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“We are very excited about this show. It’s our closest to home so far,” said lead singer Bo Bailey, who lives in Woodland Park. “Our batteries are charged, the samples loaded, and the funnel is primed.”
Taking its name from a Sublime song, Garden Grove was founded by Hawthorne native Frank LaPlaca, bassist with The Buddha Brains, and is being booked by S.T.A.R.S Productions, a major player on the music circuit.
LaPlaca has played on more than 250 original recordings and performed at both The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame/Cleveland and the Tito Puente Amphitheatre in Puerto Rico. He also records and performs with the all-instrumental NJ fusion band 4Front.
Drummer Ned Stroh, of Denville, will tell you he toured with Dick Dale. But he’s got plenty more on his resume: Besides a musical cameo on “The Sopranos,” he’s an active member of The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble and continues to work as a freelance drummer/ percussionist while serving on the faculty of the Jersey City Arts High School, where he teaches percussion.
A sample YouTube clip of “Bad Fish” (more below):
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Butler’s Brendan Anthony, meanwhile, plays note-for-note renditions of Sublime guitar solos, sometimes at dazzling speed. He’s performed at nearly every club in Manhattan, often as a solo act doing Neil Young and Who covers, among an extensive catalog.
Bailey, the Garden Grove frontman, brings perhaps the most fascinating history to the group. Born in Oregon, he’s moved from Portland to Seattle to South America to Northern California, where he studied Buddhism — and, finally, to North Jersey.
Bailey has played in several groups, including the longtime popular Jersey band Subcommittee, and has lived everywhere in the northern half of the state, from Hoboken to Fair Lawn, Totowa, Nutley and Fairfield to Belleville.
“Our intent is to try to replicate the band’s studio work as faithfully as possible in the live context, down to the exact tempo, instrumentation and phrasing of many of the songs,” said Bailey, whose smooth delivery on tunes such as “Bad Fish” can remind some of Garland Jeffreys.
“We all come from original bands that have always put a high value on improvisation,” he added, “so this exercise in exact replication has determined our lineup, to a certain extent.”
Because Sublime was a trio, the 4-piece approach of Garden Grove allows Bailey a free set of hands to play samples, trigger sound effects, play keyboard and trombone parts, and help with percussion.
Ned’s set up, meanwhile, includes drum pads and triggers that replicate the overdubbed sounds of Sublime’s recordings.
“The music of Sublime lends itself to what we do,” Bailey said, “specifically, because many of their songs were also covers, or are at least filled with lyrical references, lifted riffs and tips-of-the-hat to the music they admired, including a lot of classic punk and reggae, which we are also fans of.”
The music this Friday won’t be strictly Sublime: Garden Grove can also channel Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley, Bad Religion, and Melodians covers, along with the Specials, KRS-ONE, Bad Brains — even the Ohio Players.
This clearly isn’t your dad’s cover band.
“We’re kicking around the idea of adding more classic reggae covers to the set, perhaps imagining how Sublime might have done them,” Bailey said.
So far, the band only plays covers that Sublime recorded, including the Melodians’ “Rivers of Babylon” and Marley’s “Trenchtown Rock.” They’re considering adding the Slickers’ “Johnny Too Bad” and Bad Brains’ “House of Suffering,” which Sublime played live.
“It’s a lot of fun approaching music this way,” Bailey said.
WHEN: 10:30 p.m. Friday (three sets; until 2 a.m.)
WHERE: POITIN STILL Irish Restaurant and Pub, 774 Main St, Hackensack
FOR INFO: (201) 487-0660
MORE: MySpace/GardenGroveNJ
“‘ TUNE IN”‘ is a special feature that highlights some of the best local music around. If you want to be considered for a story, write to: CLIFFVIEWPILOT@gmail.com.
Other Garden Grove YouTube clips:
5446 Ball & Chain:
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Don’t Push:
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What I Got:
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