By Brent Thompson
It’s safe to say that the market for cover and tribute bands has never been healthier. Acts including Black Jacket Symphony, Yacht Rock Revue, The Molly Ringwalds and (Fleetwood Mac tribute band) Rumours tour on a national scale, packing clubs and concert venues along the way. Cover bands have existed for years of course, but today’s brand puts a heightened emphasis on note-for-note renditions with painstaking detail. Though not traveling by luxury bus, the over-the-mountain band The Underhills are cut from the same cloth as their touring counterparts. Professionals by day and players by night, the sextet – Mark Haas, Frank Cater, George Carbonie, Jeff Logan, Ben Fulmer and Mike Barlow – formed seven years ago and have garnered a loyal local following. Leaning heavily on ’80s New Wave and College Rock, the band’s playlist of R.E.M., The Cure, Talking Heads and more will fill Saturn on Saturday, October 28 when The Underhills host their annual Halloween show (costumes encouraged). Recently, we interviewed guitarist Haas as the band placed final touches in preparation for the upcoming event.
Birmingham Stages: Mark, thanks for your time. If you will, give us the origin of The Underhills.
Mark Haas: The idea of playing in a band with peers in the same stage of life had been dancing around in the back of my head without giving thought to the pieces of the puzzle. One night, my neighbors had a party with a band playing in the front yard and Frank Cater – an acquaintance from church – asked to sing a song with the band. I heard him say, [Ozzy Osbourne song] “Crazy Train.” He’s not a guy you’d look at and think, “Crazy Train.” Three minutes later I was already considering the phone call. He did such a great job. He sounded great and he was having fun with it and the people were rooting for him. I called him maybe a week later and he was shocked when I pitched the idea of getting some guys together. He had done some karaoke but had never considered a band or anything like that.
Birmingham Stages: One potential trap for any cover band is playing tired songs. Your band is known for playing cover songs that aren’t so obvious.
MH: My favorite compliment is, “I haven’t heard that song in 25 years.” There’s only so many of those, but we really work hard at trying to find songs that will elicit that response. We’ve got a few in there that seem to fit that mold.
Birmingham Stages: The formation of The Underhills is timely as there seems to be a thirst for cover and tribute bands these days. Whether it’s familiarity or nostalgia, cover bands such as Yacht Rock Revue and The Molly Ringwalds are packing large venues on a regular basis.
MH: Yes, particularly in this stage of life where you don’t have a ton of time to [seek out new music]. For a lot of people, high school and college were the best times of their lives. If you can mentally transport them back, there’s an appeal to that and I think The Molly Ringwalds are a perfect example. It seems like they’re in Birmingham every 60 days and fill up Iron City every time and people love it.
Birmingham Stages: What’s the biggest challenge of being in the band?
MH: Six people with six schedules and trying to pick songs that are agreeable to everybody. I’d say those are the two biggest challenges.
Birmingham Stages: How did your band’s annual Halloween gig take flight?
MH: The first time we ever played in public was a Halloween party in 2010 in Frank’s basement with probably 85 people there. It went over well and it was a good party and it just became a tradition from there. We’ve played at Pale Eddie’s, Otey’s and Mafiaoza’s, where it’s been for the past three years. Mafiaoza’s has been great, but the opportunity came up to play at Saturn where the best of the best are on that stage. They were willing to turn it over to us and we jumped on the opportunity.
Birmingham Stages: I’m not sure “pressure” is the correct description, but the Saturn show will be a platform to grow your audience beyond your built-in following.
MH: We play to a captive audience of largely our friends and people who maybe don’t get out and see live music that much. They’re rooting for us and there’s not a ton of pressure there. We’re hoping to get a good turnout of Saturn’s crowd – a younger, more musically-savvy group – and see if we can entertain them.
The Underhills will perform at Saturn on Saturday, October 28. Admission is free and showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, visit www.saturnbirmingham.com. Saturn is located at 200 41st Street South.