Posted by: Admin on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 10:05 AM
The Drunken Commitments
By Paul Barbatano
It appears that The Drunken Commitments, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Darren Noble and multi-instrumentalist “Junior,” want to be your new favorite bar band, and you could definitely do worse. Although they play fairly standard bar fare tunes – a mix of covers and originals — they play them with heart. It’s hard enough performing as a duo, but the idea of actually playing tunes that are catchy and occasionally sweet adds to the duo’s charm. “One Thing” (the demo on the band’s MySpace site) is schmaltzy but not overtly so, a good way to end the night on a high note.
“Darren had started doing solo gigs billed as ‘Darren and Friends’ about two years ago,” Junior said. “We had been friends a year or so prior to that, and usually before the end of the night, he would talk me into getting up and playing a couple of songs. One night, we were talking about the idea of adding some percussion to the gig, and next thing I knew I was out buying congas. I think I totally shocked him when I told him what I’d done. From that point on, we’ve been constantly changing what we do to make it the best we can.”
As far as being an actual band with records and a busy touring schedule, The Drunken Commitments don’t really officially exist yet. They have a well-done demo on their MySpace (the new solution to any struggling, upcoming band’s many needs) site and are taking the city on solely by word-of-mouth and their long history of playing music.
“Both of us have been playing music for over 20 years, but Darren is the trained musician,” Junior said. “I played in bands years ago but gave it up shortly afterward until around the time I met Darren. He inspired me to renew my passion for music, and I started back by recording a couple songs in his studio at Titanium in 2004.”
The duo have grand plans for their collaboration but no immediate plans to take it any further than their present comfort zone, although a CD of home recordings may surface eventually.
“We get asked from time to time about recording a CD, and we have been working towards something of that nature,” Junior said. “I think we will get to putting something together in the near future. Whether it’s original stuff or covers that we get the most requests for is yet to be decided and, who knows, we may end up doing a little of both.”
The songwriting process the duo uses is also very scattershot, which doesn’t lend well to sitting down and recording songs.
“I occasionally will pull out one of my latest songs and try it out on the crowd,” Junior said. “I don’t consider myself a singer, so I don’t feel real comfortable doing it. A couple of the songs have become real popular with people and when I take the mic, I can be talked into singing one or two. Darren and I write totally independently but will share the songs before we ever play them live. When I go to record songs with him, that’s a totally different situation. He has a very critical air and is very helpful (in) adding constructive criticism.”
The duo is also very committed to their musical stomping grounds, but Junior insists that change in the local scene may be necessary.
“I think Dayton has some great bands and some very talented musicians, but I don’t see enough bars and venues dedicated to live music and appreciating what it takes to be successful in the business,” Junior said. “The places that are dedicated to the music are great, but compared to other cities, Dayton seems behind the curve. I still love it, though — it’s my hometown.”
As far as their own plans go, The Drunken Commitments (who may be known as just ‘The DC’s by the time this story runs) have no plans to tour nationally themselves.
“I love playing live,” Junior said. “It’s what we do. For me, there’s nothing like seeing people having a great time dancing and cheering us on. As far as touring, I don’t think there’s much of a national market for what we do, but we have found ourselves in Cincinnati and Cleveland this year. We enjoy getting out of town and seeing new places and meeting new people, so I don’t think we’d turn down the opportunity to play other places if it was the right situation. We just want to be the best at what we do: entertaining our friends and everyone that comes out to see us.”
These guys deserve your attention because they’re doing something familiar while at the same time messing around by adding unconventional instruments into the mix. It’s also great to see two middle-aged guys cranking out silly covers as well as emotional originals. They’re not doing this because they think they’re hot shit; they’re doing it because the love it, and that becomes reason enough to head out and see them.
The Drunken Commitments perform in the Dayton area nearly every week. This week, you can catch them at J-Alans, 121 Ludlow Street, on Friday, November 17. For show info, call (937) 222-4811.
Reach DCP music writer Paul Barbatano
at contactus@daytoncitypaper.com.