by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: WeakSauce
When: October 7th @ 8 pm
Where: Freebird
Our Florida band scene is host to incredibly varied and original sounds. Case in point—the Tampa/Clearwater based band WeakSauce, which has played all over the state and has been to Jacksonville a number of times in the past.
Even though the band calls themselves WeakSauce, their sound certainly isn’t weaksauce. Urbandictionary.com defines weaksauce as “Paltry, insufficient, and laughable in effort [or] something that is incredibly lame, weak, or uncool.” The word was in common usage amongst surfers, skateboarders and stoners in California and has finally made its way to good ol’ Florida. But the word’s usage is changing, sometimes meaning the opposite of its general meaning, as in the word “bad,” which in some instances can mean cool or good. I’d like to think that the band WeakSauce has something to do with this reversal of meaning.
Before hitting on the memorable name of WeakSauce, the band toyed with other names such as Stromboli (after the food) and Milhouse (after the character on The Simpsons). The other names didn’t stick, they’ve been WeakSauce for about five years now. Lead vocalist Justin Vilardi says that the band decided on the name after they instantly agreed on it—something that he says is a rare occurrence.
But, he says “It’s not in the name, it’s in the music.”
Since they’ve got such a background in musical improvisation, music will change from show to show.
“The songs that we’ve written continue to evolve as we play them out live.”
You’ll find reggae influences were threaded throughout WeakSauce, with a sprinkling of jazz, hardcore and trippy punk. WeakSauce stands out because each band member has a different stage presence and look. They’ve got excellent on-stage energy and they play with dedication.
“We all have such a strange, diverse background individually…a couple of us come from an improv jazz background and the other half of us from a jamming background.”
When describing their sound Justin calls it a “reggae-rock, punkish fushion kinda thing. We call it reaggaecore as a joke…[but] we’re not that heavy…We just play what we like.”
The band includes Justin Vilardi (lead vocals and bass) and Paul Liparoto (drums), formerly of Muy Gordo, and Eric Douthirt (guitar), formerly of Dysfunktion. They came together in late 2002, jamming and then writing original songs. In 2005, as a prize for winning a battle of the bands, WeakSauce played Warped Tour in St. Pete. The band isn’t signed to a label, which suits them just fine. It took them a year to release their CD Nightmares and Daydreams in July of 2006, using the funds from playing in clubs to record their album. They also released a live album in July of 2007 and they get play on local and satellite radio.
Their trumpet player, Brad Gilmore, gives the band a Dizzy Gillespie touch. Once I saw that their line-up included a horn, I expected them to be more ska than they were. I soon realized what I should have learned long ago: horns in a punk venue don’t always equal pure ska. This band isn’t afraid to go hardcore with their guitars, and Paul Liparoto’s drum beats are dead-sexy good. At the end of the night Gilmore might need to clean out his spit valve, but overall his trumpet performance is pretty damn inspired.
To find music that is at once laid back and punked out is a rarer thing than I’d like, but it’s something that can be found in the sound of WeakSauce.
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