By Thomas Crone
Since the untimely demise of Frederick’s Music Lounge, many songs have been sung in honor of the old place (often at the open mic of the Chippewa Chapel Traveling Guitar Circle and Medicine Show, which was spawned at Fred’s) and at least one spinoff event has been held: Band Scramble, hosted by former Frederick’s bartender and apprentice embalmer Dana McDonough, also known as “Grave Danger” of the Arch Rival Rollergirls.
It took a non-musician to come up with the idea: Mix and match those musicians into one-off bands for a night. The first three Scrambles brought together a couple dozen local musicians, most of whom split even faster than they’d come together. The exception was Fertilizer Bomb, the only permanent band formed during a scramble.
Fertilizer Bomb’s singer/guitarist, Justin Brown—also a member of the Dock Ellis Band—was a somewhat anxious participant in October’s Band Scramble at the Way Out Club. This time he wound up matched with Mark Reynolds (who plays with Freud’s Mom and the UnMutuals) and, ironically, with his own Dock Ellis bandmate Jesse Irwin. Not only did the trio have to pull together three songs on the quick, without a true drummer, but they were also slotted in the unenviable role of the kickoff group—and one of their songs had to reference the Roller Girls.
“We’re happy to be first,” Brown said with a shrug just before hitting the stage. “There’s less time to forget what we practiced.”
The trio struggled through a litany of amp problems with tongue-in-cheek humor but were somewhat undone by the tech issues that cropped up between songs. Their practice sessions had been more social, let’s say, than workmanlike.
“Well, it could’ve been worse,” Brown reasoned, just offstage. “Nobody caught on fire.”
Though the evening started slow, with just a couple dozen fans on hand at the 9 p.m. start time, the ad hoc bands and their supporters quickly filled the room with a rollicking, boozy, woozy atmosphere. Bands played every imaginable variation of rock ’n’ roll over the project’s four-hour run, with punk, country and even a bit of disco thrown in. Even the bands that didn’t quite master the intricacies of their songs were greeted warmly by the crowd. And few groups wanted to leave, because there was always that chance of winning the night’s top prize. (That award went to the exuberant, dance-y Candy Razor, who barely nipped the surprisingly wonderful Dewey Decibels for the evening’s top slot.)
Judging by the festive feel achieved halfway through the evening, it wouldn’t be a bad bet to assume that a fifth Band Scramble will be held this winter, with more pratfalls, a few blown speakers and countless not-quite-finished-but-lovingly-performed songs.
