| From the March 2000 issue of Feedback. |
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| *
Hear an Iratowns song here in Real Audio. * Dan Campbell rocks from leg to leg,
wincing and grimacing as though being stuck in
the ribs with a hot poker. His
arm is a blur of activity, sending a flash of
sixteenth notes from his electric violin into the
crowd of shake-dancing hippie kids in front of
the stage. Just four measures later he jets
out an equally impressive stream of notes with a
flippant look that says, "Thanks for the
applause, but this is really nothing."
|
| The music of Iratowns, the band
Campbell fiddles for, changes attitudes and
styles just as unexpectedly: from the Grateful
Dead's "I Know You Rider" to a hoedown
version of Guns n' Roses' "Welcome to the
Jungle" to their own magnum opus,
"Stonegate Proper," Iratowns does it
all. Though the entire instrumental lineup
is impressive -- Brian Lewis on keyboards, Sid
Crigler on drums, John Dent on bass -- it is
Campbell's classically-trained violin that
usually leads the charge down Iratowns' many
improvisatory pathways. |
| That Campbell is a whiz on
fiddle is logical considering he began learning
the instrument at age five. "I was one
of those kids who's parents made them take
lessons on an instrument," Campbell
recalls. "I never objected to it the
way many kids do. I'm not saying I was
eating it up like Itzhak Perlman must have when
he was five, but I didn't want to quit. My
parents wouldn't have let me, anyhow!"
Campbell says he's now glad that his parents
insisted he take up an instrument, "I think
I kind of stand as a testament to parents, not
forcing their kids to do something they don't
want to do, but insisting that they stay with
something when they're young." He has
this advice for parents who's children have
musical longings, "If your kid wants to play
electric guitar at seven, maybe they would be
better off learning a more formal
instrument. Then they would have the option
of expanding that any way they want. That's
what I did." |
| When he was growing up rock n'
roll was disdained in the Campbell home, and the
young bowman was raised on classical symphonies
and the music of his mother's church. It
was not until high school that he heard the
heathen rhythms of...Neil Peart. "In
high school I started getting interested in (rock
music), mainly from other guys in marching band
who were into things like Rush and Yes. I
was fascinated by it all of a sudden, especially
stuff like Rush and Yes that was so advanced
musically and had so much in common with
classical music." |
| Winter 1995 found the future members of
Iratowns attending Auburn University, where they
decided to put a band together. Former
guitarist/vocalist Jack Hemby, Lewis and Crigler
had been friends previously at Huntsville High
School but knew Campbell, also a Huntsville High
alum, primarily through his violin reputation; he
was now majoring in violin and classical
composition. Bassist John Dent of
Birmingham, Alabama was majoring in bass guitar
at the school and was found through auditions. |
| Like all new bands the group had two hurdles
to clear: finding a place to practice and
choosing a name. Both birds were killed
with one stone. "Searching for a place
to practice was kinda tough, so that led me to a
church that I had been going to, Faith Alliance
Church in Opelika, Alabama. There was a
lady there who recommended we ask the pastor
about a place to practice. His name was
Rev. Ira Towns. That's the story of the
name right there. We just thought it was
unique, had a ring to it and no one would know
what it meant offhand," the violinist says. |
| Making their debut at Huntsville's Club 115
in 1995 the band leaned heavily on covers, the
crowd favorites being the Charlie Daniels Band's
"Devil Went Down to Georgia" and
Alabama's "Dixieland Delight."
Later Frank Zappa nuggets and even Spinal Tap's
"Stonehenge" were added to their
repertoire. Some of these covers are still
intact in the band's set, but Campbell says they
probably have three hours' worth of their own
material now. |
| Iratowns seem to fit right in with the
current jam-groove craze (we call it Honest music
in Feedback), but Campbell explains how
the Iratowns' sound differs from what is usually
called jam music, "We do improvise, open it
up, stretch it out. The bigger influence on
that for us is Frank Zappa, old fusion like
Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Jeff
Beck, then the whole Phish/Grateful Dead/Allman
Brothers thing is in there, too. But 'jam
band' is sort of a pigeonhole for us because so
much of what we do is composed and from a
progressive tradition. Eclecticism really
is the name of our game." |
| Generally, Iratowns sound contains more
melodrama and precisely crafted dynamics than the
two-chord, off-the-cuff vamp of a lot of other
jam groups. Think less Widespread Panic,
more King Crimson. Iratowns orchestral
tunes are often written out by Campbell by hand
as sheet music, then distributed to the other
band members. Other tunes are truly
improvised from riffs that come up during
rehearsals. Live, during the improvised
sections, Brian Lewis' deft, jazzy piano lines
dance and spin with Campbell's elaborate webs of
violin, inspiring the audience to do the same. |
| Due to their success in cities like Mobile,
Alabama and Tallahassee, Florida they have not
had to work regular jobs in years, but Campbell
says the band moved to Atlanta last year still
seeking to expand their horizons. "We
came here thinking there's likely to be a
stronger ear for something as sophisticated as
what we're trying to do. There are more
people in this five or six county area than in
all of our other markets combined and
multiplied. There are people from all over
the country here. We also wanted to be more
visible to other people who might help us, and to
other musicians to collaborate with. We
wanted to see more shows, which we certainly have
done since we moved here." Campbell
says not long before this interview the band
caught Bela Fleck at The Tabernacle during his Tales
from the Acoustic Planet Vol. 2 tour. |
| Atlanta has greeted the band with open
arms. Their first month in town they were
invited to play live on Z-93 The Dunhams'
radio show, which led to a review in Feedback
subtly titled, "Holy Shit, it's
IRATOWNS!" Colonel Bruce Hampton has
sat in with them, and weekend appearances at the
Brandy House and the Somber Reptile have quickly
been added to dates in new markets like Nashville
and Tampa. |
| As this article was being prepared
vocalist-guitarist Jack Hemby left the band
because of "family concerns," an e-mail
from the band says. If you or someone you
know thinks they could add a little David Gilmour
to this Pink Floyd, go to their Web site, www.iratowns.com
, and apply! If you've got a hankerin' for
a CD you can get their self-released disc, A
Series of Clicks and Whistles, there, too. |
| Dan Campbell says they just want to keep
making the kind of music they're making and see
where it takes them. As for you, you need
to take yourself and some friends to see
Iratowns! |
|
The Man of a Thousand
Faces: Iratowns'
Dan Campbell
|
