Send in the clones: Tribute bands are ready to rock

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

They're not cover bands — they're tribute bands, and a bunch of them will be ready to strut their musical stuff at the Rock Fest in Hale'iwa Saturday.

ABBA begets Bjorn Again. Pink Floyd begets Which One's Pink? Tom Petty begets Petty Theft. And don't even get us started on the Red Not Chili Peppers or Steely Damned.

They're the calling signs of the tribute band. In the pantheon of live music, they're a large step above the cover band that simply retreads long-in-the-tooth hits (oooh ... Sha Na Na!), and a small step below barely breathing has-beens counting at least one original member who could barely draw blood, much less an audience, by going solo (ahhh ... The Beach Boys!).

This weekend's Rock Fest promises a collection of mimic masters unlike any previously gathered for similar bargain-priced North Shore tribute band festivals. (Yeah, we're being sarcastic.)

Geddy Lee's eardrum shattering yelps leave fellow Canadians Loverboy, Anne Murray and Aldo Nova fighting for second-tier slots in your CD collection? Moving Pictures promises a Rush set list of everything from 1974's "Working Man" to 1982's equally unbearable "New World Man."

Don't know whether drug-addled '70s Aerosmith, drug-free '80s Aerosmith or drug-inducing '90s Aerosmith keeps your train a-rollin'? Get all three when Rocks takes you from the heights of "Dream On" to the depths of "Jaded."

Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad for David Lee Roth-era Van Halen? The Atomic Punks return to Hawai'i to show why Sammy Hagar wasn't half the man in spandex Diamond Dave was.

Your unofficial program guide for all three tribs follows.

Inspired by Van Halen

•	Rock Fest With Atomic Punks (Van Halen), Rocks (Aerosmith), Moving Pictures (Rush) Noon Saturday North Shore Marketplace Entertainment Field $20 general, $17.50 advance 637-3074, 372-6075, 622-2196

First, in 1999, for his umpteenth post-Van Halen comeback failure, DLR Band. The second, just before this summer's "Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll" co-headlining tour with fellow ex-Van Halen lead yowler and enemy mine Sammy Hagar.

Under normal circumstances, that's about as ring-a-ding-ding an endorsement as any aspiring tribute band could hope to get from the fountainhead of its inspiration. But the Los Angeles-based, Roth-era Van Halen tribute band hardly needed it. The Punks were already one of the best bands plying the rock 'n' roll tribute waters before Roth figured he might as well jump on its ax men.

"Dave called us and actually asked if it would be all right because he does realize what he's doing," Ralph Saenz, the Punks' resident Roth doppelganger, said of this year's poaching. "And of course, it's, like, anything to help out Dave. But I'll be honest. At first, I was really bummed out."

Luckily, Saenz was able to quickly recruit the Punks' new "Eddie," Russ Parrish, after hearing his note-for-note matching of Van Halen's formidable fret skills.

Together since 1994, the Atomic Punks have few illusions about its lowly place in the music and touring biz. Saenz said he prefers saving all seriousness for the band's religious preparation and execution of its acclaimed VH tribute performances.

"We know we're just a tribute band," said Saenz, a rabid Roth-era VH fan since high school. "We don't think we're Van Halen. I don't go around thinking I'm David Lee Roth. What we go on stage and do is celebrate the band's music with people that totally love it like we do.

"All we're really doing is providing a service to people who want to remember what it was like when their favorite band was on top of the world."

And the dearth of critical respect typically awarded tribute bands?

"That's OK because we don't deserve any respect," said Saenz, matter-of-factly. "We're tribute bands, man! We don't write the material. We're out making a living off of somebody else's material."

If nothing else, it certainly doesn't hurt Punks' credibility that Roth (and VH bassist Michael Anthony, who once sat in with the Punks in concert) has given the band his in-person blessing.

"I've met (Roth) a couple of times," said Saenz, enthusiastically. "He's a super guy. Totally cool ... very respectful. My wife and I met him at the Rainbow Room when he took our first guitar player."

Saenz even went to see this summer's "heavyweight" musical equivalent of a Gerry Cooney vs. Buster Douglas match-up, with no hard feelings.

