An acupuncturist sings lead, while a teacher plays bass. A web designer mans the drums and the rhythm guitarist is into online marketing.
Green Day tribute band Basket Case paid homage to one of its favorite musical acts at afterHOURS Saturday. It shared a bill with Foo Fighters tribute band Monkey Wrench. Sponsored by the Council for University Programs (CUP), the two acts cranked out three hours worth of hits, B-sides and covers.
“We’ve all been definite fans of the band a very long time,” said Sal Conca, Basket Case’s rhythm guitarist, before the show. In 2005, he founded the band by posting an ad on Craigslist “calling all Green Day fans” and soliciting a singer, bassist and drummer.
“We’ve all dabbled [in other bands] before. But this group of guys is great,” Conca said.
Monkey Wrench, which opened the show, has been together since 2004. From college gigs to large venues, they’ve played about 40 shows in three years and enjoyed moderate success. In 2005, they were tapped by MTV2 for “24 Hours of Foo,” to promote the Foo Fighter’s album, In Your Honor.
“It was surreal,” said Scott Helle, Monkey Wrench’s bassist. “I had started playing back in 1983 and to finally get on MTV after all those years of playing, I’m playing somebody else’s songs. I’m looking over my shoulder and there’s my face in Times Square on the big screen out there, and I was thinking, ‘This is just bizarre.'”
At 10 p.m., Monkey Wrench kicked off the night with “All My Life,” from the album One by One. The lead singer, Danny Balzano, adopted Dave Grohl’s more recent vocal style of intense shout-singing. The vocal intensity was matched by the band’s loud guitar riffs and pounding percussion.
The band kept the volume up as they plowed through an extensive catalogue that spanned the Foo Fighter’s most recent single, “The Pretender” to the lesser-known “Generator” to the band’s biggest hit, “Learn to Fly.”
“If you close your eyes, it sounds just like Dave Grohl,” said Caitlyn Margulis, a sophomore music industry major and CUP member, who attended the show.
Among the set’s highlights was its rendition of “Times Like These,” from One By One, which allowed Balzano show off a softer vocal quality. In 2004, the song was used by George W. Bush for his re-election campaign, a decision Grohl publicly criticized.
Monkey Wrench has mostly been in line with the Foo Fighters’ musical direction, but Balzano said he doesn’t like mixing music with politics.
“After a while, it becomes enough already with the history books,” he said before the show. “Just entertain me.”
Basket Case opened its part of the show with the politically-fueled “American Idiot.” Lead singer Bret Shulman’s voice matched Billy Joe Armstrong’s nasally-croon well. The band moved seamlessly through Green Day’s pop punk heyday, strumming “Burnout,” “When I Come Around,” “Longview” and “Waiting” with equal finesse.
Musically, the band kept the energy high by playing a variety of songs, from a Clash cover to “2,000 Light Years Away” from Green Day’s second album, Kerplunk.
Basket Case’s closer, “Welcome to Paradise,” elicited the strongest reaction from the small, but attentive audience. They gathered in the middle of the floor and pogo’d to the end.
Though the show drew a low turnout, members of Monkey Wrench said they’ve played for small audiences before.
“We have a lot of fun doing this,” Balzano said. “We make a couple of extra bucks. We don’t take it that seriously. We’re not the Foo Fighters.”
Heller said it’s what happens on stage that matters.
“When I put my hands on my instrument and I get to play music, whether it’s somebody else’s or your own and people are entertained, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “And nobody can take that away from us.”
