One-time performance:Alright Blues Band reunites

By Gus Bode

Jane’s Addiction and Fleetwood Mac did it. For better or worse, The Beatles will never do it. Jake and Elwood Blues did it in The Blues Brothers. And, for a one time engagement, the Alright Blues Band got the band back together again.

But the guys in the Alright Blues Band didn’t make the decision to raise money for a church like The Blues Brothers or even to cash in on their good name to put money in their own pockets like any other reunion bands. The members have simply felt the fever of days gone by.

A conversation trumpet player Chad Minier had with guitarist Travis Laschover did not spark the reunion, but it got their minds back on the band which disbanded in 1996.

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[Travis] said, Chad, I thought I was going to have to get some therapy when the band quit,’ and I agreed because it was more than a band. It was almost a family, and it was almost more than that, Minier said. The chemistry was there. Everybody enjoyed what we did, and it was a good time, good music.

The Alright Blues Band, which will take the stage around 10 p.m. Saturday at Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave., formed about three and a half years ago and soon became a staple on the local music scene. Three of the members will be coming in for the show from Albuquerque, N.M., Seattle and Chicago.

The reason we broke up in the first place is that a few of the guys moved away, guitarist/vocalist Andy Gerzel said. I was just talking to the harmonica player he lives in New Mexico now and he mentioned that he wanted to play again. We just decided to do it and called up the rest of the guys and got them all to come back here. They said, sure, just pick a date.’

Everybody missed playing so we decided to do it for that reason pretty much.

In its heyday, the band played as far north as Wisconsin and in places as large as the House of Blues in Chicago. Like the way of many bands formed in college music scenes, the Alright Blues Band consisted of college students. It was imminent that some of the members would soon be finished with school and leave town to pursue a career, so instead of dragging the end out too much, the Alright Blues Band eventually quit playing gigs.

Instead of letting the band linger and linger, we reached a point that we thought, This is nice. It’s great. Let’s leave it at that,’ Minier said. A little after the House of Blues gig, we pretty much called it quits.

The Alright Blues Band was the first band experience Minier had aside from school ensembles and marching bands.

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By the time he wandered into the practice basement of the band, the Alright Blues Band was almost complete and ready to start booking gigs. But Minier recalls the first encounter with his future bandmates as a little uncomfortable for him.

I was this little marching band geek getting just off of marching practice. I went to this house, walk in and go to the basement this ratty, old basement that should have been condemned, Minier said. I walk down the steps and here are these seedy looking guys. One’s got dragon tattoos, and they’ve got leather pants on while drinking whiskey and Black Label beer. I felt so out of place.

After the first song, the musicians felt like the band would definitely work out, and Minier found just the band he was looking for. He had always loved jazz and the blues because of the improvisational aspect that goes along with the music.

While a lot blues and jazz bands do not call for their horn sections to solo a great deal, the Alright Blues Band sets itself apart because it uses each instrument to its fullest extreme without limiting any member to a set time to solo.

Some bands don’t want you to solo too much, but with these guys everybody soloed, Minier said. A lot of blues bands especially on recordings horn players don’t solo. We almost soloed every tune, and that was great.

Factoid:There will be a $3 cover charge for the Alright Blues Band reunion. For more information, call 549-0511 or the Hangar 9 hotline at 549-1233.

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