Post by Fuggle on Oct 7, 2004 17:50:40 GMT -5
Pittsburgh musicians come together again for Elvis tribute
By Regis Behe
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 7, 2004
The Goon Squad -- the Elvis Costello tribute band composed of various Pittsburgh musicians -- rehearses at the Rex Theatre.
Steven Adams/Tribune-Review
When a group of Pittsburgh musicians decided to play the Clash's "London Calling" from beginning to end in October 2003, they were concerned about how the venture would be received.
They shouldn't have worried. The event sold out a mere 30 minutes after the doors to the Rex Theatre opened and raised $4,000 for charity, drawing fans from as far away as Boston. The performance was one of the most inspirational nights of music the city had seen in a long time.
There was only one drawback.
"The next day was one of the hardest days of our lives," says Rod Schwartz, former bassist with the 11th Hour who helped organize the event. "We were so stoked for so long, and to have it come together ... and then to be over so quickly was hard."
"There were months of rehearsing, and to see it pay off in such a spectacular way was just unbelievable," says Steve Morrison of the legendary Affordable Floors.
Everyone involved wanted to do it again, but instead of reprising the Clash tribute, another icon who emerged from during the late 1970s was selected. Saturday at the Rex Theatre, "The Music of Elvis Costello" will feature members of ATS, the Breakup Society, Boxstep, the Pundits, 11th Hour, Fusebox, the Affordable Floors, the Fontaines and others who collaborated on the Joe Strummer/Clash tribute. Proceeds from the show will benefit the West Penn Surgical Breast Disease Program.
The evening will feature complete renditions of "My Aim is True" and "This Year's Model," Costello's first two albums, and other songs from his extensive catalog that ranges from country-western to soul to pop.
Just don't expect anything from "Il Sogno," Costello's just-released score to William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" commissioned by an Italian ballet company. And it's iffy whether there's going to be anything from Costello's collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory."
Everything else should be covered.
"If somebody shows up at the show and 'Brutal Youth' is their favorite record, they'll get to hear something, no matter how obscure it is," Schwartz says.
The musicians -- known collectively as the Goon Squad, a reference to a song on the "Armed Forces" album -- started rehearsing in May. The material demands a different approach from the Clash's music.
"Costello's a very subtle songwriter," says Morrison, who rehearsed his parts solo at his home in New Orleans before arriving in town last week. "One of his great gifts is making songs sound simple when in fact they're not. When it comes down to playing and singing them, there's a lot more involved. The melodies are slippery, and you really have to work on them to get them down."
Even Costello's vocals are complex.
"It's really easy to want to try to sound like him," says Mike Moran (formerly of the Fontaines) who designed the show's poster and will sing "Sleep of the Just" from the "King of America" album. "Any time you try to do that you end up sounding like a karaoke machine, like Bill Murray. You really have to just accept the song and do it; I find I'm having more success doing that. "After last October's event, the ensemble had offers to perform the Clash tribute again. Schwartz says they resisted, partially in the spirit of the Clash (who refused offers to reform for money), and partially because it would have been hard to duplicate the singular magic of that night.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play that block of songs with a group of your friends," he says.
Saturday, another chance with a different melody comes around.
By Regis Behe
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 7, 2004
The Goon Squad -- the Elvis Costello tribute band composed of various Pittsburgh musicians -- rehearses at the Rex Theatre.
Steven Adams/Tribune-Review
When a group of Pittsburgh musicians decided to play the Clash's "London Calling" from beginning to end in October 2003, they were concerned about how the venture would be received.
They shouldn't have worried. The event sold out a mere 30 minutes after the doors to the Rex Theatre opened and raised $4,000 for charity, drawing fans from as far away as Boston. The performance was one of the most inspirational nights of music the city had seen in a long time.
There was only one drawback.
"The next day was one of the hardest days of our lives," says Rod Schwartz, former bassist with the 11th Hour who helped organize the event. "We were so stoked for so long, and to have it come together ... and then to be over so quickly was hard."
"There were months of rehearsing, and to see it pay off in such a spectacular way was just unbelievable," says Steve Morrison of the legendary Affordable Floors.
Everyone involved wanted to do it again, but instead of reprising the Clash tribute, another icon who emerged from during the late 1970s was selected. Saturday at the Rex Theatre, "The Music of Elvis Costello" will feature members of ATS, the Breakup Society, Boxstep, the Pundits, 11th Hour, Fusebox, the Affordable Floors, the Fontaines and others who collaborated on the Joe Strummer/Clash tribute. Proceeds from the show will benefit the West Penn Surgical Breast Disease Program.
The evening will feature complete renditions of "My Aim is True" and "This Year's Model," Costello's first two albums, and other songs from his extensive catalog that ranges from country-western to soul to pop.
Just don't expect anything from "Il Sogno," Costello's just-released score to William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" commissioned by an Italian ballet company. And it's iffy whether there's going to be anything from Costello's collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory."
Everything else should be covered.
"If somebody shows up at the show and 'Brutal Youth' is their favorite record, they'll get to hear something, no matter how obscure it is," Schwartz says.
The musicians -- known collectively as the Goon Squad, a reference to a song on the "Armed Forces" album -- started rehearsing in May. The material demands a different approach from the Clash's music.
"Costello's a very subtle songwriter," says Morrison, who rehearsed his parts solo at his home in New Orleans before arriving in town last week. "One of his great gifts is making songs sound simple when in fact they're not. When it comes down to playing and singing them, there's a lot more involved. The melodies are slippery, and you really have to work on them to get them down."
Even Costello's vocals are complex.
"It's really easy to want to try to sound like him," says Mike Moran (formerly of the Fontaines) who designed the show's poster and will sing "Sleep of the Just" from the "King of America" album. "Any time you try to do that you end up sounding like a karaoke machine, like Bill Murray. You really have to just accept the song and do it; I find I'm having more success doing that. "After last October's event, the ensemble had offers to perform the Clash tribute again. Schwartz says they resisted, partially in the spirit of the Clash (who refused offers to reform for money), and partially because it would have been hard to duplicate the singular magic of that night.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play that block of songs with a group of your friends," he says.
Saturday, another chance with a different melody comes around.