Monday, January 14, 1985
Page 12
Daily Nebraskan
A
Rattlers prove other bands exist in Lincoln
By Bill Allen
Senior Reporter
Editor's note: Beats is a weekly
feature about local bands. The
stories contain the opinion of
the author.
They're raw. They're raunchy. At
least that's how The Rattlers describe
themselves. They might add "rough" to
their self description, but as long as
they're having fun.
J 11 II, t
The five men rockabilly band has
been together for about 1 Vi years now.
The band recently had the dubious
honor of being named local group of the
year by a Lincoln Sunday Journal-Star
music poll.
The "dubious" is because only about
300 readers responded to the poll and a
total of 39 bands got at least one vote.
Rattlers lead vocalist Luke Lion
berger received the runner-up award as
best male vocalist in the poll, which
ran in the Jan. 6 Focus Sunday supple
ment. The group isn't taking the poll results
too seriously.
"It only took about 15 votes to win
the thing," said Ed DeBord, guitarist.
But according to the other guitarist,
Mike Miller, the poll did serve at least
one useful purpose. "It showed people
that there are other bands in Lincoln
besides Charlie Burton."
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The Rattlers performed last Thursday at Bill's Saloon, 1020 P St. Group members are Mike
Miller, (left), Luke Lionberger and Ed DeBord.
The Rattlers play rock 'n' roll and
rockabilly, mostly from the late Fifties
and early Sixties plus a fair amount of
their own songs of that same style.
"Rockin' Bob" and "At The Drive-in
Movies," two of their own songs, will be
released on a 45 r.p.m. record in about
three weeks.
Miller, who wrote "Rockin' Bob" and
most of the group's original music, said
the song "is not about Bob Kerrey. It's
about a fictitious Bob who just happens
to be governor of Nebraska, has a
wooden leg and dates movie stars."
Some sample lyrics:
Fly'n down the highway,
We gotta roam.
We pull into his driveway,
But he's never home.
If you've got the friends and want the
job,
You can be like Rockin' Bob.
Hangs 'round in bars,
Got plenty of friends.
Knows movie stars,
The fun never ends...
How does a local band gets started?
Mike Baird, bass guitarist, put an ad in
a local paper asking for someone to jam
with. Miller answered the ad and even
tually the two added Lionberger, DeBord
and, most recently, their third in a ser
ies cf drummers, Bill Gibbon.
The group played their first official
"gig" as Johnny Flush and the Floaters,
lliat engagement didn't go well, accord
ing to Lionberger, who said the crowd,
attending a huge kegger party, wanted
more new wave and top 40.
As The Rattlers, Lionberger said, the
group started with the goal of playing
the Zoo Bar. "And that's the first place
we played," he said.
The Rattlers also have played How
ard Street in Omaha and several pri
vate parties. Last Thursday they opened
for The Pedestrians at Bill's Saloon.
On Jan. 25 they will play from 10:30
to 11:30 p.m. at I'NL's Walpurgisnacht
in the Nebraska Union Crib.
The goal of the group now, Lion
berger said, is to play a fraternity party.
He said the group's hard rockin' sound
would be the right kind of music.
What the group doesn't have is slow
paced music. The group has about 50 to
55 songs in their repertoire, and almost
all are fast paced, Miller said.
"We don't have a lot of variety,"
Lionberger said. "It's mostly rockabilly."
The group plays songs popularized
by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little
Richard, Nat King Cole and Eddie
Cochran. They recently added one by
Nancy Sinatra and are finalizing the
work soon on Peggy Lee's "I'm a
Woman."
"We take a song and 'rattlerize' it,"
said DeBord, who along with Lion
berger, provides most cf the group's
stage presence.
"We take it and play it a little bit
dirtier, a little bit raunchier..." he said.
"And with simple arrangements."
Like most bands just starting out,
the group said their biggest problem
right now is money. None of them were
ready to quit their jobs and play full
time, and three of them Lionberger,
Miller and Gibbon are UNL students.
Continued on Page 13
Wingtips' 'happy sound' rocks crowd,
inexperience plagues Vagrants' act
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Doug Carl of the OmaM-b&sed
Wlngtips blows his sax at the
Drumstick Restaurant Friday.
By Jiia KreOsemeier
St&f7eporr
The Wingtips, a band taking a fresh vigorous
approach to a music termed by keyboardist Biike
Findley as "Jamican Dance Tunes," kept Drum
stick patrons dancing all Friday evening.
Bass player Euss HoSneysr's funky style and
excellent runs stood out and provided a beat
essential to the music.
Guitarist Ben Serspsk waa another standout
as he switched from leads to rhythm without
losing awareness of song progression.
Stsve Aden handled most of the lead vocals
while keeping tight rhythm cn the drums. Doug
Carl on sax and Mike Findley cn keyboards
rounded out the band and provided added
emphasis.
This young group seemed glad to work together
and energetic about the music. The overall sound
made the individual instruments easily distin
guishable without being overpowering.
Renditions of "I Shot the Sheriff' and "Twist
and Shout" really bopped. A number of the songs
performed sounded alike, giving a feeling of
monotony.
"The band is not looking for deep meaning;
our interest is in the feeling of the music,"
Findley said. "The intention of the music is to
produce a happy sound to make people get up
and dance and enjoy themselves."
They were quite successful at this largely
because of Findley's constant energy on stage.
The music ideas Findley presented seem adapted
to nightclub performing and should help them
develop a steady following.
Their music is not radio or pop music and
they are not a cover band. The Wingtips avoided
the stateness that often accompanies playing
songs popularized by other groups by creating
original renditions.
The Wingtips are interesting and good natured
on stage as well as off. Goals for the band,
according to Findley, are "to take things as they
come and continue to write more originals."
The approach these gentleman take to music
is sincere. They have fUn and in turn so dc their
audiences.
The Vagrants, a four-man bend from Lincoln
opened the show playing a mixture of reggae and
rock 'n roll. It was their first live performance
together. The band is composed cf three former
rasir.bcrs cf the Jetscns and one new member. I
was not impressed with their sound. The musi
cians evidently were talented but they did not
seem to have it together yet. I'm certain time and
practice will help clesr up most cf the problems
evident Friday night.
I 'J-H
....... A . . noto Courttty of SheSilon ArtGt.ry
YqHa included in the exhibition of American Art Since
1970 at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
Television
On the Eiii Day, a documentary
exploring the -atmospheric and ecological
effects of a nuclear confrontation on Earth,
will air tonight at 8 on WTBS. The special
offers new information from scientists and
leading experts about the post-war period
known as "nuclear winter."
, Ancricsa Plsyhossa will festure
Go Tell It On The Mocstsln starring
OlMa Cole, F.uby Dee and Paul VAnfield The
film depicts the Grimes family life from 1892
to 1835 both in the rural South and in the
volatile urban life cf Karlem in the 1 830s. The
film is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. on Channel
12.
At the Sheldon
The Man Who Knew Too Much,
the last of a series of Alfred Hitchcock films
at Sheldon Film Theatre, will be screened
tonight through Jan. 20 at 7 and 8:15 p.m.
with a Saturday matinee at 3 p.m. James
Stewart and Doris Day star in this film about
a couple whose son is kidnapped by a group of
terrorists who think Stewart knows too much.
A new exhibit, American Art Since
1970, was unveiled Sunday at Sheldon. The
exhibit was organised by the Whitney Museum
of American Art in New York from their per
manent collection cf painting, sculptun and
drawings cf 20th century American art. The
exhibit will be at Sheldon through March 3.