Drunken Commitments committed to fun
By Don Thrasher
It's a warm and overcast Thursday in late April. True to their name, Darren Noble and Gary "Junior" Leasure of the Drunken Commitments are sitting inside a bar — J Allens on Ludlow Street — discussing their duo over happy-hour drinks.
"I've been a musician all my life and I've been in serious situations and I've taken it seriously, and I still do in other areas; but when it comes to the Drunken Commitments it's not supposed to be that," Noble said. "That's important for our audience to know. They aren't showing up to see the greatest guitarist in the world or the greatest conga player or whatever. They're here to have fun and hear some good music."
Noble (guitar, vocals) and Leasure (congas, vocals, guitar) like to maintain a party atmosphere, which includes plenty of music, drinking and audience participation.
"We're right there with them," Noble said. "We do whatever they're doing, but somehow maintain some kind of professionalism at the same time."
"It's kind of hard to remain completely levelheaded when everybody is bringing you shots and buying you rounds," Leasure said. "We try to keep it as professional as possible, but at the same time we definitely don't forget to go out there and have a good time with everybody."
The Drunken Commitments play a wide array of cover songs by acts as diverse as the Foo Fighters and Van Morrison to the Beatles and Nirvana.
"I think the oldest thing we do is probably some Elvis," Noble said. "Then we go through the '60s and everybody you'd expect all the way up to the newer rock stuff. We also sprinkle some Jimmy Buffet stuff and some of the old acoustic songs in there."
The Drunken Commitments formed officially in August 2005 and are now performing two to four nights a week. The duo is at J Allens tonight and the Markey Lounge in north Dayton on Saturday.
"We're staying really busy," Noble said. "We're now rotating at about five or six places and we're playing about 12 to 15 times a month. I'd like to see it go up to 16 or 17 times a month. Then I'd like to start being a little more selective. That's the plan.
"We want to get down into Cincinnati, too, which will be cool, so we don't wear out a good thing here in Dayton," he added. "Any act can get old after a while so we need to spread it out."
To find out more, visit
www.thedrunkencommitments.com.
Rock Insider, by freelance arts and music writer Don Thrasher, appears weekly and gives a behind-the-scenes view of the Dayton music scene. Contact Thrasher by e-mail at donaldthrasher8@aol.com
