Dave Paulson and Sam Smith at My So-Called Band's first show, September 2009
A couple of years ago, it seemed like Nashville was overflowing with tribute shows. Thankfully, that market seems to have gotten its equilibrium back. There are still plenty of cover sets to be seen on Lower Broadway, and one-off benefits for good causes like May's Harvest Spoon show, but it doesn't feel like a glut. There are also a few dedicated tribute groups that have become local institutions.
Take for example My So-Called Band, a group of ringers from across the local rock and pop scene who play covers of songs released during the ’90s. Their immense dedication to topflight performance comes across almost as a postgrad-level study of the decade's music. Not to say that it's stuffy or anything but immensely fun: They've earned a devoted fan base, consisting mostly of ’80s babies like themselves looking for a fun night out, and the group frequently sells out shows in 500-capacity rooms like Mercy Lounge (and on New Year's Eve, 1,500-cap spaces like Cannery Ballroom).
However, the group got its start with a gig 10 years ago this week at The 5 Spot, a room not even half the size of Mercy. (See a photo of that gig above.) And to mark that special anniversary, they're headed back there on Saturday, Sept. 21. Doors are at 8 p.m., and there are no advance tickets, so you'll want to get there early. The cover is a minimum $10 donation — all proceeds benefit the Southern Girls Rock Camp, so give generously. (Keep an eye on the Facebook event page for updates. If you don't make it in, they've got an Alternative Nation-themed gig at Mercy on Sept. 28.)
In an email to the Cream, drummer Sam Smith (who’s also played with Ben Folds and Joe Pisapia) says that the band you can expect to see at The 5 Spot includes his fellow MSCB founding members Dave Paulson (The Privates’ co-founder, who made the great Tommy Boy-inspired LP Sandusky, Ohio), Keith Lowen (The Privates, De Novo Dahl), Joshua Watson (Feable Weiner, Bravo Max) and Dan Sommers (Poly, Happy Little Trees). There will also be an all-star roster of singers that includes Larissa Maestro, Kristin Weber, Amanda Broadway, Mikala "Mak" Jones, Aaron Robinson, Sean Williams and Matt Friction.
Smith also says that even though there's a fixed range of songs to draw from, the band's repertoire has evolved quite a bit. That's all part of responding to the audience, which is one of the group's main goals.
“We don't play a lot of the songs we used to — indie hits or one-hit wonders, especially from the very early ’90s," he says, "because for whatever reason they've fallen out of syndication on today's Pandora stations and the like, even though they were big hits back in the day when MTV really curated the canon. Finding out songs our crowd generally knows or doesn't know is always fascinating and surprising. It's been a rewarding shift to cater primarily to what they want and love, and to try to faithfully recreate the recordings from the period, judgment-free, mixed with our own musical personalities and the talents of amazing singers we've been lucky to know.”
