Guavatron, Tand Pull Dunedin Brewery Double-Doubleheader
South Florida invaded Dunedin Brewery for two nights (Friday and Saturday, February 1 & 2) in the form of Guavatron and Tand, two shining examples of the great music pouring out of that part of the Sunshine State.
FRIDAY
Tand shot the weekend’s opening salvos with a killer instrumental psychedelic rock tune called “Out of Season Sweater,” then shifting to funk for “Bad Habits.” Each of the four band members sang lead at some point during the weekend, often with two or three backing vocals. Guitarist Taylor Godsey sang that one.
“Welcome Home” featured some delicious space bass from Pete Krause, followed by a rocker with a reggae lilt titled “Welcome Home,” Godsey and Krause trading lead vocals. After “Open Road,” they played a fun cover of “Money for Nothing” with keyboard master Daryl Wolff singing, the other guys with that falsetto backing. They invited Adonis Guava from Guavatron up on guitar, and a massive psychedelic jam ensued, Wolff on electric piano.
“Journeyman” was an organ feature for Wolff, and they closed night one with nice rocker “Swim,” Godsey on vocals. Ali Nassar powered the entire set from his drum kit and matched up perfectly with Krause on bass, and Godsey shredded solos all set long.
[TAND01: Out of Season Sweater, Bad Habits, Welcome Home, Open Road, Money for Nothing, Journeyman, Swim]
It only took Guavatron seven minutes to hit that glorious jamtronic groove they do so well in the middle of a 15-minute “Get it On” that featured half a dozen tempo changes. “Springroll” (unfinished) started off with a “Fortune Teller”-like vamp, Guava and drummer Casey Luden on nice harmony vocals.
There were transitions galore as they wove in and out of the tune, segueing into “Xilla” and more amazing jamtronic magic. Godsey jumped in on guitar while Roddy Hansen worked out on organ. Guava was crushing that James Brown funk guitar while Godsey had a great solo. And the man of the night was Conor Crookham on bass. He is straight-up badass and killed all set long. That sequence lasted an amazing 47 minutes.
The Reality and Guavatron have a great relationship, and two of the Reality boys — Dan Jones on trombone and vocals and Caleb Bone on vocals — sat in for a solid “Wait for This,” and Guavatron then knocked out a great “Hot Sauce.”
[GUAVA01: Get It On, Springroll (unfinished) > Xilla > Gloopin, Wait for This (w/ dan and Caleb), Hot Sauce]
It was early. Were they done? Heck no! A brand new band formed. Let’s call it: Follow the Real Guava Tand. Mike Bryant, proprietor of Dunedin Brewery, sat in on keyboards; he leads several bands, including Follow the Monarchs. Caleb Bone grabbed the bass, Nassar sat at the kit, and Godsey and Guava manned the guitars. And what poured out was a magnificent 21-minute jam that funked and rocked and jammed like mad. You would never know this was a one-off event, a tribute to all musicians of this level who can just sit down and PLAY.
[Follow the Real Guava Tand: Jam]
SATURDAY
Tand’s Friday set was very good; Saturday’s was incredible. They blew it out immediately with a killer “Fast Money,” an instrumental romp that began as a dark jam that became lighter as they developed it. Godsey, Nassar and Wolff all sang on “Right Side Up,” and then Krause and Godsey sang “Opposite Attraction,” a bouncy tune that almost veered into ska. Hansen sat in on synths while Wolf played electric piano and organ on “Fat Too,” another funky jam.
Next they whipped out a fabulous disco thing called “Everybody Party” that had precisely that vibe, a ton of fun. Godsey dedicated “Debt” to its composer, the late Trip Gray, who wrote many of the band’s early tunes. After that, they totally crushed “Down with Disease,” a brilliant 20-minute jam. Krause had another superb evening, Nassar driving the jam expertly. Everybody had a chance to shine, especially Wolff, first on synths, then organ (left hand) and electric piano (right hand). They rocked the end of the set with “Die Hard.”
[TAND02: Intro > Fast Money, Right Side Up, Opposite Attraction, Fat Too, Everybody Party, Debt, Down With Disease, Die Hard]
After an amazingly quick set change, Guavatron opened night two with a nice long jam that started very smooth but changed tempo from “Here to Stay > Turtle Dream.” Hansen was on organ, Guava again killing that James Brown funky guitar stuff. By the end of the 23-minute instrumental outing, they were once again in crush mode. The next rocker, “Voyager,” featured Guava and Luden on vocals. The jam just continued to build as it transitioned into “Spring Roll (ending).” Crookham had a lovely bass intro that turned into “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).” He also had a nice solo; Luden took a quick one as well, and the “D Funke” jam turned just plain sick. There was a different vibe than the previous night: equally deluxe, but on steroids.
It got sicker when Godsey grabbed his guitar and joined in again, some ridiculous funk pouring out with Nine Inch Nails’ “Hand That Feeds.” Not sick enough yet? How about Wolff grabbing his key-tar and jumping on the speaker by the keyboards, Krause now on bass. This was ridiculous. Nassar took over the drum kit (when did that happen?), and now all of Tand were up there with Guava and Hansen. When somebody — who’s the guilty party here? Nassar? — steered it into “Machine Gun,” it was near pandemonium.
Once that 20-minute jam finished, we thought that might be it. We were wrong — delightfully so. Nassar, Crookham, Godsey and Wolff ripped another incredible jam that teased “Funky Town,” and then drummer Luden grabbed a guitar, and he ripped a great solo!
[GUAVA02: Here to Stay > Turtle Dream, Voyager > Spring Roll (ending), This Must Be the Place (Naive melody) > D Funke, Hand That Feeds (Nine Inch Nails), Super jam with Tand 1 & 2]
WOW! What a fabulous weekend! Thanks to Mike Bryant and Dunedin Brewery for making this happen. And both bands will be at Orange Blossom Jamboree May 15-19 at Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville.
AND LET’S GET GUAVATRON ON JAM CRUISE!
TAND
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Audio and video from both nights should surface soon. If they do from Saturday, I need to prepare you for a shock. Not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR TIMES *somebody* (and I think there were multiple culprits), began singing “Baby Shark (Doo doo doo doo doo doo).”
You have been warned. If you DON’T know about “Baby Shark,” by all means remain ignorant. You’d thank me immensely if only you knew the insidiousness of this “melody.”
