Take All My World and Shake It...
Many of you have been kind enough to pass along encouraging words about this little blog, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the response. My inbox runneth over, and I am moved by your thoughtfulness. I just wanted to share a few of my favorites and thank them for their sincerity:
- “…just some talentless hack.”
- “You’re a pompous ass…”
- “Great! Another egomaniac in the paper…”
- “…and just why are YOU qualified?”
- “Quit whining!”
and my personal favorite:
- “…a journalistic disgrace to journalists everywhere!!” (with the two exclamation points and everything…awesome)
And while I can’t possibly say “thanks” enough to all of you for your kindness, I wanted you to know how much your honesty means to me. But enough of this mushy stuff…
Let’s talk about success, boys and girls. The first rule of being successful is that you are bound to draw spite from those not as successful. Jealousy being what it is, those who reach the top find it to be a shaky perch at best. Musicians, or any artist for that matter, often find that success carries with it another, more dreaded label: sellout. Which is why it comes as no surprise to me that one of Roanoke’s most successful bands, Burning Bridges, carry a dual reputation. To the mid 20’s – 40’s bar hoppers, they are held in the highest regard as consummate professionals and versatile performers. To venues around town, they are a guaranteed draw, and quality entertainment. In other words, to 90% of Roanoke’s general population, Burning Bridges are among the best you can find.
And what’s that word the other 10% are using? You guessed it. Sellout.
So, having never seen the band before, and hearing that they’d be in town, I took it upon myself to make a secret appearance. I wanted to see for myself what it was all about. And what did I find? Quite a lot.
The house was packed, as I expected it would be, and was a cultural mix of cowboy hats, polo shirts, biker jackets, and beer. Add in a drunken dancing guy in a Santa hat (that I can't actually confirm was drunk...but if he wasn't, he did a good impersonation) and you've got yourself a recipe for a good time. Noting the importance my last column put on sound control, what I heard walking in from outside was neither overpowering nor underwhelming – it stood out, but wasn’t an annoyance. No instant headache. A good start.
Already a few numbers into their set by the time I arrived, the band was warmed up and starting to stretch their entertainment muscles. Onstage, they laughed and joked with the audience (and each other) between songs, and encouraged singing along whenever possible. It’s worth mentioning that they are one of the only bands I’ve seen around town who can pull that trick where the singer stops singing, and holds the mic out to let the crowd finish the line. When he stopped, you could actually hear the crowd respond, and most of them knew the words. Other local acts I’ve seen get mutters from a handful of people who are barely loud (or drunk) enough to shout back at them. The crowd and the band fed off each other for most of the night, and the energy level never subsided.
Let’s talk about the music. Burning Bridges’ set is dominantly covers. In fact, unless they played an original before I got there, this particular set was ALL covers. That simple aspect of their performance is a large reason why they catch as much flack as they do. While artists with a religious devotion to their own original material might scoff at the idea of playing someone else’s music, it certainly didn’t seem to matter to this crowd. Exactly how they go about performing these covers is open for a bit more debate…
The Burning Bridges formula is surprisingly simple, but effective. Take a broad spectrum of proven radio hits from all genres of pop, country, and rock, and run it through the exact same filter of digital drums and mild-yet-gnarly guitar to either bump up or strip out the elements that separate them. You create an equilibrium of punchy dance-floor music that spices up the bland and waters down the harsh, maintaining the familiar elements of each, yet giving every song the same mass appeal. The guitar pyrotechnics were flashy yet nontoxic, and even when the band threatened to “get heavy”, the floor never emptied. Hence the reason I heard Big & Rich, Metallica, Alabama, Drowning Pool, John Denver, No Doubt, Prince, Korn, Van Morrison, and Marilyn Manson all in the same set – and couldn’t have told you the difference.
If you’re a hardcore (read: complete purist) fan of any of these or other songs that Burning Bridges play, you’ll probably be disappointed to some degree. I admit I had a hard time seeing the guest female vocalist bounce around to No Doubt and then sing “Man In a Box," by Alice in Chains. The bass player, singing backup to the aggressive “break your face” parts in Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” or strutting around singing Bon Jovi’s “Wanted: Dead or Alive” was well done, but hard to take considering his white turtleneck sweater (that I think Belk is running a sale on) and Garth Brooks headset microphone. Thank god he’s got that day job as an accountant.
The important thing here is to remember the role of the casual music fan. They make up 70-80% of any bar/club crowd, and are more interested in listening to live music that they get excited at by simply recognizing. All throughout the night, I had fun watching as people exclaimed “Oh, I love this song!”, and proceeded to drag their date onto the floor. The men kept two-stepping through the Prince songs, and I saw women with their heads on their date’s shoulders during a Manson song. These are the people Burning Bridges set out to entertain, and if that makes them sellouts in the eyes of some people, I’m not sure they care.
Tune in again next week for another exciting installment. Keep those emails coming, and give me some ideas about where I might find good music this weekend. Until next we meet…
- The Phantom
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