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Local progressive rock group the New Ledge Band has tossed aside the guidebook and added a vaudevillian type approach to its show.
Rather than just doing cover songs of Phil Collins - the drummer sometimes brings pictures of Collins, his favorite musician, to the show - the New Ledge Band has found an invisible path off the ledge of pop and into a different the realm of performance.
The New Ledge Band's sound has definitely been an evolution in process. The band writes all its material collectively, and according to guitarist Ryan Murphy, new sound ideas just seem to present themselves.
"Our music has become much more heavy and progressive through the years," Murphy said. "It's really starting to get out there."
But the originality and oddness of the band is part of its charisma. It expresses itself with a continuous flow and variety of entertainment. One performance there might be a guest guitar soloist between songs and the next there might be a comedian.
Drummer Ryan Oslance said that he waits for certain opportunities to use innovative sounds that he's been keeping in the back of his mind.
"We have two new songs that we'll be playing at the show that are really bizarre," Oslance said. "We play everything from bicycle spokes to pots and pans."
Oslance said there is a certain comfort zone a band has to achieve so that the fans enjoy the entire show. Rather than focus on a single style of music, the New Ledge Band wants to give the fans more, and there are no limits to what the band will do.
"We'll select a poem or short story to be read during a song, then we'll choreograph a sporadic interpretive dance like an hour before the show to go with the music," Oslance said. " It gets pretty weird. One time, there was a girl pretending to gnaw off the arm of another girl."
The band has many counterparts to the original line-up. Along with founding members Oslance, Murphy and Mike Alderfer on bass, the band is now accompanied by saxophone players Brendon Greenstreet and Kevin Ohlau, and singers Natalie Hrovat and Andi Wallace.
Individually, the band members have many influences, ranging from Charlie Hunter to King Crimson, but Murphy said the collective sound is probably closer to Mr. Bungle. Of all the different descriptions that could be used to define the New Ledge Band sound, Murphy said it was the best.
"We've had people describe us as Rush on speed," Murphy said.
The New Edge Band has been in Low Key Studios for the past few months laying down tracks for its new untitled album. The band hopes to have a local release party within the next couple of months. The band is also in the process of setting up a live radio performance on WDBX.
No matter what a band sounds like, the main goal is to entertain the audience. The band strays from themed albums and good feeling message songs. "What you see is what you get," is the motto of band in a nutshell, Murphy said.
"A lot of our stuff doesn't really have a deeper meaning," Murphy said. "Everything is just face value with us."
