panchromatic steel drum joins mama digdowns brass band for a fat Tuesday show on Tuesday, February 13th at the high noon saloon here to tell you
About their bands and upcoming show is Chad Bartell of panchromatic steel and rock oily of mama digdowns brass band Chad
Rock welcome to maxing radio
Hey very nice for having us happy to have you here, okay for the listeners. Oh, no
Are there some that might not be familiar with either of these bands or with what a steel or a pan drum is
Would one of you explain for all of us? Oh, I can do that. Okay. I'm just kidding. I should probably take it as it relates
Yeah, this is this is Chad from panchromatic
And we were on this show not too long ago. We had a really excellent session playing outside in the lobby there and live in the wire
It had a great time, but for those who may not be familiar with steel drums very I they are actually
oil drums that have been
pounded into a bowl and
With these dense that ring when you strike them with rubber tip mallets and it makes a lovely bell type sound a lot of people associate that with kind of tropical music and
You know fun in in the sun, and it's got it's a great feel good sound
But it's also there's also a lot of depth behind the music too, which we like to explore excellent. And where do they come from?
They're from Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean not from Jamaica not from anywhere else
Well now tell us about the ap's panchromatic steel band and one inspired you to start that band
Gosh, you know, I I went to a college that had a great steel band program
I didn't get around to doing it
But I was vacationing in the Caribbean about eight or ten years ago or so and then I heard it and I said hey
That's something I really wanted to do and um, you know, I came back to Madison and I just I
I bought a drum and I kind of taught myself how to play it
I've been a musician my whole life so it wasn't a huge stretch
And I've done a lot of mallet percussion so it was within my skill set
But you know, of course you have to fine tune that you're you know, you're brain to where all the notes are and everything and
But and there have been a steel band around Madison for a long time
You probably remember the old topo emi
Oh yes, yeah, so they were they were such a big influence on me
And I loved going to hear them play and so but you know when that band stopped playing
Some fellow musicians and I we just said hey, we got to find a way to bring steel man music back to Madison. Oh, that is so cool
Well, let's speak with rock
Oh
Mama digdowns brass band 30 years ago the band was called mama digdowns brass junction
Tell us a little bit about the history behind this storied band and where you guys are right now
All right, I want to do that first low. Let's give a shout out to tune in dad and Tobago's track team for the upcoming Olympics
Because that's why we're for every year because there's only like was there two countries or one
I just don't know but there's quite a bit going on there. So anyway
Uh, mom digdown brass junction
When we first started playing brass band music we didn't really understand a lot about it
That's you know the ropes you run
And um and we discovered that really if we're a brass band we should be called a brass band
So while the junction was clever
That isn't the purpose of the bit name of the band. Yeah. Yeah, that's how it kind of changed and it's funny
Because I think of mama digdowns brass junction is lasting a couple months
But we have like t-shirts and hats and a whole bunch of gear that still has the junction. So I must have been at least a year
And and where are you guys where are you guys at now 30 years? Oh my tell us about a little bit about that
That's a that's a time. Yeah, it's been I've been. No, it's been a long road
But a lot of guys come through the groups. We've had a standard band for about 20 plus years at same fellas
And I think just being flexible and and you know
The music we play is a lot of it's a most of it's all learned by year
So guys come sit in and then they learn the tunes and so that's kind of help keep it going
I always make the analogy that if like you two was at the height of their career
If the edge couldn't make a gig they wouldn't do it and and that's not us
You know, we can still look it without the edge
Okay, so you've got this cool fat Tuesday thing coming up. Why does it? Hmm tastes so good
Well it's a combination. I mean this is Marty grott's our thing
That's definitely but Chad tells a little bit about how it's connected with the Caribbean
Yeah, well, you know they they celebrate carnival all throughout the Caribbean and all throughout the world
And really Marty grott is just it's the New Orleans celebration of carnival
And there's a huge celebration of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. I mean just huge
But there's a lot of cool commonalities between brass band and steel band music
It's kind of cool that they both evolve sort of in separate locations
But with these common elements and you know
That's one thing the weird hoping to showcase a little bit on this fat Tuesday show is you know just some of the neat
Musical elements that are shared and I'll just mention a couple of them
You know brass bands for example you'll always have somebody playing a pin on a cowbell
There's a repetitive rhythm on a cowbell. I love cowbell. It's just you know more more
More cowbell
But you know Trinidad Trinidad and steel bands have this exact same thing
They actually take a break drum off a car and they hit it with steel mallets and it's the exact same roll
This kind of clangy sound just repetitive thing those they know they just evolved totally independently
But it's really the exact same thing you know
I remember when you were here and in playing live in the lair
And I was just so fascinated by all of the instruments
It's really fun to watch you guys play because you're like where are all those sounds coming from
Yeah, well you know and that's part of what panchromatic is multi colored multi-tonal. It's it's a lot of fun
Well panchromatic steel and mama dig don's brass band are performing together at the high-end saloon
For a fat Tuesday show on February 13th that star that show starts at 7 30 p.m
And I hear there might be a collaboration with both bands. Oh wow the whole day is a collaboration
Until midnight then it's all over you know, then then marty grow ends. Oh
So you guys will be proud of my heart you'll be on stage together kind of
In a jammer not totally clear yet. We're we're still kind of working that out wait
But I think we don't want to say too much. Oh, you're just gonna have to really
Wow, okay, so people just really need to be there. They need to be there
That's the end of the story. Yeah, be there
You mentioned I'm gonna mention it again. It's high noon saloon in Madison fat Tuesday. It's this Tuesday already
February 13th starts at 7 30 and uh, who knows what's gonna happen. That's what it sounds like we're serving food
So what kind of food are you? What else are we gonna have?
Jump a lot to say okay, my
You don't often go to a show and get food with it. Yeah, it's gonna be gonna be for sale
But hey, it's just come hungry because yeah, you got the good stuff
Wow
Well Chad rock
Thank you both for taking the time to come in and speak with us tonight. Uh, how do we keep up with both your bands online?
For mama digdown.com, but we have all the socials Instagram everything else. So check them out and join awesome Chad
Yeah, Facebook works best for us. So check us out on Facebook very cool
That shows gonna be rock and oh my god
um
Pat McCurdy and Kirstie Krauss some music from them coming up
Right now though. I want to mention this um Daniel Anderson
longtime Madison area musician and his band number 27
Is currently battling cancer and of course he is a self-employed musician
limited health insurance and of course as we all know what that means lots of bills
That are going to have to be paid out of his pocket his band
Um has actually set up a go fund me to help Dan and his wife Holly and all you have to do is search for Dan and Holly Anderson's
Go fund me on google will share it on the max ink
Radio social media's as well um Dan was on recently with number 27 and uh the music is terrific
And if you can support him in any way
Please feel free to do that. So right now here is Dan with his band number 27
This is chase this love and it is right here on max ink radio. We are local music