Symco roundup with Guest Blogger John Ecker

Well, while I was farting around the Wisconsin State Fair and the usual bevy of cover bands, Special Guest Blogger John Ecker went up to Symco (smack in between Titletown and Stevens Point) for the annual Hot Rod Weekend and saw a pile of great rockabilly, country, and surf, much of it Wisconsin-born. Here's his report:

Andy Yaun 

Solo guitar player with drum machine and recorded tracks. Very talented guitarist, very modern rokailly, definitely a Brian Setzer fan as a significant portion of his songs were Stray Cat covers. Talented.

JP Cyr and the Midnightmen

Mike Budde takes over as drummer, does a fine job albeit a bit vanilla and reserved. Nice show. Swing country, very tight even with a new drummer, nice tone.

Wayne "The Train" Hancock

Friday's headliner. Let's not ignore the elephant in the room: If you like Hank Williams, Sr., you will love Wayne "The Train" Hancock. Twangy, trebly, nostalgic, but lots of mature original material that Hank himself might have recorded on his 30th birthday if he had one. Very good band, very solid performance. They must have wondered how they ended up in a pole barn in the middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin! But it was a beautiful thing, such a nice warm tone the venue resonated for the band on a cool, gorgeous night.

Dirty Martinis from GB

Rough, funny and gritty three piece, vocals split between bassist and lead guitar. Did a hilarious punkabilly rendition of Amazing Grace. Finished their set with an anti-hipsters rant that crossed over to "Woolly Bully" and back again. Funny.

Gaston Curse

Another gritty three piece! I've seen The Gaston Curse once before and I was impressed enough to give them a Facebook nod and so I was pleasantly surprised at their character building performance at Symco. They started with a churchy, hillbilly ditty that eventually evolved into a Social D-ish wall of buzz and angst while keeping their collective tongue firmly in cheek. Nice harmonies, nice raw edge, and nice sense of humor. They even managed to modify the despised Seger's "Turn the Page" into a fun psychobilly cover.

Crazy Rocket Fuel

The popular favorite, quartet from Milwaukee, CRF always makes me smile. Kari Bloom is an infectious personality who has mastered the art of engaging and flirting with the audience, while keeping up a self deprecating witty banter with Ginny Wiskowski on guitar and excellent musicianship from the entire band. Opening with "Taycheedah" and "Rip It Up," the ladies launched a high-energy, memorable set.

13 Tikis

Five-piece Surf band sans their sax/horn player. Very tight, smooth and talented and played at least half originals. Dipped a toe into the ska/surf love child realm and even a little Latin influenced Perfidia-esque swinging original that was my personal favorite. They could use a little flash added to their stage presence...all-in-all a nice set on the damp grass under the tent at Symco. Maybe the fear of electrocution scared them from getting too animated and accidentally grabbing an ungrounded mic stand.

3 On the Tree

Raucous and rowdy, crowd-pleasing, thigh-slapping, country drunkabilly. They made it work, though, they were a lot of fun. I thought the guitar player could have used a little more fuzz and attitude (and a bit more "tightness") with his technique...his mellow, jazz toned hollow body sounded a bit incongruous. They pulled up a young lady who sang a strong rendition of "House of the Rising Sun", not sure if she was a usual feature for the band...they definitely can get the crowd animated with their antics and calls for "socialbles," I'd see them again.