"He'd better like the band," Saenz said of Roth, laughing. "I mean, we're basically his farm team, for crying out loud."

Ralph Saenz's essential Van Halen: "All six David Lee Roth albums" with a starter kit being "Van Halen I," "Van Halen II" and "Van Halen III."

All about Aerosmith

We're guessing Saenz forgot to tell Jay Basinger — the Steven Tyler clone of Aerosmith tribute band Rocks — about dropping all hints of seriousness when waxing on his chosen profession. Take this quotable nugget of genetic hoo-ha.

"There's a certain essence about Steven that is very spiritual, yet very sexual that comes from deep inside him," said Basinger, his normal speaking voice about as Tyler-esque as, say, Conan O' Brien's. "I realized that I have similar things going on inside me. A similar kind of spiritual make-up, a certain kind of sexuality that is eerily similar to him.

"I locked into it, and connected to what makes him tick as far as what makes him just this charismatic, incredible front man."

Uh-huh. We were tempted to tell Basinger to "Dream on!" as well.

Thankfully, though, the Rocks lead singer charmed when charting the hours of tenacious research and preparation he invested in mimicking the man who gave the world "Jamie's Got A Gun" and Liv Tyler — no small achievements.

Before Rocks' first on-stage appearance in 1997, "I intensely studied every Aerosmith video I could get my hands on," Basinger said. "All of the live footage I could find, from the band playing in Houston in 1978 to bootleg live performances on video to every video the band made in the '80s and '90s." He even enlisted '70s Tyler outfitter Alek Adorian to design his Me Decade-era Aerosmith stagewear.

"I do a lot of the strutting, a lot of the pouting, a lot of the spinning around with the mike stand," Basinger said. "We have a really genuine love for Aerosmith music and the whole band."

The band even took top honors on Dick Clark's 1999 "Star Search" clone series "Your Big Break," with a cover of "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." Basinger's continued mention of the win begged a question regarding his, uh, Tyler visage.

"I look enough like him as far as facial structure, cheek bone structure and hair," Basinger said. "I've got the mouth. I've got the lips."

Yeah, but do genetics enter this equation, as well?

"I was, I think, blessed to be able to step into this role without having any major surgery," he said.

Jay Basinger's essential Aerosmith: "Toys In The Attic," "Rocks" and "Pump"

Ruled by Rush

Raise your hands if you're a Rush fan. C'mon, don't be embarrassed.

"I was a Rush freak," said Scott Patterson, founder of the tribute band Moving Pictures, and its resident "Neil Peart." "I was fanatical. I had notebooks in school where I'd trace Rush album covers and then draw them on. On one notebook, I had the red star from '2112.' On another notebook, I had the 'Fly By Night' owl, and on another, the 'Hemispheres' guy."

All pretty darn impressive if I possessed any memory of Rush album covers beyond the red jump-suited guys toting paintings on "Moving Pictures."

Reviled by almost as many music critics as they are beloved by thousands of dedicated fans still quietly snapping up their albums, the Canadian prog-rock trio Rush actually inspired Patterson's nascent childhood musicianship. In particular, the undeniably talented Peart and his Great White North-sized drum kit.

"Being a drummer since I was 6 years old ... I liked the fact that Rush was a band that was predominantly ruled by drums ... where (Peart) really shined," said Patterson.

Largely self-taught and already too familiar with the "elementary" drum beats on KISS and Alice Cooper albums, a junior-high-age Patterson made drumming like his hero Peart a personal challenge. "It took me a long time to get it down, but I did."

In 2002, seeking an alternate musical plane for his drumming — he has also served as Atomic Punks' resident "Alex Van Halen" since its founding — Patterson resurrected a defunct Los Angeles-based Rush tribute band as side project Moving Pictures. The band is an opening act at many Atomic Punks dates.

Happily, Patterson said his duties for both the Punks and Pictures don't include the need for mirroring Alex Van Halen or Neil Peart in anything other than drumming skills.

"I'm covered up by drums anyway, so it really doesn't matter what I'm wearing," Patterson said.

Scott Patterson's essential Rush: "Hemispheres," "Hold Your Fire" and "2112"