Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime
04/25/2014 :: Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel :: Providence, RI
Openers: Ballyhoo!
Bad Larry<3
 Photos By: Brett Witten & Tenzin Sonam
Words By: Chloe Carlton
I have been loving Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence lately, with their friendly staff and well laid out venue. Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime, a Providence based cover band made the most of this space, filling it with the upbeat punk/reggae sounds of Sublime.
Starting out the night was Cranston, RI based band Bad Larry. Sadly I arrived right as their set ended, but I was lucky enough to talk to lead guitarist and vocalist Paul later on in the night. He was incredibly nice and gave me a cd so I could give his band a listen. Their fast-paced, ska punk sounds gave off a vibe similar to Reel Big Fish, making it nearly impossible to not get up and dance once I turned it on. The quick drum beats by Justin mixed with the amazing horns by Nick, Josh, and Wade gave off a fun Cali feel and made me wish I had gotten to Lupo’s earlier.
Next up was Aberdeen, MD based Ballyhoo! made up of Howi Spangler(lead vocals/guitar), Donald Spangler(drums), Scott Vandrey(keys), and J.R. Gregory(bass). Their energy-filled sound was a mix of punk/pop and reggae and you could tell that the audience was feeling it. I was extremely excited when they played ‘Battle Cry’, which just so happens to be my favorite Ballyhoo! track and was equally thrilled to hear their awesome cover of ‘Ready or Not’ by The Fugees. These boys definitely got the audience pumped and I would love to go see them again in the future. One thing that was clearly visible when watching the band was how cohesive they were and how much fun they were having. At one point, Howi introduced J.R. and stepped back to dance and take pictures of the amazing solo that J.R. was playing. Watching this candid moment of friends performing on stage together and having the time of their lives made it easy to figure out how they got people moving the way that they did. After the set I caught up with Nick Lucera, the band’s new bassist. Although he has big shoes to fill, his history shows that he will no doubt be an awesome edition to the band. I can’t wait to hear what comes next for these guys.
As I was listening to Donald and Nick talk tips and advice, the lights turned down and from the speakers came the familiar sound of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen. It turns out the rest of the audience was just as excited as I was and proceeded to belt out the song in entirety. As the song ended, the audience got louder as they saw Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime take the stage. Originating from Providence, you could tell that the crowd and the band were especially pumped for this hometown show. They kicked it off with ‘Jailhouse’ and went right into the song that is their namesake, ‘Badfish’. If you closed your eyes while the amazing Pat Downes was singing, you would no doubt think that you were listening to the infamous Bradley Nowell. The band had an incredible energy level, with Joel Hanks on bass giving some solid kicks, Dorian Duffy making melodic sounds on the guitar and keys, and Scott Begin on drums producing some awesome rhythms. Although I was having an awesome time watching the entire band rock out, my eye definitely kept going to the band’s amazingly talented Gerard Ramm on the saxophone. From my
place on the side of the stage I was able to see that the energy he had didn’t stop when he left the stage, in fact I almost accidentally tripped him as he ran on the stage. The band also welcomed the talented Ray Gennari on stage, playing guitar, trombone, and the keys. When ‘Waiting for my Ruca’ started, everyone but Pat and Scott left the stage, making for an intimate, simple sound that was right on point for the track. When the boys left the stage after playing ‘Santeria’, I realized just how not ready I was for the show to end. The crowd seemed to be right with me on that feeling and the boys delivered with an amazing encore, starting with ‘Smoke 2 Joints’. When they started playing the intro to ‘Thriftshop’, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis I knew we were in store for an awesome version of ‘Pawnshop’. As they started playing their last song,‘What I Got’, they began pulling up girls from the crowd and by the end of the show, there was a stage full of girls, Badfish, and awesome energy. What more could you ask for?
Badfish is currently touring the east and I would highly recommend getting yourself some tickets! Click here for a date near you.
Photos of the opener Ballyhoo! by Tenzin Soman
Photos of Badfish & Ballyhoo! by Brett Witten
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