A couple of people wear masks and silly hats, but it takes the Electrolytes to get their bodies moving. For an air of decadence, Dick's customarily features lip-syncing drag queens at its Fat Tuesday parties. The Electrolytes, a live band with great taste in classic top-40 cover songs, is a step up for entertainment value.

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The act playing when I stopped by was the Electrolytes, a singing trio backed by a band that included members of the Boston Rock Opera. The group did festive versions of vintage crowd-pleasers such as "River Deep - Mountain High" (a hit for the Supremes and the Four Tops in 1970) and "Venus," a No. 1 hit for Dutch pop group the Shocking Blue in 1969.
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The Electrolytes Explain The Progressive ‘Tribute Act’
www.subterraboston.com
by Courtney Naliboff

To delve deeper into the notion of tribute bands and how they fit within the greater artistic continuity, I contacted The Electrolytes. They are an especially talented dance band, performing faithful covers of - well, whatever feels good. They have a three-woman frontline and "A rockin' band behind them," as Pat Wallace, their guitar player and occasional vocalist asserts. Pat is talented and kindly, and is involved in a number of musical projects in the Boston area, including Robin Lane and the Chartbusters. "We have a woman on bass, woman keyboards, woman singer … and the queens are the queens."
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The Electrolytes, featuring a girl-group vocal front lineup that includes two astonishingly feminine transvestites, is the perfect house band, in spirit and style. It's their policy to play only bummer-free songs, and they have a great ear for oldies people love to hear. They do Motown moves, change gowns between sets, and have enough energy at the end of three sets to respond to the clamor for an encore with an extended cover of "Venus'' - the Bananarama version.
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Then come the Electrolytes, Boston's new cover band sensation guaranteed to put anybody in a good mood. The seven-piece act plays Top 40 hits from the '60s through the '90s, and features a classic girl-group trio in clingy sequined cocktail dresses up front. Knowing that two of the women in the band are men in drag doesn't help identify them. They're all gorgeous.
Playing the guessing game (everybody's doing it) is entertaining, but the set is even more so. The Electrolytes play only songs that are downer-free, good-vibe favorites. ``Ooh Child,'' ``What You See Is What You Get,'' ``River Deep, Mountain High'' - they don't back down from a challenge. (Bassist Melissa Wells says they're going to add Madonna's ``Ray of Light'' to the repertoire). DJ and pop historian Brother Cleve, happily surprised by one cover after another, announces flat-out that this might be his ``new favorite band.'' In a few different conversations around the room, people keep saying the same thing: Down with emo, more of this.
— Robin Vaughan