The 88 Raises the Temperature
LA's Hottest Band Kicks Off Mondavi's Summer Music Festival
Jul 10, 2009
On a night that was already hot, LA’s hottest band kicked off the Robert Mondavi 2009 Summer Festival concert series on June 27 as the opening act for the B-52s. The 88 took the stage in the Oakville, California winery courtyard at a little after 7:00 p.m. with the temperature in the triple digits, and proceeded to heat things up even more with an abbreviated, rocking set. The performances were sponsored by the Napa Valley Opera House.
Although arriving on the scene a generation later than the Athens, Georgia party band, The 88 are a good pairing for the B-52s. Both bands produce bright, melodic music that is exuberant and danceable. The story of The 88 is the story of a musical friendship that began in high school.
Keith Slettedahl (guitar and vocals) and Adam Merrin (piano and keyboard) were in the same graduating class at LA's Calabasas High (’91). "I wanted us to play together ever since I heard him sing (in high school)," said Merrin. The band took its present form in 2003, minus Anthony Zimmitti on drums who came on board a few years back. At Mondavi they were joined by bassist Todd O'Keefe.
Los Angeles' Best Band
They've been called Los Angeles' best band by the LA Alternative Press and the city's best pop-rock band by LA Weekly. This sweltering Saturday evening they launched into "Go, Go, Go," a driving new anthem for a rock-n-roll lifestyle, followed by "We Felt Alive," both from the group's latest CD, "Not Only ... But Also." The third song, "Nobody Cares," from 2005's "Over and Over" CD, showed off Slettedahl’s terrific vocal range.
The fourth song of the set, "Love is the Thing," the group’s new single, is an irresistible number that was recorded on ... are you ready for this ... a cell phone! The guys composed and recorded the song using an iPhone and its built-in 4-track recording application. Talk about guerrilla production! Being signed to a major label (Island Records) hasn’t killed the group’s creative, indie, spirit. Merrin shot the stop-action video for "Go,Go,Go" on their website using still photos from an ordinary digital camera. "Adam’s great for that kind of thing," said Zimmitti in an interview before the set. "He’s always coming up with ideas."
Another example of creative thinking is the music video they made last fall of the Mondavi show's fifth number, "Coming Home." Instead of spending money on spectacular effects or an exotic locale, the band spent the song’s video budget on a public gasoline give-away that they taped, edited and overdubbed. Gasoline, you remember, was over $4.00 per gallon at the time.
The 88 sound might strike an ear tuned to hip-hop and electronica as being more melodious than a lot of today’s popular music. Some of the melodiousness may be the influence of the piano → the instrument's 88 keys were the inspiration for the group's name → with its harmonic overtones; some undoubtedly comes simply from the musicians’ preferences and style. The band’s exuberant sound almost seems like a throwback to the 1960s.While Slettedahl admits to having a 60s idol, it’s not one known for exuberance.
Bob Dylan Revisited
"When I was a teen my dad had the (Bob Dylan’s) Greatest Hits album," Slettedahl said. His admiration for Dylan led to one of the more unusual gigs by any contemporary band: a live performance of the "Highway 61 Revisited" album in its entirety at an LA nightclub last fall.
"It’s something we’re very exited about," said Slettedahl, referring to the well-received show. "It started out as a benefit for a publicist and turned into two sets at the Key Club." Each set was one side of the album. This night at Mondavi there would be no Dylan covers. Winding up the set with "Sons and Daughters" and "Not Enough," the guys earned their ovation from the older, wine-sipping Mondavi crowd.
Can these talented, nice guys, who happen to be husbands and dads, survive and thrive in the overhyped, image-over-substance rock music industry? They’re doing pretty well, thank you, having performed on all four major television networks, MTV and "Extra" and placing songs on television shows like "The OC," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Grey’s Anatomy" as well as in major motion pictures like "You, Me and Dupree." When you're playing at this level, music is a business and it's good business to have a presence all over the media.
And opening for the B-52s ain’t a bad gig either, even when you lose five pounds in sweat: "We're dying up here," Slettedahl told the crowd at one point. So, 18 years after graduating high school, is it still fun? Merrin and Slettedahl both answered the same, word-for-word: "If it wasn’t fun, we wouldn’t do it."
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