Everybody remembers the classic scene in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, where Jake and Elwood go into the diner where Aretha Franklin is playing a waitress and they proceed to order white toast, four fried chickens and a Coke.
When the cook in the greasy spoon receives the order from the Queen of Soul he immediately comes out from the kitchen with a big grin on his face and sees his old bandmates who tell him, “Matt, me and Elwood—we’re puttin’ the band back together!”
This happens all the time to bands who have had previous success but for various reasons have disbanded and gone their separate ways.
At some point they decide to heal their wounds with their old band mates and go on the road again to either fatten up their wallets or to simply get that indescribable rush of playing in front of adoring audiences.
Bands of course come in all shapes, sizes and styles and one in our own backyard have decided to put the band back together.
Culver City resident Bob Wayne, owner of Sunburst Recording in Culver City has been plying his trade and recording an eclectic list of projects in his studio for close to three decades. The studio has recorded a long list of musicians, comedians and voiceover artists over those years, including, Fishbone, Adam Sandler, Richie Havens, George Carlin and Mickey Dolenz—to name a few.
In addition to running his studio, Bob was one of the founders of the popular Los Angeles-based band Big Daddy, who recorded four albums for Rhino Records between 1983 and 1994.
They were a unique band who recorded hit songs in a 1950’s Doo Wop style that eventually caught on and led them to having great success with hundreds of sold out club dates in the U.S. and overseas.
A highlight in 1985 included the band releasing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark,” that reached #20 on the UK charts and sold in excess of 80,000 copies.
But in 1994, after playing gigs throughout the U.S. and Europe for over 10 years, as described by founding member Marty Kaniger, “the tours all seemed a little longer, the suitcases a little heavier and the gigs a little less exciting. It was fun while it lasted, but maybe the time had come to ride that old tour bus off into the sunset.”
Well, the four core members of the group, have decided to get back in the studio and do what they do best, which is to put together some dynamic and original arrangements of popular songs and put out another CD.
What does a band do these days then when they’re not on a major label anymore and they can’t foot the bill for the huge expense of paying musicians, booking studio time, conducting photo shoots and pressing discs?
They go to Kickstarter of course. Kickstarter.com is a unique website dedicated to helping individuals raise money for their projects, in categories such as art, comics, dance, design, film and music.
In the case of music, musicians can put their stories online (mostly in video form) on Kickstarter and describe what the goal of their project is and how much money they need to raise to finish their project. Donors watch these pitches and decide whether they’d like to contribute to the creative process. Every Kickstarter project must be fully funded before its time expires or no money changes hands.
In the case of Big Daddy, the band has until Oct. 12 to raise enough funds to fund their next project, which is a new album featuring songs from Broadway Musicals and feature films arranged and performed in the classic styles of the 1950’s.
You can check out all their music and their story at http://bigdaddy59.com, which will have a link to their Kickstarter page.
