Band: The Red Sea Pedestrians
Genre: Original Roots Music
RIYL: Tom Waits, Django Reinhardt
The Red Sea Pedestrians wsg Strange Arrangement
Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids
Jan. 16, 9:30 p.m.
$5
myspace.com/redseapedestrians
Kalamazoo based band The Red Sea Pedestrians captures a sound from another place - a place rooted in vicarious nostalgia, speakeasies, whiskey on the rocks and things lost at sea. Drawing from Klezmer, Gypsy, Green, jazz, rock and Americana, Ian Gorman (mandolin, concertina, banjo, guitar, upright bass, vocals) cites influences from acts like The Klezmatics, Tom Waits and The Beatles as well as Michigan groups Immigrant Suns, Shout Sister Shout, Daniel Kahn and others.
"We're constantly inspired by the community of musicians we know and play with throughout the state," Gorman said.
Many of the band mates met in the Kalamazoo music scene and had already jammed together at festivals and parties through the years. The Red Sea Pedestrians began as a side project to play around with Klezmer and Gypsy music, and over time, members left and joined.
"In the past couple of years, we've let our momentum grow and guide us, playing more and more often," Gorman said. "We've had greater and greater success, and we plan on going on our first tour in June. At the same time, the style of the band has opened up to include much more than we had ever envisioned, and we're all really enjoying the eclectic ‘variety-show' type of project we've become."
This "variety-show" effect comes not only from the blending of genres, but unconventional instrumentation. Every member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist as well as a vocalist, and this is used to its full potential on stage as Gorman describes it as a "melting pot of styles, cultures and voices." While there are some qualities that seem to pervade throughout (Rachel Flanigan's expert clarinet playing comes to mind), the songs are incredibly varied as each member contributes to the songwriting process.
"Usually, someone brings a tune they wrote to the group and we arrange it together," Gorman said. "Everyone has their own style and process, of course. Some of the tunes we play, especially early on, were songs band members already had laying around that fit the sound of the band. As time has passed, we've gotten more and more collaborative, writing together and sometimes specifically with each other's instruments and styles in mind."
January marks the start of their new album.
"We're renting a bunch of wonderful recording gear, hiring engineer-supreme Ben Lao, and shacking up, retreat-style, for a week straight at Ira's house in Kalamazoo," Gorman said. "The new album is going to feature all original music, including songs by all six of the band members. We hope to have the album out by spring."
Catch the band on WYCE 88.1 FM on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 5 p.m., before seeing them live that same evening at Founders Brewery with Strange Arrangement. Additional regional shows include The Ark in Ann Arbor (Jan. 12), the Ninth Annual Cooper's Glenn Music Festival in Kalamazoo (Jan. 22-23) and Fennville's Salt of the Earth (Jan. 24).
