The logo on the kick drum says it all: “Flat Elvis – Party Rock”.
Flat Elvis’ DNA dates back 27 years, when guitarist Jose Gallegos was in the party band the LADS (Lazy Ass Dental Students). In ‘98 Jose met Kurt Negaard (voice trained at JMU) at a tennis tournament. They jammed a couple of times and realized they worked well together. Joined by some of the former dental band, they eventually became Flat Elvis. “A former bass player put this cardboard cutout of Elvis on the stage….It was a joke really. But people started pointing and yelling Flat Elvis and it stuck.”
The current lineup includes former members of the Press and Fighting Gravity (Kurt and Jose are the only two original members). Typical set lists span decades of rock classics including the Clash, the Cars, the Romantics, the Dave Mathews Band and even some Elvis, Costello that is. Jose says they work up new songs on a regular basis and really enjoy doing the band thing.
Every year the band takes a week sabbatical at the river to work up new material and just hang out. “We take tons of food, booze…all we do is drink, play music and work up the 14 songs we came to learn.” One song you’ll never hear them do is Mustang Sally, a song universally hated (in my experience) by cover bands. Jose agrees, “We’ve played it so many times. We don’t do Mustang Sally, Freebird or Stairway to Heaven. Uhuh.”
Flat Elvis typically plays about 3 times a month (everyone has day jobs) at Enzo’s, Uptown Alley, the Pour House and Sharky’s, where they played a full house Friday night. The dance floor was full early and the band responded accordingly. Lead singer Kurt owned the stage with a straight up rock swagger (although he did occasionally check his lyric sheets). Jose says it is all about having fun, certainly not the money. The band genuinely looks like it is having fun and so does their audience!
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The band:
Kurt Negaard (vocals)
Jose Gallegos (guitar/vocals)
Tom Patch (bass/sound/lighting)
Dave Estep (drums/vocals)
Jeff Doyle (guitar/vocals)
Eric Lawson (keyboards)
On the horizon:
The Honky Tonk Experience will be playing “real country” at the Glen Allen Cultural Center this Thursday and Friday.
The next JAMinc house show April 16th showcases the Birds of Chicago who board member Tim Timberlake experienced on a trip out west. (Note: I recently became a member of the JAMinc board)