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SportsWild Bill fronts a ‘special blend’ of rock and country
Friday, July 11, 2008
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Special Blend will play at Martini’s Lounge on July 11 and 12.
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‘‘It makes it nice and convenient,” Glen Strobel said.
Strobel, from White Plains, is the drummer for Special Blend.
At Martini’s Lounge, he said the classic rock outfit can set up on July 11, walk away after the last song and then ‘‘finish up the show” on July 12.
So what exactly is this band’s special blend?
It goes back to 1994. Strobel was asked to bring some entertainment to a senior citizens community center. He could do anything from assemble a band to put on some CDs.
Strobel decided he wanted to put together a band and play some old country tunes.
His band at the time, however, Bottom Line, only played hard rock ‘n’ roll.
He put together a group with Bottom Liners Bill Knight and Jim Simmons and brought in new musicians to round out the mix.
Afterwards, the audience wanted to know what the band’s name was.
‘‘I don’t know,” Strobel said. ‘‘We’re just kind of a special blend.”
Special enough, it seems, for Bottom Line to disband.
Special Blend’s variety of classic rock samples heavily from sounds of the 1950s through the 1970s. If so inclined, you could probably slap the label oldies on the group as well.
The band’s repertoire includes Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, Wilson Pickett, The Temptations, Mountain, Johnny Cash and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
If you listen to a Special Blend rendition of any of these gems, you will notice that the band adds its own twist with upbeat, elastic instrumentation and a Blues Brothers-esque style of engaging the audience.
Their set lists also include country tunes by the likes of Dwight Yoakum, Tim McGraw and Conway Twitty. And you can look at a longer list on the band’s Web site.
‘‘We’re all happy that our health is allowing us to do it,” Stroebel said. ‘‘We just have a good time and party with people.”
The band includes Simmons (synthesizer and guitar), Joe Fitzmaurice (bass), Grateful Dead enthusiast Rick Hanson (guitar) and newcomer Mike Ferro (keyboards).
Then there’s Knight, a frontman better known as ‘‘Wild Bill.” A professor at the University of Maryland, Knight goes out of his way to encourage an audience to fill the dance floor.
‘‘We’re not just a bunch of sticks up there playing instruments,” Strobel said, who also works the lights as he plays the drums.
And the group takes all kinds of suggestions from the audience.
‘‘There are not a whole lot of requests we won’t do,” Stobel said.
Although, as members of Special Blend will sometimes say, ‘‘If you like rap we got some Christmas gifts you can wrap for us.”
