Get On Board And Buckle Up For Hyper Ride With Ufofu
The spaceship has landed and an abduction is inevitable.
Only maybe we’ll go willingly.
These aliens are the good kind, after all - the kind who know how to get down, the kind who play punk and swing and all kinds of cool stuff.
Sure, they’re from a world far, far away - it’s called Dallas. But their name just rolls off the tongue. Say it with me now…UFOFU. Feels good in the mouth doesn’t it?
Nothing to fear.
So here it is, UFOFU, a spunky-hyper trio from Dallas lands at Outback Jack’s tonight on the tail end of an intergalactic tour supporting its new self-titled CD. (OK, it’s more like an inter-state tour.)
These guys manage to elude the sticky hands of pigeonholers by whipping up a fresh concoction of melodic punk with chunks of surf, country, swing and jazz thrown in for good measure.
Check out “The King of Sex,” a souped-up swing song swiped with buzzing guitars. Or how about the poppier “Skies Magnify Me” with its roughly-pretty vocals and dip into psychedelia.
UFOFU gelled 3-1/2 years ago in New York when bassist Brandon Curtis gave up a career in the Navy for a life as a musician.
Curtis joined the Navy because he didn’t have enough money for college. A longtime piano player, he took up the bass because he couldn’t fit keyboards into his barracks.
He says time in the military made him realize that music was something he had to pursue. “It seems like you only have a certain chance to do what you love,” Curtis says.
So, shortly after getting out of the Navy, Curtis joined up with singer/ guitarist Joseph Butcher, who played with hardcore band Ludichrist in New York. Unable to find a suitable drummer, they recruited Curtis’ then-14-year-old brother Ben Curtis to play drums.
“He was shockingly good for basically being a child,” Brandon Curtis says of his now-18-year-old sibling.
Curtis says their new CD represents the first time the band has found its true sound.
“We had 7 inches out before that were good, but (with this CD) I think we finally learned how to be a band and be expressive in doing whatever we’re doing,” he said of their diverse - and eccentric - style. “I just hear our three individual personalities coming out in this.”
UFOFU plays the middle slot at Outback Jack’s tonight. Portland’s Jollymon, a mix of hard rock, industrial and funk, headlines. Seattle band Ashland opens with its hints of Rush and The Police. Show starts at 9:30. Cover is $4.
Is that you Stevie Ray?
No, it couldn’t be Stevie Ray Vaughn. After all, sadly, the legendary Texas bluesman is dead.
So it must be Chris Hiatt, a musician dedicated to keeping the memory of the great guitarist alive.
Hiatt’s press materials say he’s a “dead ringer” for Stevie Ray. Although they could have chosen their words better, the guitarist from Livingston, Mont., is not only known for his Stevie Ray looks, but also for invoking the vocals and gritty guitar work of the man who died seven years ago in a plane crash.
Hiatt and his band Cold Shot will appear tonight and Saturday at Mad Daddy’s Blues Club at the corner of Seltice Way and Huetter in Coeur d’Alene. Show starts at 9:15. Tickets are $8.
Of guitars and trombones
Kevin Jenkins, singer/guitarist, for the band Greg likes his music “dark, dense and somber.”
Just check out this Cheney trio’s first full-length CD, “Saturn” (Nervous Wreckords) and you’ll see what he means.
Call it grunge if you like. Jenkins doesn’t deny the Soundgarden-Nirvana-Alice in Chains influences.
But, “I don’t feel like I’m coming from the same place those guys are with heroin addiction and that kind of stuff,” he says. “I just like big, fat, dark sounds.”
Although the album could use some diversification (aside from the joke-country hidden track), “Saturn” contains some nice work. The Nirvana-ish “Make Believe” and “Blur” contain downright addicting melodic grooves. “Box (Mike’s Dream)” and “Violent Ocean,” find trippy-fluid bass work and vocals planted amid biting guitar grinds.
“We enjoy playing our kind of music, it’s a great way to get aggression out,” Jenkins says, but adds, “We are sort of mellowing out a little more.”
Grunge or not, these guys aren’t a bunch of hacks who just picked up their instruments and decided to form a rock band. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
Jenkins plays jazz and classical trombone along with the piano. Bassist Forest Greenough plays the baritone sax and concert bass. Both are music composition majors at Eastern Washington University. Drummer Timothy Harper also draws from jazz influences.
Although it may not be obvious when listening to songs like heavily-grooved “Tangerine,” Jenkins says his traditional training does seep into his rock.
“When I’m writing, I know what I’m doing. I’m not just playing this chord and then that chord,” he says. “I try to involve a melody within the chords or try different techniques as far as harmonies. I try to be smart with the music.”
Greg headlines at Ichabod’s North tonight. Show starts at 9:30. Cover is $3. Slim Pickens and Indy 977 open.
Three solid punk bands crack the night Saturday at Ichabod’s. Wenatchee’s Lopez headlines. The Buggers and The Drapes open. Cover is $4.
Bogey’s bands
Coeur d’Alene could use a straight shot of noise.
Something stiffer than a dose of blues or a draft of jazz. Something loud, something boisterous.
Thankfully Bogey’s Billiards & Bistro is stepping up to administer the needed dosage.
Although a joint with the word “bistro” in its title wouldn’t normally seem like the kind of place to do some serious rocking, this pool hall is an exception - at least for the next two months.
Bogey’s - a Coeur d’Alene eatery that boasts 12 pool tables - recently began booking bands in earnest and will continue to offer up live music for the next two months.
And it won’t be light fare.
“We’re loud and real energetic,” says Jake Evans, guitarist for Worm Drive, a Spokane band headlining at Bogey’s tonight. They’ll be releasing their first full-length CD titled “Crush.” Dunce Cap and Malpractice open.
Felix Shmitt headlines Saturday. Ryan Moore, drummer for the Coeur d’Alene-based band, describes their sound as cross between Soundgarden and Tool - “pretty heavy stuff with real melodic vocals.” Stone Fish opens.
But don’t expect this raucous format to last.
Big changes are on the horizon for Bogey’s later this summer, according to the manager. Although the details of the makeover have not been ironed out, the bar will be “more adult-oriented” I’m told.
Hmmm.
Until then, prepare to rock like a youngster. This weekend’s shows start at 9 p.m. Cover is $5 both nights.
All that jazz
Pianist Lynn Arriale was only 4 when she began plunking away on a little plastic toy piano.
“I remember playing Moon River and other little tunes that I heard from musicals,” says the New York performer who had trouble at first convincing her parents and teachers she was old enough to begin seriously studying the instrument at age 5.
“Eventually they gave in,” Arriale says.
Although she got an early start playing classical piano, Arriale says it wasn’t until she was finishing her master’s degree in college that she found herself immersed in her true musical passion: jazz.
“It was really like starting a new instrument,” she says. “As soon as I started studying jazz, I knew right away, this was what I wanted to do. I thought ‘Wow, this is so exciting and very challenging.”’
Arriale, winner of the 1993 International Great American Jazz Piano Competition, performs at Hobart’s Jazz Lounge at Cavanaugh’s on Fourth at 9 tonight. Cover is $4.
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