Reviews
Northern Express, July 1, 2004
By Valerie Kiirn-Duensing
Splendid Havoc puts passion in “Pasticcio”
For old fans of the Traverse City band “Splendid Havoc”, change is in the air. For those not yet acquainted with the band, a treat is in store as their second CD is being released this summer, entitled “Pasticcio”—which, incidentally, is Italian for medley or combination of works from various artists.
“In the past we used to sound kind of folksy, but now we have new band members and have taken a different musical path”, says Michelle Socha, lead vocalist and founder of the band.
If you are a tried and true fan, don’t freak! The primary focus of the group is still tight vocal harmonies; the band just decided to stretch its legs, so to speak, and flex the musical muscles of some of the new members. The result is a variety of styles and sounds that piece together like a beautiful patchwork quilt.
The CD was recorded at Frontier Studios in Copemish, MI. Scott Zylstra from Frontier, along with Socha, co-produced the CD.
“What I like about this new CD is that there’s a lot of passion and energy in the music, Socha says. “Not one song sounds the same”.
The CD consists of nine original songs, each written and composed by various band members. The sounds range from pop, to rock, to funk, to swing,
to do-wop and everything in between. Socha was involved in seven of the songs, including “Standing” which is a tribute to September 11.
Two of the songs have been getting airplay on local radio stations. “Bottle Boy” was a WKHQ “New Music Challenge” winner and “The Smile” was a “Song Wars” winner for four consecutive nights on WTCM FM. As a side note, “The Smile” competed against several national bands and show host Norm Jones did not announce to listeners beforehand that this was a local band.
“We definitely have a vocal niche”, Socha says. “In the past, we had three vocalists. With the addition of guitarist Scott Hawkins, we now have up to four part harmonies that sound awesome.”
Band members consist of Michelle Socha (vocals, percussion), Donnel Grahl (vocals, percussion), Debbie Street (keyboards, vocals, guitar), Scott Hawkins (guitar, bass, vocals), Steve Weldon (saxophone, keyboards), Roland Woodring (drums, percussion) and Kim Tripp (drums, percussion).
Guest artists on the new CD include Marty Sage from “Fourth House In”, guitarist Joe Krellwitz and Dale Smith, the band’s former bass player who moved to Arizona.
Drummer Roland Woodring produced all of the artwork for the new CD, including his original design and sketch for the cover. He also came up with the clever title of the CD, “Pasticcio”.
So where does the band go from here?
“Right now, we are all getting along great and are trying to have fun with this,” Socha says. “We do hope to jump to a higher level of performance. We have our eye on opening act opportunities at Interlochen and similar venues of that nature. Basically, we’ll have to wait to see where this new CD takes us.”
Splendid Havoc will kick off the release of their new CD with a performance on Saturday, July 3, from 5:30 to 9:30 pm out of the deck at the Holiday Inn in Traverse City. They will be performing several songs from the new CD, as well as cover tunes.
Their new CD, “Pasticcio”, will be available at the Holiday Inn gig for $15 or can be purchased at Borders Books & Music and New Moon Records. You can also check out future gigs and band information for Splendid Havoc and can purchase the CD on the band’s website, www.splendidhavoc.com
