Floozy makes return to home ground
| Wednesday, Jul 01 2009 05:52 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Jul 01 2009 05:52 PM
What: Floozy with The Backup Razor and Fighting the Moon
When: Show starts at 7 p.m.; Floozy at 10 p.m. Friday
Where: Jerry's Pizza, 1871 Chester Ave.
Admission: $5
Are you playing a show soon? Do you have a special sound the world needs to hear? Write about it. Contact Lifestyles Editor Jennifer Self: jself@bakersfield.com or 395-7434.
It started in the dark, dingy basement of Jerry's Pizza. Floozy bandmates Herbie Benham and Chad Richardson were in different punk rock bands then. It took 10 years, two cities and one broken heart to bring them together.
On Friday, the Bakersfield boys come home after a six-year absence to headline at Jerry's with their band, Floozy.
Benham's first band was called the Liberteens and it shared the stage with seminal acts such as T.S.O.L.,Youth Brigade, 7 Seconds, and The Reverend Horton Heat. Barely a three-chord outfit at the time, The Liberteens thrashed around Jerry's and made an impression as a live act with potential.
Richardson formed a jazz/funk band, gigged at Jerry's and became part of the burgeoning downtown music scene.
Richardson had written songs since his early teens, and by 15 had fronted several bands, the standout being Mind the Gap.
Despite growing up together in Westchester, Benham and Richardson's paths never crossed musically until recently. After high school, Benham moved to Los Angeles and played in various bands, including a recording project with two of the founding members of Fishbone. Richardson moved to Santa Barbara and studied music theory as well as performance, and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston for a summer. He played cover songs in restaurants to get by and recorded two albums.
Benham moved to San Francisco in 2008, recorded some new demos, and was looking to put together a band. After a week in the city, he ran into Michael Plunkett, a dreadlocked, manic guitarist from Wisconsin with demos of his own and an almost demonic enthusiasm for music. Shared favorites included Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Tool, and Guns N' Roses, and once they started jamming together, there was some serious chemistry.
Plunkett was at work venting his frustration to a co-worker about how he couldn't find a drummer, and the same co-worker casually mentioned that he was a drummer. The first time Cassidy Price joined Plunkett and Benham for a session it was in a garage barely big enough for a drum set, and Cassidy played like it was Madison Square Garden.
Next, find a bassist. On a whim, Benham called Richardson, his old Westchester neighbor. Having just broken up with his girlfriend, Richardson was leaving Sacramento with no clear destination or purpose except to play music. Benham told him they needed a bass player. Richardson came to watch the band rehearse and joined. After knowing each other for 20 years, having grown up four blocks apart, Benham and Richardson finally linked up as musicians.
Floozy was born. A four-piece band with powerful hard rock and art rock overtones to the music, but a pop sensibility and the search for the perfect hook. Themes of lust and longing are balanced by notions of redemption and victory.
-- Floozy media release
