PINK DROYD

Piere's nightclub,
Fort Wayne, IN

Hello all you Crazy Diamonds; it's your friendly neighborhood Troy with your weekend re-cap. Thursday we had our Pink/Rush tribute show. And I tell you what it was great. Now, I'm a bigger Pink Floyd fan than a Rush fan but I enjoyed both parts of this show.
Grace Under Pressure preformed Rush to a tee. The vocals; the music. It was all spot on. When they nailed Sounds of Salesmen right out of the gate I knew we were in for a treat. And their version of Tom Sawyer was so good you would have thought the DJ was spinning it.
Pink Droyd blew me away with their tribute to Floyd. Next time they put on a show, You Better Run to check it out. They had the sound effects (The clocks going off were almost overwhelming) they had the girls singing background. They had it all. And when it was a recorded sound effect like the beginning of Money it was the band doing it with their voices and instruments. The Lunatic laugh was rather creepy. Now I am truly sorry that I missed this show the last time they were here. I hope they all come back soon. - Piere's

My first question for local Pink Floyd tribute band Pink Droyd was pretty predictable. Why? I asked. Why, out of all the bands in the world, would you choose this particular one? Their answer was predictable, too – especially if you’re a Floyd fan.

Why Pink Floyd? Why anything else?

“It’s timeless music,” vocalist and guitarist Kevin Quandt says. “It’s amazingly complex – complex phrasing, complex themes – but attainable at the same time.

“When you deal with music this complex, it’s not always easy for a typical listener to identify with it. With Floyd, you’ve got musical themes that inspire you, that accompany life.”

Despite the passion of its members, Pink Droyd – Quandt, guitarist and keyboardist Daniel Fisher, guitarist and vocalist Mike Lennon, bassist and vocalist Kenton Snyder and percussionist Bob Mondok – started out as a fluke. The band performed originally at a one-time Pink Floyd tribute show at Piere’s, calling themselves Earthbound Misfits.

“It seemed like a waste of time to just do it once,” Quandt says. “Six months later, we did a follow-up show at Piere’s, and instantly it took on a whole new life. This was really something. Not just an outlet, but a means. So I started looking hard for people who had the same passion for Pink Floyd that I have.”

It took awhile, but he found them: Fisher, who played onstage with Pink Floyd and was in a Pink Floyd tribute band for five years, and Mike Lennon, who toured with Pink Floyd tribute band the Lennon Brothers nationally for 12 years.

Their years of Pink Floyd expertise shows during performances, Quandt says.

“What we do is try to draw from different elements from different eras, from 1967 to 1988,” he says. “We weave in and out of radio favorites and expand the horizon, playing songs you might not have heard before.

“Note for note, it’s accurate to what Floyd played, both live and in the studio.”

Currently, the group is collaborating with the band and choir at Woodside Middle School. In February, the band will give a full Pink Floyd tribute concert, backed up by the school band. And yes, the choir will be singing, “Teachers! Leave them kids alone.”

“You will never hear that song done like that again, with 100 kids singing with us,” Quandt says. “We’ve been looking for a while for different venues, different ways to bring Pink Floyd to people who aren’t familiar with the music.

“Plus, it’s cool to see your kid singing, ‘We don’t need no education.’ ”

Winning over new Floyd fans is part of the fun – and the challenge – of being in a tribute band, Quandt says.

“We met one guy who had seen every Floyd tour since 1971,” he says. “He said it was rare to see guys who are really playing Floyd. And that’s what it’s all about.”

edowns@jg.net

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090129/ENT0201/301299958 - Journal Gazette