Jessica Knight and Brandon Carnes of Looming
Perhaps contrary to
accepted wisdom, a lot actually happens in Springfield during any given week. In
“You had to be there,” a new recurring feature on the Faingold at Large blog, I
will take on the role of reader’s surrogate as I report on musical, theatrical,
artistic, or even just spontaneous events that happened in town the previous
week. If it sometimes seems like I’m rubbing it in – well, get off the couch
next time.
This past Friday at
Donnie’s Homespun, Bedrock 66 presented “Springfield Under The Covers” a
special night of music which featured seven established local bands of various
stripes, each briefly stepping out of the comfort zone of their usual material
to pay tribute – sometimes sincere, sometimes ironic, sometimes hard to tell –
to well-known artists. Each participating local act was instructed to choose a
big-name musical act to interpret and then keep this information a strict
secret until hitting the stage to unveil three or four songs from their chosen
target’s oeuvre.
The flavor of the night
was quickly established when Tom Irwin opened with a folkie version of Prince’s
“Delirious” in a clever arrangement replete with the original’s infectious synth
hook expertly replicated on Tin Whistle by Theresa O’Hare. This was followed by
Irwin-ized renditions of “Little Red Corvette” and “Purple Rain” (no “Darling
Nikki,” alas).
The Blue G’s were up
next with a bluegrass-flavored set of Rod Stewart tunes (“Hot Legs” was a
standout), followed by self-described “righteous hillbilly music” purveyors
Blue Ribbon Revival doing a set of Kiss songs, including balls-to-the-wall
renditions of “Strutter” and “Deuce” (“I played that one out of tune – just like
Kiss would’ve,” someone joked at one point).
Up until this point, the
evening had consisted of variations on a simple theme: three local acts known
for country and/or folk-flavored music had ventured into funk, retro-pop and
arena rock territories, respectively. Things took a turn for the contemporary
when a stripped-down version of Black Sheep Café favorites Looming took the
stage for a set of songs by New Zealand pop sensation Lorde (“Royals”). According
to Brandon Carnes (also of The Timmys and Big Storm), the band had been
planning to do a set of crunchy Smashing Pumpkins songs but switched to Lorde
when Looming’s guitar player and bassist both ditched the gig. In order not to
cancel their Under the Covers appearance, singer Jessica Knight and Carnes (who
is usually the band’s drummer but played guitar here) quickly worked up a set utilizing
samples. The results were strikingly modern and refreshingly free of any whiff
of snark or irony. “No one who knows us or works with us would be surprised at
all that we would do this,” said Carnes after the set. “We actually listen to
Lorde all the time.”
“Los Halen”
After Looming, Los
Injectors took the stage for a punishing set of early Van Halen songs,
featuring the multi-talented Damon Soper ably channeling both David Lee Roth’s
feral howl and Eddie Van Halen’s legendary face-melting guitar solos
simultaneously, no mean feat! Next up, the bandana around Josh Catalano’s
noggin should have been a tipoff – I had my fingers crossed for Loverboy but
Josh and his compadres in the Dirty Thoughts instead presented a pinpoint
recreation of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band (“Dancing in the Dark,” “Glory
Days”). The evening ended with the ever-snotty Timmys bringing things back into
a more interpretive mode, playing Neil Diamond classics such as “Cherry Cherry” as
if they had been intended as punk anthems all along.
The Black Sheep Fest VII audience in calmer times
The next evening (Saturday 7/26) marked Black Sheep Fest VII, which featured 23 local bands.
The level of energy at Black Sheep events is always high, but things reached a
previously unheard-of crescendo towards the end of Saturday evening with an
insane battle of the bands which preceded the headlining performance by Our Lady.
Soap Scum (which features Black Sheep proprietor Kevin Bradford on drums)
set up their equipment on the floor near the back of the room, with the second
band, Table Drama, assembled on the venue’s stage. The proceedings got underway with WWF-worthy ranting
by Table Drama vocalist The Pukester proclaiming that Soap Scum was “going down”
and with them the entire Black Sheep Café, clearly placing Table Drama as the bad
guys in a giddily over-the-top pro-wrestling-style scenario.
Table Drama featuring lead vocalist The Pukester
The largely
adolescent audience latched onto The Pukester’s theatrical aggression and when
the music started – with each band taking turns playing one song each, all of
which registered more as blurs of incoherent rage than conventional tunesmithery
– responded with out-of-control pit action, which eventually escalated to the
point where Soap Scum vocalist Brian Galecki was hoisted above the heads of the
crowd (not to mention the concrete floor) in a blue plastic recycling bin, bringing
to mind a particularly aggro Jewish wedding celebration.
Eventually each side
pulled out a “secret weapon” (Soap Scum had crowd-pleasing guest guitarist “The
Night Hawk” soloing from atop the Black Sheep’s refrigerator behind the sound
board, while FUCK///MOUNTAIN (a/k/a Brandon Carnes from Looming and The Timmys) took up Table Drama’s cause
in the solo guitar department. By the end, Galecki was covered in what appeared
to be corn starch and Soap Scum was declared the winner in a decision that
seemed only slightly less pre-determined than the average pro-wrestling match
result (seriously, who would bet against the venue’s founder?)
Anyway that’s what y’all missed last weekend. I guess you had to be there.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.
