Robin Soares celebrated her birthday with music bash

Robin Soares hosted her annual birthday bash at the Yacht Club in East Providence, Rhode Island yesterday, and it was an afternoon of good music from good bands. A bikini contest and some jello wrestling matches were also entertaining. Robin Soares is the front person for Rhode Island’s extremely popular cover band 5 Flavor Discount who also performed yesterday.

The line up of bands showcased some of little Rhody’s best talent.

I got there in time to catch Beyond Blonde play the last song of their set. It only took one song to make me kick myself for not getting out of bed sooner. Lead singer Lisa Markovich was releasing her intense, high energy vocal, and her band mates were laying out solid groove and leads behind her. Beyond Blonde’s bass player, Mike Kaz, was pure dynamite with his rangy low end notes. Kaz has something ringing out on the ends of his notes that made it sound like Beyond Blonde had an organ player in their straight up guitars and drums lineup.

Up next was Soares’ band 5 Flavor Discount.

5 Flavor Discount showed they were packed with solid groove and lead guitar panache. Starting out with an energetic version of “Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet, Soares on lead vocals, Katie Kleyla on harmony and backing vocals, Jon Hathaway on guitar, Bobby Healey on bass, and tiny mighty mo Angela DeFazio on drums played solidly, tightly, a unit that has jelled, combining their talents into an impressive, pleasing, forceful sound.

These girl singers, during “Love Shack,” made their own wall of vocal sound, and Bobby Healey, who handled lead vocals on the B-52’s classic, had quite a personality at the microphone.

Guest keyboard player, Harry Lawton, of Gilmour’s Breakfast, added extra layers of melody and magic, making a fuller sound out of something already good on its own.

Drummer DeFazio and bass player Healey locked into a tricky groove on The Staple Singers’ classic “I’ll Take You There,” making this number happen. They also pulled quite a few onto the dance floor, a rendition that the feet could not resist. It didn’t hurt that Hathaway was dashing off snappy, funky riffs, like he was born with them pouring out of his fingertips.

Hathaway’s aggressive, muscular sound on an AC/DC song was as tough as the rugged Alaskan outdoors that forged him into the real man he is today. The guitarist got into a real good light on The Rolling Stones’ late 1960s hit “Sympathy For The Devil,” nailing one the most familiar lead guitar solos in rock and roll, playing it with a sense of dynamics that made it a full blown work of art. Drummer DeFazio too shined on “Sympathy,” handling with whole thing with mostly just her tom and her bass drum. Man, what a rhythm.

5 Flavor Discount’s mesh of grooves and funkiness on “Thank You For Lettin’ Me Be Miceself” became their highlight. It was just really cool that they had so much going on at once, and they handled it as well as they all did. Healey and his bass bumped it up and around, palpable bass notes making people move their baw–dees. Keyboardist Lawton got funky with his 1960s vibe swirl of organ chords. Hathaway chimed in with big, wide lead guitar sounds spiraling, netting the attention of all standing in the area. And second vocalist Katie Kleyla belted out the chorus with rangy soulfulness while Soares belted out several coos of her own, showing why she leads this cover band that plays like a stadium band.

Then came the bikini contest. It was quite amusing when a man in his early middle years, identified as Manny, stripped down to his skivvies and pranced around on the pavement. Only one judge was female, so Manny really didn’t have much of a chance, but he certainly made the contest a hoot. He also did some jello wrestling with Robin Soares later in the day, and he was certainly better at wrestling than he was at competing in the bikini contest.

Rhode Island’s new Led Zeppelin tribute band Custard Pie came out of the gate screaming. The Robert Plant like banshee vocals of Mark Moretti knocked “Communication Breakdown” over the walls and across the bay. Hathaway, who plays lead with Custard Pie too, launched into a wild flight of fancy on six string while the dynamic rhythm section were locked into something heavy but movable.

Mark Moretti howled with the true Led Zep spirit on the slow grooving “I Can’t Quit You, Baby,” a Willie Dixon tune that Led Zep covered on their first album. The easeful tempo here allowed each band member to showcase his chops. Hathaway ripped it up on guitar, his solo full of vigor, inside of a flow of intense high-pitched notes that skated around on a surface of knobby low end.. Bass(Pat Lynch) and drums(Ben Banning) packed one hell of a wallop on those portions of the song when an explosive burst of energy is needed to play faster and louder.

Mark Moretti was a master of stop-start call and response during “Black Dog,” and man, could he belt. Hathaway used a pair of pliers to ring out the eerie sounds during the freak out portion of “Whole Lotta Love.” Hath’s slide sounded really cool on a medley of “In My Time Of Dying” and “Traveling Riverside Blues,” creating a mesh of old timey guitar with modern ampliphication. He also picked up a big, bad ass double neck guitar for the folkie loveliness of “Tangerine” from Zeppelin’s acoustic oriented third album.

Led Zeppelin’s keyboard songs “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” got a boast from the day’s perennial guest, Harry Lawton, of Gilmour’s Breakfast(Pink Floyd tribute band). “How Many More Times” from Led Zeppelin’s first album was full of the fluid rhythm section, fiery guitar phrases, and caterwauling vocals the English super group first became known for.

Custard Pie captured the essence of Led Zep’s big monster sound, each band member an essential cornerstone, each building the arcs and the architectures of these tunes. “Steer the way, baby. Steer the way.”

Robin Soares is a woman of impeccable musical taste, and the bands she chose for her birthday shindig show it. This is very true of the final band, Cadillac Martini. Boy, was this band a treat for the ears. A small girl singer with a big voice, Keturah Burgess, makes you feel her vocal power, even in the slower songs. You should have heard her delivery of Etta James’s “I’d Rather Go Blind,” a song that challenges the heart and soul of a singer, as well as the technique. This girl singer passed both tests.

Acoustic guitar, organ, and harmonica make up most of the band’s melodic power. The bass player, Dave Smith, had one of those old-fashioned 1960s looking basses that are commonly associated with Paul McCartney. Yet, forget what his four string looks like. He got these smooth instantaneous grooves going that kept the songs moving with a firm, gentle push from behind. The harp man, Frank Berg, blew a mellow string of fulsome notes and the drummer, Dave Vigglioti, is precise, serious in his fills, very traditional and very focused on detail.

The soulful Al Green number “Let’s Stay Together” found Keturah Burgess in top form, her voice rising and rising with notes and feeling while her band mates behind her kept people on the dance floor. Guitarist Rick Nelson sang lead vocals on The Band’s “Take A Load Off” with harp player Frank Berg doing some lead vocals too, his smooth rich tenor fitting right in with the folk-rock number. Cadillac Martini keyboardist, Ramon Sanchez, also played his trumpet last night and he played so well as he goes, blowing a nice clean New Orleans flavored gumbo.

The Fleetwood Mac classic “Gold Dust Woman” gave Burgess a chance to make her presence felt. Her voice controlled the dynamics of the band, singing with strength and conviction.

Cadillac Martini is certainly a classy, talented outfit that fans of roots, R&B, soul, and classic rock would want to check out.

There was an informal jam after Cadillac Martini finished their set, and it likely offered many interesting match ups from the players assembled.

www.5flavordiscount.com