Author: Michael Witthaus

Roomful of Blues at Rex with new singer

Over almost six decades as a band, Roomful of Blues has seen its share of personnel changes, but the latest is a biggie.

“Basically, half the lineup is new,” guitarist Chris Vachon, who joined in 1990, said recently. Two members of the horn section and a keyboard player have joined and, crucially, the band has its first female lead vocalist since Lou Ann Barton was a member for a very short tenure in the early 1980s.

New singer D.D. Bastos and Vachon have played together in the Rhode Island band Sons of Providence since mid-decade, so “there’s some history there,” Vachon said. However, the departure of singer Phil Pemberton, who left due to declining health, means that typical set lists will be shifting dramatically.

“We don’t change front people too much, that’s rare…. Phil was in the band for 15 years,” Vachon said. “Having a new person come in as a front person, you’re going to replace a lot of the material to things that are more suited for them. That’s exciting for us, with a new show and all that.”

The RoB horns and drums backed Pat Benatar on her jump blues True Love album, and Bastos will offer a few songs from that when the band stops by the Rex Theatre on July 12, along with some tunes from the Barton era. The latter lasted only three months, ending when the Texas blues chanteuse realized she’d never acclimate to New England winters.

It’s a local show for one of the new members. Sax player Craig Thomas lives just a few blocks from the Amherst Street venue. Another new face on stage will be keyboard player Jeff Ceasrine, though he has a history with RoB, having played occasionally with them since 2008.

“Jeff is a natural to take over where [former keyboard player] Rusty Scott left off,” Vachon said.

The new lineup was in fine form during a recent Extended Play Session filmed at the Fallout Shelter in Norwood, Mass. Bastos shined on the Etta James classic “Good Rockin’ Daddy” and the burning ballad “Please Don’t Go,” while whipping up the crowd on the energetic call-and-response boogie “That’s Right!”

Vachon pumped out some hot licks on his Gibson SG during the cool groove number “I’m Tryin’” and the horn section’s latest additions, Chris Pratt on trumpet and Thomas on tenor sax, had a long stretch to show off, all in preparation for a big month ahead.

“We’re going to be full steam and we’re all pretty excited about it,” Vachon said.

The idea has remained steady even as players come and go, with a style that can feel like big band but find a rock groove when called for while staying true to its namesake and playing the blues. Their schedule has changed, however.

“My early years in the band, we were gone all the time,” Vachon said. “It’s mostly weekends now.”

Their last album is 2020’s In A Roomful of Blues, a fun effort with songs like the snarky “Phone Zombies” along with the B.B. King-esque title cut. As with a lot of records made that year, the band didn’t get many chances to perform it early on — it’s hard to be in a roomful of anything while staying six feet apart.

Eventually, they took it on the road, and Vachon said they’re ready to add to their 20-plus collection soon. Meanwhile, they continue to be the band that plays blues to make folks forget their blues.

“We don’t do too much of the weepy stuff,” Vachon agreed. “We do happy, swingy things you can dance to. I mean, we’re going to do stuff that’s uplifting and fun.”

An Evening With Roomful of Blues
When: Friday, July 12, 8 p.m.
Where: Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
Tickets: $29 at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Badfish is back for annual show

By Michael Witthaus
mwitthaus@hippopress.com

Some things never change, like the annual return of Badfish to Casino Ballroom for a Fourth of July show, a tradition that began in 2007. What started near the end of the ’90s as a few URI students responding to the passing of Sublime lead singer and creative force Bradley Nowell has evolved into more than a tribute act.

They’re still performing songs from the short-lived ska-punk band, like “Santeria” and their namesake deep cut, but now a few original songs are part of their sets. Last December they put out a single called “High With You.” Badfish drummer Scott Begin expects more tracks will be released “strategically” in the coming months.

“We tried in fits and starts to do some original music over the years, and it was always a fun experiment, but nothing ever really felt like it stuck,” Begin recalled by phone recently. That changed when singer Pat Downs and Danny Torgerson, a multi-instrumentalist and Badfish’s newest member, did a few writing sessions together.

“They came up with some demos that we were really grooving on,” Begin continued. The latest is “FYPM,” a slow, steady growler of a kiss-off that’s definitely NSFW. It’s now on Badfish’s SoundCloud page. The group also performed a few of the new songs live during an appearance on the Sugar Shack podcast in January.

All the creative activity hasn’t changed their primary mission.

“We promote ourselves as Badfish – A Tribute to Sublime,” Begin said. “We certainly don’t want any confusion … people are still going to hear Sublime songs. In the future, if some of our originals gain some traction, that could be a reason to say, ‘Well, now we’re just Badfish’ and then maybe you’ll be hearing a good chunk of [those] as well as some Sublime songs — and maybe others from influences we like.”

In May, Sublime was back in the news when Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob appeared with a reunited band at Coachella. The event captivated both fans and the members of Badfish, who watched it from the green room in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, before a show. They’re now touring, with a stop at the Elevate Festival in Marshfield, Mass., scheduled for July 7.

“We were really excited to see it,” Begin said, noting Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh once sat in with Badfish, and that they even appeared with Nowell’s band Law at a few shows. “We were huddled around the TV like little kids, it was a really exciting moment. So, we’re really just excited to see that happening. I mean, it’s a huge thing.”

With Gaugh and fellow original member Eric Wilson now playing with the younger Nowell, the reunion effectively ended Sublime With Rome. Led by Rome Ramirez, it blended elements of a tribute act with new music. However, Ramirez is continuing the name using a different set of musicians, much to Nowell’s consternation.

“For there to be some other band out there performing shows without any original members and without anybody on the crew or management or performative side that even knew my dad or anybody in the scene, it’s mind-blowing to me,” he told the Boston Globe in a June 25 story. “I can’t tell you how angry it makes me.”

The re-emergence of an official Sublime didn’t put Badfish at a similar crossroads, however.

“Our approach has always been the same; we love the music of Sublime, and we want to perform it as best we can,” Begin said. “If anything, it feels like Sublime is a little bit more in the public consciousness now [and] it makes us excited that maybe more people will be turned on to Sublime that maybe had not been prior to this reunion.”

Begin and his mates are keen to hit the beach this Fourth of July weekend.

“I think I can speak for the band; this is definitely one of our favorites to play,” he said. “It feels like a real event, because it’s become a tradition. I don’t know how many times it’s been a sellout, but it certainly has several times, and it’s great to play in a historic kind of venue like the Ballroom. And it’s always a complete rager; people come out and they’re ready to party. It’s one of my favorite gigs of the whole year for sure.”

Badfish – A Tribute to Sublime
When: Saturday, July 6, 8 p.m.
Where: Casino Ballroom, 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach
Tickets: $27 at casinoballroom.com

Featured photo: Badfish. Courtesy photo.