Led Zep tribute band Custard Pie stole show in Cranston, Rhode Island last night

Custard Pie stole the show at the Mardi Gras Multi Club in Cranston, Rhode Island last night. Custard Pie, a Led Zeppelin tribute band, came on before and after local Rhode Island cover bands Zinc Alloy and Archive, and they proved to be the most entertaining of the three.Custard Pie found a good home in Cranston’s Mardi Gras Multi Club, one building housing four different music rooms. The Led Zeppelin tribute band packed the Multi Club’s J. R.’s Bourbon Street Rock House. There were six screens around the room and its bar to watch the band on if you couldn’t find standing room in the stage area.

Custard Pie take their name from the first tune off of Led Zeppelin’s two record set Physical Graffiti. And like Led Zeppelin’s sixth studio release, Custard Pie is a large and varied offering of Led Zeppelin music.

The highlight of last night’s show was “No Quarter” from Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy album, a minor key, chilling tale of winter night warriors who stay true to their cause. The keyboard and synthesizer work was provided by guest musician Harry Lawton from Worcester’s Pink Floyd tribute band Gilmour’s Breakfast, and his misty minor key chords and notes made this classic come to life. Throw in guitarist Jonathan Hathaway’s psychedelic blues riffs and phrases and front man Mark Moretti’s eerie vocal delivery, and you have one inspiring rendition. A doubling of the bass notes created a powerful vibe in the most progressive, most dramatic lyrical tale in Zeppelin’s catalogue.

Custard Pie were not perfect last night. There were awkward pauses between numbers, and they flubbed the opening of “Black Dog.” Yet, this Rhode Island cover band more than made up for it with their avalanche of talent. Their energy and their way of keeping things interesting that made them the stars of the night.

As lead singer, Moretti’s high pitched notes, held forever, were filled with charisma and richness. His frenzied yelp on “I Can’t Quit You, Baby” matched Hathaway’s blistering bluesy guitar attack. The rhythm section built up, in each song, a big, bad-ass foundation for the guitars and vocals to blast off from. It is hard to imagine Hathaway’s screaming guitar sounding as intense if he didn’t have that walloping backdrop from bass player Pat Lynch and drummer Ben Banning.

After the band briefly lost its footing in the first verse of “Black Dog,” Custard Pie’s rhythm section controlled the tune’s stop-start groove with powder keg oomph that constantly made one feel as they were on the verge of witnessing some incredible historic event in music.”

“Ramble On” from Led Zeppelin II received the royal treatment. Hathaway’s sing-song, gently picked melodic phrase pulled listeners in with its cool feeling of movement while Moretti finessed the words. This slow boil song allowed a glimpse into how well this tribute band works together. Each member built a corner stone of this freewheeling sound.

Led Zeppelin came close to recording pure blues on their third album’s hit “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Last night, Custard Pie gave this long song enough energy and charm to keep this monster grooving strong. Hathaway got fiery, frenetic half way through, unleashing a manic solo with notes flying around with hurricane force.

This tribute band briefly went into Led Zep’s version of Robert Johnson’s “In My Time Of Dying” only Hathaway’s blues licks sounded closer to Johnson than Jimmy Page before they blew out Led Zep’s sublimated blues rendition. Speaking of blues, Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside Blues,” as recorded by Led Zeppelin as a single, saw more of Hathaway’s slide guitar magic shadowed by Lynch’s very fluid and precise bass notes.

Cover band Archive followed with their polished but less intense version of J. Geil’s Band classic “House Party” and Aerosmith chestnut “Mama Kin” but didn’t keep me interested enough to want to hang around. Opening band Zinc Alloy were a pretty good cover band with an interesting set list, including a cover of The Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman,” which I’ve never seen a cover band perform before last night. Both bands featured the same lead singer, Steve DeMello, as his Archives appearance was a reunion gig. DeMello was more interesting in Zinc Alloy as he tackled everything from Van Morrison’s “Wild Nights” to Brownsville Station’s “Smoking In The Boysroom” to Judas Priest’s “Living After Midnight.”

If you ever get out to Cranston, Rhode Island, check out the Mardi Gras Multi Club. Aside from J.R.’s Bourbon Street Rock House, they also have country line dancing in the Diamond Rodeo and dance, hip-hop, and techno music in The Monkey Bar and Caribbean theme music in Johnny Bahama’s

www.mardigrasmulticlub.com