,” he said

Mike Romeo, 21, runs Pavlik's MySpace. He said it's “unbelievable” how much more traffic the site has seen.

“We used to get like, 10 friend requests a day and we thought that was busy. Last night, I checked it at midnight, and when I woke up, there were 75 requests overnight,” Romeo said. “It went from being Youngstown to being nationwide. It's completely changed.”

Romeo said he's been friends with Pavlik forever and met Smaltz when Mike Tyson fought at the Chevrolet Centre. That's when Smaltz gave Romeo a copy of “Point Blank,” which has been associated with Pavlik ever since.

“People react to it. I started listening to it, and I realized it wasn't just a random song. It's really about boxing. It represents Kelly, what he's like, and what he and Bill want to do,” he says.

The one person who won't tell you about Pavlik's success is the fighter himself. He's humble. He won't say much about what he's accomplished.

“Nothing's really changed. It doesn't feel like I'm a celebrity,” Pavlik says on his way to the airport to fly to New York City. “The only thing that's really changed is that I have a busy schedule.”

He said he's also trying to find time in that busy schedule to spend time with his daughter, 1-year-old Sydney.

“She went straight from crawling to running,” he said.

And Tilt 360's progress has increased with the same speed as Pavlik's daughter. Smaltz is the lead singer, with Jay Miller on guitar, Drew Salzano on bass and Heather Jurina on drums.

Tilt 360 says they've made more progress in the past two years since their reunion than they did in the band's original seven years.

“We're writing a lot more; we have a new press kit; there's more photos; we're playing all ages shows,” Jurina said.

Recently, they've started working under the Love Muffin label, with Rage Productions handling promotions and booking.

Smaltz says the success has come from focusing on the local scene, rather than touring.

“We're stuck to the region, playing Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Meadville,” he said. “It didn't make any sense going further and doing those shows. We can't afford it.”

But Smaltz says the success isn’t consistent.

“We'll have 200 people at one show, then 35 at another. But that's how this area is. It's hit or miss.,” he said.

The band has started recording its next album, “Day 11.” The nine-song album will be released this fall, and the band is considering coordinating a tour across the southern U.S.

Salzano says the band sounds the same, but they’re growing musically.

“You can tell it's still us,” he said.

Miller said “Day 11” will be entirely new music that the band has played at recent live shows. The only song that will repeat from their “Point Blank EP” will be “Point Blank.” But it will be remastered.

“Once we get this new album done, new opportunities will be there. It's not that they’re not there now, but we can't capitalize on them,” Salzano said. “Once we have merch and a new album, it'll benefit us.”

“We just wanna get to a point where we don't have to work a real job,” Salzano said.

Their real jobs? Jurina delivers pizza, Salzano delivers food products to convenience stores, Smaltz works security for the Chevrolet Centre (among other side jobs) and Miller works at Guitar Center.

But Tilt 360's morale hasn't declined despite long hours at their day jobs.

“It's better than it has been in years,” Salzano says.

“I wanna get the hell out of here instead of wasting our time and talent. That's why we're taking all of the risks and chances that we can,” Jurina said. “We played local shows and hung around the area for too long.”

Smaltz says he has no shortage of motivation.

“What keeps me going? Beating a drug addiction. I got a second chance. I realized that I'm here for something,” he said.

Despite a a laundry list of fighting injuries, including tendonitis and TMJ, Smaltz says he'll fight again.

“Music and boxing intertwine,” he said. “The sound of the bag, the breathing — it's all music.”