An interesting mix
By Jon Busdeker on May. 17, 2007
OK, Christina Marrs. You’re engaged in a conversation with someone who’s never heard of your band, the Asylum Street Spankers. How do you answer the standard question: “So, what kind of group is that?”
“I can’t,” Marrs admitted in a telephone conversation from the road earlier this week. “There’s no three-word catch phrase.
“If you tell people we’re acoustic, it turns some of them off because they think we’re a bluegrass band. If you tell them we’re funny, it turns them off because they don’t like novelty music.”
Some of us, in our young and stupid years, made the mistake of raiding our parents’ liquor cabinet when they were away, mixing a little of everything in a tall glass, and pouring it down our 14-year-old throats to find out what alcohol was like. Later, we deeply regretted that experiment.
Except for the regret part, a Spankers’ performance is a little like that. Mix bluegrass, punk, country, rock, blues, old 1920s standards and “redneck rap” (which the Spankers term “hick-hop” ), pour it down, and wait for the reaction.
“To be honest, I hope Lynchburg is ready for these guys,” said board member Edwana Coleman of the Ellington Playhouse, where the Spankers will perform at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
It won’t be. Nobody is. The Asylum Street Spankers (the name comes from a street in their hometown — Austin, Texas — and a musical expression for someone who slaps their stringed instrument with vigor) are exuberant, talented, wildly innovative and often bawdy. This is not your grandmother’s concert.
The band began, appropriately enough, at a party. That’s where Marrs — a vocalist described as having a range “between Bessie Smith and Betty Boop” — and co-founders Guy Forythe and Wammo (no other name, just “Wammo” ) first came together like three volatile chemicals mixed in a lab.
“The party was in Llano, Texas, down by the Llanos River,” Marrs recalled, “one of those musician’s parties where a bottle is passed in one direction and a guitar in the other. Wammo and Guy were looking to start some sort of jug band as an alternative to the other bands they were in, which were a lot, uh, noisier.”
Marrs, meanwhile, had just emerged from the punk underground. That was 12 years ago, and the group has been through nearly 40 different musicians since. The six players who will appear on the Ellington stage are an eclectic mix that includes, Marrs, Wammo and a Mohawk-sporting mandolin player who goes by the name of Sick.
Marrs, by the way, is considered one of the best around at coaxing compelling sounds from the musical saw.
As one critic put it: “Listening to the Asylum Street Spankers is akin to one of those dreams where you’re crossing the threshold into the world’s most perfect thrift shop, and it’s 50 percent off.”
What you’ll hear from the Spankers will range from western swing to Nine Inch Nails, and Wammo’s “hick-hop” rendition is, in one reporter’s humble opinion, almost worth the price of admission (the Spankers performed at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville last year).
“We work about 200 days a year, most of it on the road,” said Marrs. “We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.”
“We have a commitment at the Ellington to offering different types of music,” Coleman said. “We could do blues all the time and sell out, but it’s fun to try something different.”
The Asylum Street Spankers are not only different, but one of a kind.
If You’re Going
WHAT: Asylum Street Spankers in concert
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: The Ellington, 421 Rivermont Ave.
TICKETS: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
INFO: Tickets available at High Peak Sportswear (Main Street), Lynchburg Music (Fort Avenue), Stones n’ Bones (Graves Mill Center, Forest), Tom Jones Drug (Boonsboro Shopping Center) or online at http://www.theellington.org. Call 845-2162.
By Darrell Laurant, The Burg
/385-5544
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