Saturday Night on the Iowa Side

It’s really cool when I show up to see a band and find a whole bunch of my friends already there! That happened this weekend at Purgatory Pub in Bettendorf… but before that, I paid a visit to the Hawkeye Tap in Northwest Davenport to check out a little known band called Secret Squirrel.

Secret Squirrel is unique in this area – they have a horn-driven sound, and could very easily have a big band sound.  Saturday night there were 9 members in attendance, well, 9 and a guest drummer. I’ve heard they sometimes have twelve onstage. Twelve – wow! Saturday’s showing included trumpet, trombone, two sax players (who also doubled on flute and what appeared at the distance to be a clarinet – though I didn’t get to hear that played), keyboards, guitar, bass, drums – and a singer. I was surprised to see nine on the small stage at the Hawkeye. These guys and gals know how to put it together and make the most use of the space allowed, that’s for sure.

I heard some horn-intensive songs, like Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and their rendition of Moondance. Something I didn’t expect to hear was Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down”. An even bigger surprise was that last song was the best I heard while I was there. Who’d have imagined a band with all those horns could rock Queen the way they did?

The guest drummer was David James Genac (also known as “Vid”) he’s a cool cat drummer who I’ve seen do guest shots with other bands, and has been a regular in bands such as Tri-Polar XXXPress, The Knock-offs and Nervous Rex. Vid told me during the break he’ll be doing another show with this massive band on November 26. I guess I should have asked where…

I left the Hawkeye and trekked to the east end and then some, winding up at Purgatory Pub in downtown Bettendorf. Yes, I know I just saw Wicked Nature last week, but was curious to hear how they sounded in the much smaller room at Purgs. Whoa boy! It was loud, but it was a good loud. And the crowd there was huge! Wicked Nature packed the house. There were a number of local musicians in the house, including a contingent of the Skynny Skynyrd crew – better than half of the 9 member band.  Also spotted was Jeff Hazen of Simon Says Uncle. I’m sure there were plenty of others – the crowd was just so big I couldn’t see them all!

Here's a little video of Wicked Nature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR3m60ihbbI&feature=youtu.be