Jon Hathaway’s 50th Birthday Bash brought together some of the most kick ass bands in Rhode Island. Organized by his wife and 5 Flavor Discount band mate Robin Soares, Hathaway hosted Big Cat Blues, Half Star Hotel, Custard Pie, Sinister Minstrel, and Gilmour’s Breakfast before turning into a friendly attitude adjustment roast of the birthday boy.
Held at West Greenwich’s Rock House, I arrived in time to catch Big Cat Blues finishing up an energetic set of rootsie music, and boy we’re they kicking it.
Soon after, Half Star Hotel took to the stage and opened their set with a driving rendition of “Mama Kin” off of Aerosmith’s first album. Half Star’s vocalist is a real belter and the band has really found their niche in raw, punchy rock and roll from the 1970s. They played the Lenny Kravitz tune “My Mama Said” with steady shafts of rhythm. In fact, Half Star’s heavy rhythm section gave each tune lots of lift, and its lead guitar player applied plenty of wiry phrasing.
The Faces tune “(I Know) I’m Losing You” was a constant rising of energy from one section of this song to the next. Half Star Hotel also did one of my favorite Jethro Tull songs “Hymn 43” and they didn’t disappoint.
During Black Sabbaths’ “War Pigs” the drummer was having the time of his life slapping those skins at an inspired frenetic pace that looked like a manic spiritual conversion. Half Star Hotel closed with their driving rendition of The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary,” with their guitarist nailing that piercing lead.
Next up was birthday boy Jon Hathaway’s Led Zeppelin tribute band Custard Pie. Custard Pie opened with “The Immigrant Song “ from Led Zeppelin III, and it was marked by rumbling bass, pulsating drums, and the lead singer’s caterwauling banshee vocal.
On “Heartbreaker” Hathaway’s guitar kept climbing to new heights of expression and phrasing, precise and pristine notes flying out from under this guitarist’s fingertips. Guest harmonica player Dave Howard(formerly of Roomful Of Blues) supplied earthy harp notes on “You Shook Me” and “Bring It On Home” and he really got to showcase his talents in this hard rock format.
Sinister Minstrel played their last gig at this birthday bash, and they went out with style. The front man plays an unusual looking and sounding guitar that is basically a small wooden body, and he gets wild sounds out of it. He and another vocalist sang together in a medieval flavored style with that guitar sounding a bit metallish at times and very clean and precise at others. After playing a Tom Waits tune “Ice Cream Man” they went into “Girl From Honeydew,” a playful tune about having a crush on a young girl working at a Honeydew donut shop.
Sinister Minstrel also have a goofball humor piece called “Picking My Nose” that ended with emotional cheering from a crowd that will clearly miss them
Up last was New England’s premiere tribute band Gilmour’s Breakfast. Gilmour’s Breakfast, a seven piece outfit, opened with “One Of These Days” from Floyd’s 1971 Meddle album. Organ chords built up into explosions of power augmented by drum pounding before a lap steel guitar recreated the intensity of the original recording. The whole song had a quality of fast moving eeriness that made you feel your own plunging decent into madness.
Speaking of madness, Gilmour’s Breakfast tackled a couple of numbers from Floyd’s certifiable late founder Syd Barrett. “Astronomy Domine” gave an idea what Pink Floyd may have sounded like to people who were hearing the band for the first time in London venues in 1967. Cascading organ and guitar were absolutely mind blowing, surrounding the listener and tapping him on the shoulder with its power and urgency.
Gilmour’s Breakfast captured the sly rhythm of Barrett’s “Lucifer Sam” and probably made more than a few members feel that cat moving around the room. “Time” played out like a mountain of sound with its musical pastiches holding it up, especially from the three hundred pounds of muscle drummer who probably grew up breaking things around the house and plays like he knows nobody is going to get in his way.
Robin Soares, of 5 Flavor Discount, sang the over the top choir-like vocal on Floyd’s “The Great Gig In The Sky” and she probably was heard in heaven with her gospel flavored, operatic bursts at the microphone.
Gilmour’s Breakfast is made up of extraordinary musicians. They easily handled ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and they also nailed “Pigs, Three Different Ones.” Spiraling organ notes and intrusive guitar chords from the 1978 Animals album made for some gripping music. Also, material from The Wall forced itself into the consciousness with rangy dynamic impact.
Gilmour’s Breakfast finished their electrifying set with an instrumental from Floyd’s Obscured By Clouds album, a movie sound track the band made during the early seventies and is usually not played on radio or by Pink Floyd live.
After the music, Hathaway’s friends hosted a celebrity roast style mockery of the birthday boy that he had no choice but to endure until his last buddy was finished enumerating his alleged shortcomings. It was all over the top, but I’m not going to quote any of it because there are obscenity laws and nobody who wasn’t there would ever believe me.
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