As mentioned previously in these pages, local rockers The Faders (“original, intelligent alternative-pop in the vein of Elvis Costello, Crowded House, and Wilco”) had their first brush with international stardom recently when they were chosen to be filmed by the BBC. Jon Ritz (vocals, guitar) reports on the gig:
It really was a good time. We had our typically small but lively turnout, and the film crew was a lot of fun to work with, including the “talent,” an actress named Miriam Margolis (she played one of the profs in the last Harry Potter flick). We played a regular 45 minute set, then the director had us do two takes of two different songs — one of our own and one cover — while they took a lot of close-up footage. That was a little nerveracking, but I think we acquitted ourselves pretty well for a bunch of weekend performers.
The series is slated to run on PBS in about a year. We should be able to squeeze a little publicity out of it when it airs, though I don’t have any immediate plans to quit my day job.
If you don’t want to wait the whole year for the televised result, or if you want to be able to say you knew them when, catch the band at one of their upcoming shows:
Fri Dec 17. Cafe Bliss (Penn Ave, Point Breeze). George and Kim from the band Jack play from 8 – 9, and The Faders are on from 9 – 11. Cafe Bliss is a cool new venue, sort of a smaller, more intimate version of the Quiet Storm. They serve coffee etc., and it’s also BYO.
Mon Dec 27. Starbucks (Murray Ave, Squirrel Hill). Singer-songwriter and adjunct Fader Patti Spinner plays from 8 – 9, accompanied by her sideman and number one fan.
Fri Dec 31 (New Year’s Eve). Watercolors Gallery (9th and Penn, Downtown). The band is organizing a night of live music at the Gallery as part of the annual First Night festivities. Monongahela Sal and Her Allegheny Playboys kick things off at 8, and The Faders rock in ’05 from 10 to 1.
Info, details, and bassist George Salamacha’s recipe for veggie lasagna available at their website.