Yesterday we went to the Las Vegas Celtic Gathering & Highland Games and didn’t really expect to see rock bands with cool instruments but sort of did anyway. There were several really good bands. A couple of which were Wicked Tinkers and 1916.
(UPDATE- 1916 informed me today they have official changed their name to The Angry Brians. Check out their new website here.)
I was thinking about what I liked about these bands. They were not rock bands per se. At least not in the way you would call AC/DC
They had cool instruments. Instruments you do not normally associate with rock and roll music or rock bands. For instance CJ Henderson from Wicked Tinkers played the didgeridoo and bronze-age horn. Wait. What? Yeah. Here is CJ playing the bronze-age horn with his didgeridoo at the ready.
And what of 1916? They have a bagpipe player. Ok, not so unusual for celtic type music I guess. Still this band was rocking! Check this video Brenna shot:
And that was kind of mellow for them.
And this got me to thinking…
What other rock bands, and I will use ‘rock bands’ loosely, have or had cool or unusual instruments in them? I got to thinking about Bond or Bella Electric Strings. My friend Lydia Ansel used to be in that band. Now she has got a super cool DJ/Violin show you have got to see! These girls all play electric string instruments and they pretty much rock. Best way to listen to their music is loud. But that’s just me.
What about Kansas? They had a violin right? John Popper from Blues Traveler played harmonica. And what was that thing called that Peter Frampton used in “Do you feel like we do?” Eddie Van Halen used an electric drill on his guitar. And speaking of guitars Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America had a two string bass while Andrew McKeag and Dave Dederer only have three strings each. Soundgarden used the spoons. Radiohead used a glockenspiel while the melodica was used by both Oasis and Cake.
So electric violins and bagpipes are not that unusual I guess. I mean who else used them? Uh, let me think… Oh yeah. The Who used a violin in “Baba O’ Riley” and the bagpipes? Used in “It’s A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock N’ Roll)” by AC/DC.
So I ask you- What other cool and interesting instruments do you recall being used in rock and roll music? Or, let’s just say in any music where you would not normally expect a rock band to use it? Let me know in the comments. Would love to hear from you. Especially if you are in one of these bands.
And a quick reminder:
Check out Wicked Tinkers and 1916 as well as Bella Electric Strings and Lydia Ansel.
PS- Does anyone in Las Vegas area have a theremin they could teach me to play? I remember seeing Shaz Sparks from 65dba play something that I think was a theremin years ago in the UK but never knew what it was called.