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[Hope you don't mind...this is LONG LONG LONG and crossposted to 3
lists...but I had such a fantastic time...]
I had a good omen about this show. The night before I was sitting in a
Mexican resturant waiting for some friends, when this Mexican'ized version
of Apache comes on their sound system. It was surreal. Same guitar parts,
but set to a latin beat, heavy on the wood blocks. That was too cool.
I arrived at the club Radio Radio in Indianapolis around 9pm. On the bill
were The Troubadors, a Shadows tribute band featuring Ivan Pongracic's Sr &
Jr, Destination: Earth! a local Indy band that is kind of a space/surf/spy
band (early Man or Astro-Man'ish), and The Volcanos, a genuine surf band
from the Detroit area.
It was really great to finally meet Ivan (I love the Space Cossacks), and
much to my surprise there were other surf crazed fans there: Trode and Tom
from Cowabunga, and TooFast Jim, drummer for the awesome band The Nebulas.
Trode had flown in from Santa Barbara (!!), Tom drove in from Ohio, Jim flew
in from Connecticut (and had a gig the next day back on the East coast!),
and I had drove in from Iowa. It was awesome meeting you guys! Too bad we
couldn't have talked and hung out a bit more. Email me off list, I'd like to
stay in touch!!
I also met this guy named Paul, he was taping the show. He said he was
responsible for The Ventures: Legendary Masters CD. Jamie, the guy who wrote
the novella inside the Tsar Wars CD was there too.
I didn't do an actual head count but I would say there were probably 50 or
so people at the show at the beginning. I think some people from the
Rockabilly weekend next door wandered in and out and some point. The
Volcanos guys actually brought a TV so they could watch a hockey game at the
front of the club. Funny!
The Troubadors took the stage shortly after 10pm. They wore matching white
shirts, ties, and pants (bass player Jim (funny guy!) cheated and wore black
jeans I think :^). And matching black Fenders of course. Ivan Sr played a
tele with Ivan Jr playing a strat. They opened with Man of Mystery and they
were off. I am fairly new to the Shadows, but they really really nailed
those songs...really bringing them to life. Fantastic. The band was having a
great time and it showed. There was lots of energy going on in their
playing.
On the drive up I was listening to some Shadows wondering how they were
going to pull those rhythm guitar parts off. As you may know, Shadows songs
often have these furious galloping rhythm guitar parts. Ivan Sr nailed it!
You could tell he wanted it so badly and was loving it. It was quite a sight
seeing this 59 year old white haired kindly looking gentlemen just flailing
away on his tele. His strumming hand was made of rubber! Think Pete Townsend
playing "Pinball Wizard" style stuff...for an entire set! He was
awesome...very impressive! Ivan Jr introduced his Dad before "The Savage"
and said we might just see the old man keel over. He played it perfectly.
Ivan Jr was also great, nailing those very cool Hank Marvin melodies
effortlessly. He had some kind of echo effect (Zoom pedal?) and it sounded
amazing. I think he was playing through a Vox amp. The rhythm section was a
powerhouse, with bass player Jim and drummer Dane very confident and
precise. It was Dane's 30th birthday and they surprised him by playing happy
birthday. Ivan Jr said we were going to see something "inhuman" for "Little
Bee" and he was right. Drummer Dane played this *amazing* drum solo that
lasted quite a few minutes. Very precise 60's style drumming, very intense
too. At one point, the rest of the band brought out some congas, maracas,
and wood blocks and played along. Later bass player Jim laid down and took
the drum solo in. Very cool.
I was very impressed! They said they don't get to practice very much but
they were very tight. Great job guys!
I did not envy Destination Earth for following the Troubadors. They are a
trio: guitar/bass/drums, with the bass player using his headstock to tickle
a theremin from time to time. They strung their gear up with these light
bulb strips and had samples to intro songs. I am not familiar with these
guys but I did like them. I'll probably buy some of their stuff. They
reminded me of Man or Astro-Man? a bit, for the visuals, samples, theremin,
and song style. Their songs could really rock, lots of fast chords and some
great loud rock drumming. The lead lines were simple and dissonant like
MoAM? with some cool double picking on a couple of songs. They had their
fans there to cheer them on. Lots of fun. The club owner cut these guys
short by two songs...not sure why. The club owner seemed like he was in a
hurry to get home that night for some reason. (He literally turned out the
lights on us as we were chatting with the Volcanos after the show)
The Volcanos came on around 12:35 am. By this time the crowd had dwindled to
around 20 or so people. It was really sad. The guys took it in stride though
and really let it rip. I was just blown away. Being stuck in the Midwest I
have never seen a real surf band before live. Sure Los Straitjackets plays
some surfy songs, but even they would admit they are not a surf band. These
guys were the real deal. 2 guitars/bass/drums. Both guitar players had Twin
Reverbs I think. And outboard reverb units! My bass identification skills
aren't that good: it was a Fender, sunburst with a cool gold anodized
pickguard. Rick played a very cool olympic white Jazzmaster (with buzzstop),
and the other guitar player, Chris, played a candy apple red Mosrite
Ventures model (I think I overheard him saying it was a Semie Mosely
original circa 1988).
If you don't have the Volcanos CDs, you must go out and get them now. They
have great original songs with cool melodies and playing. Seeing and hearing
them perform their stuff live was amazing. I was really blown away. The two
guitar players traded leads within the same song, it was dizzying. Double
picking and sweet, sweet reverb. Wow. It could not have been beat. Rick was
a maniac on his Jazzmaster. He was using all the switch settings, switching
back and forth between the rhythm and lead circuits, and changing between
the neck and bridge pickups constantly during the same song. They played
some vocal tunes too including a Freddie Cannon and Astronauts covers. The
drummer was nuts too. He was having a great time, all smiles, while
furiously pounding away. I heard these guys are in many different bands
(including the Hellbenders) and don't play very much as The Volcanos. Thats
too bad. They are very talented guys. Check their CD's out!!!
So was it worth the $5 cover charge and putting 930 miles on my car? Hands
down I would do it tomorrow if I could. Again, it was great meeting the
bands and hanging out with Tom, Trode, Too-Fast Jim, Jim from the
Troubadors, and Ivan. Thanks guys!
BN
