Sparkling Apple jam was an unqualified success!

Captain Maniac in rock star mode! What a shot — thanks, Lisa!

We haven’t yet posted a play-by-play and post mortem review of our recent Sparkling Apple jam at the Point Pub in Port Moody BC —  so finally, here it is in all its inimitable glory! (All photos, every one of them including the video, by Lisa Freakrock.)

The incriminating video: http://youtu.be/o0FB76bHN48

Yes, as we threatened in our last blog post, we were the “host band” on February 5, 2014 at the weekly Freakrock Jam . And truth be told, it went extremely well, considering we had to make do without our guitarist, Art the Fart the Heavy Metal Kid. Art, as we mentioned previously, was out of the country on a “rest and relaxation” seminar, so we performed the show with substitute players. As Rosie mentioned, we had to replace him with two people, but the stand-ins we chose were of high quality and impeccable calibre. Kevin stepped up to the plate and played lead guitar, Johnny Ramone-style (complete with ripped jeans and black leather jacket), and in HIS place, the bass guitar duties were handled by the incomparable Larry Pardue, a rock n roll veteran if there ever was one. As seen in the above photo, I sang lead vocals out front on a few tunes, so drummer extraordinaire Kelly Stodola was hand-picked to be guest percussionist.

Kevin channels Johnny Ramone!

First out of the gate was the Sparkling Apple classic, “Get Off the Stove, You’re Too Old To Ride the Range”, played in the style of  The Who (Kevin admitted that he had a brown Les Paul just like Pete Townshend, so he was comfortable in this role). Larry had only just heard this song on the Hard Core Apple CD, and Kevin had never played this tune on lead guitar before, but we were pleasantly delighted by the final outcome — it rocked beyond belief! Next, the old chestnut “Shakin All Over” segued into the familiar “feelthy” version of “Gloria”, followed by the Rolling Stones/Chris Farlowe song “Out of Time” (Lisa’s favourite song), with the unparalleled Larry Pardue on lead vocals.

On bass, the incomparable Larry Pardue (ex-Idle Eyes)

The jam then commenced, and several amazing players entertained us, including three actual bands (The Nerve being the highlight of the evening, in my not-so-humble opinion). At about 9PM, Sparkling Apple returned to the stage as “host band”, this time with Kelly Stodola on drums and Captain Maniac fronting. Three songs were performed featuring the peerless vocal styling of Captain Maniac on “the only song I know”, “Roadhouse Blues”, AC/DC’s “Sin City”, and our latest single, “Crazy For Your Love”. For the enjoyment of all concerned, no rap music was performed, and at no time were any animals harmed.