My Time in Tribute Band Land

This forum looked lonely, so I thought I'd give an update on my musical exploits of late...

A few weeks back, the ex-lead singer of my old band, Dimes, asked me to play drums for a Halloween show next week. Sort of a new tradition in town has local bands/hastily assembled conglomerations of local musicians dressing up and taking on the works of some famous band in what they call a "possession" show. Seems every club in town has one this year, but we're playing at the place that originated it.

So we're doing the Cure with some members of another local band on guitar, bass, and keys. Not one of my all-time favorite bands, but it should be fun, and my girlfriend is intent on accompanying me in sexy gothwear, so I'm motivated enough by that alone.

Thankfully, Cure drummers have been low-key in comparison with ol' Bob Smith, so I'm thinking I'll get away with all black and a little makeup.

I figured since my schedule was awfully light on music lately that I'd pitch in and put together another band for the same show (on the condition that it also be 80s British alt stuff). After some negotations with some other musicians (and a failed attempt to get enough people interested in a Joy Division), I'm also drumming for a New Order cover band with some old friends. No dress-up required, I'm thinking. New Order were thankfully low-key.

So a Cure built on about five practices and a New Order built on three will be hitting the stage Halloween night both with yours truly on drums.

Plus, I might be putting something new and wacky together with the other guys from my old band (minus the singer) and another guitarist.

In addition, should we ever get off our asses, the next installment in the Sbertnerne saga will be started soon. And perhaps a website to accompany it, so that CHUD-dom can finally partake of the greatness that Neil Bung (my alter ego), Shirtless "Cliff" Poncier (Chavez's alter ego), and Johnny Gash have hatched on previous albums, the Baddest Squirrel in Town and Number Two.

Not exactly. I was using Acid haphazardly to record some song ideas I had. The songs weren't really electronica in nature, which made them an odd match for Acid, but that allowed me to re-use guitar riffs that my limited skills only allowed me to get down one at a time. They were just some demo things, some with some lyrics scrawled out, but no vocals recorded. Probably nothing I'd want released in their current form. Maybe I'll finish 'em someday.

There were some tentative plans to record some of the later, unrecorded Dimes stuff (some of which squashes the recorded stuff) just for shits, grins, and maybe a free giveaway, but there are some weird things going on now (we told our ex-singer that we didn't want him performing Dimes songs at a solo acoustic show of his this week, since we wrote more than our share of the music and some of the lyrics, as well - he agreed, but none too happily).

Sbertnerne, on the other hand, is all Acid, mostly sample-based. It's either awful or total genius.

I was wondering whatever happened to that second Darker release. I thought it was almost finished by the time you released the first one. Count me in for a copy.

Sounds cool, BB.

As mentioned, there are a few other Halloween dress-up shows going on around here, and one this week has an all female metal band doing their take on Sabbath. I saw them a few years ago at a similar show (Spoofest, another Milwaukee tradition), and they were fucking great. No Tony Iommi mustaches, if I recall, though.

At the show with them this year, there's another all-girl band doing the Ramones, a band doing the Cult, and a female Elvis.

The one downside of our show is that the same night, some band is doing Husker Du at another place, along with the interesting bill of ZZ Top and Marilyn Manson. Pissed that someone thought of a Husker Du tribute first or I would have put one together and forced the organizers of our show to accept it. Although, it might take something away knowing that Grant Hart is playing a solo show at the same venue a week earlier.

Last Halloween at the place we're playing, they had Weezer, Bush, Depeche Mode, and Radiohead.

I think if I get involved next year, I'm gonna have to bring the Pixies into this. Or the Who, which was an earlier thought a few of us had this year, before the 80's dark Brit-pop thing entered in.