|
The Electrolytes Explain The Progressive 'Tribute Act'
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." The queens, the other two women in the frontline, are Trinity Satine and Ivory, two regulars on the Jacques Drag Cabaret circuit. Why singing drag queens? Is it some meta-tribute to the notion of femininity? After all, The Electrolytes have a strong visual similarity to the 60's girl groups, with their inherent ultra-femme-ness and glamour. "It's not that deep," chided the tough and glamorous Mel Wells, the band's founder and bassist. The rest of the rhythm section and Mel met through a production at the Boston Rock Opera a few years ago. "I had been hanging out at Jacque's for years, and had heard a lot of drag queens singing in the bathroom, and knew they could sing, but were kind of stuck lip-synching … and also they're great entertainers and always have a lot of charisma, and I knew it could be a lot of fun." When asked whether or not this caused the band to be pigeonholed as a queer act, Pat answered "We're still kind of finding our way. We're still marketing to that market, but we're not limiting ourselves to that. We've played a lot of the original music rooms around here. In a way, it's a band first." Having thus escaped becoming a niche product, how do they prevent themselves from contributing to the musical stagnation encouraged by the Wynton Marsalis / Lincoln Center contingent? The joy of being in a cover band is the opportunity to become one with your musical idols. It's really tempting to just ride that wave, and often seems arrogant to try to alter that which you are paying homage to. The Electrolytes don't attempt to gild the lily in any way, but "Just by doing these songs we bring our own thing to them, and I think the songs we pick - we're very careful about picking songs that aren't too obvious, songs that we love, songs that we want to do," Pat explained. "We do a couple of rock songs, and we're a cover band right now but the writing process is well under way, and we're gonna make records - probably dance pop … I feel so positive about this band, I feel there's limitless potential." Trinity Satine added that the band will often spice up the arrangement of a song as well. When I spoke with the band, they were preparing for their appearance at Dick's Last Resort as a part of the benefit held there for Lynn Olson, a former DJ at Jacques. They were preceded by The Chanterelles, an anti-glam Americana cross-dressing cover band (any more modifiers and they'd sink). The whole scene was pretty unique, actually. Dick's Last Resort looks like the last place a bunch of cross dressers, drag queens, and friends would go to throw a party. The crowd was pretty eclectic - I wound up sharing a table with the Duck Tours contingent (which has a cross-dressing cross-over, who knew?). I found The Electrolytes queens in the Ladies' Room, putting on their surprisingly punk plaid and zipper-filled outfits. They reassured me that they have outfits for their Diana Ross and the Supremes look as well, but didn't think that they'd fit in necessarily with this group of acts. They both have strong musical theatre backgrounds and characteristically lithe dancers' physiques. Even in the cramped bathroom, as I helped them with their various mesh costume pieces, they radiated more charm and exotic grace than I have on the best of days. I realized, more than anything else, it's their presence that elevates the band away from being any old cover band. As Mel put it, "Drag queens are notoriously good at choreography, at selling a song." In that bathroom, I got a premonition of the band's performance power. This is Trinity Satine's first experience with a band, and she realizes how lucky she is. Drag became her artistic outlet when she was an undergraduate (briefly an engineering student). "My band mates are great. I absolutely love them. To have such a great experience with my first band - I've heard horror stories." She got into the band through Ivory, who brought in many of the band's singers through her Berklee connections. The two explained that, while the biologically female singer sings lead on a number of songs, they each take the lead on some songs and form a strong back-up corps. The Electrolytes use the high recognition factor of their music as a canvas onto which they paint their unique, progressive art. The joy that they take in each song that they choose to perform, in their appearance, and in their interactions with each other and the audience is the very thing which elevates them beyond the stagnant "Holiday Inn juke box" that cover bands often become. Ivory put it to me succinctly: "Whatever the [set list] is, we end up putting on a show, because I think that's what it's about. We need to entertain the audience, that's the most important thing." Courtney Naliboff is a freelance singer, writer, and
ice-cream scooperstar in the greater Boston area.
|