Music Blahg

City Slang: SRC Turns Back The Clock At The Magic Bag

June 26, 2011
By

The Magic Bag in Ferndale was full to bursting on Saturday night, as Detroit rockers young and old turned out to celebrate the fact that the SRC was playing its first show together in four decades. The Grande Ballroom cats were spread around the Bag, including artist Carl Lundgren (who designed a poster for the show) and photographer Leni Sinclair. Destroy All Monsters / Monster Island man Cary Loren was visibly excited, as was the Witches’ Troy Gregory. This show was, without a shadow of a doubt, a big deal.

First though, Outrageous Cherry had the task of warming up a crowd that was really only there to hear the headliner. Having said that, many of them had waited for 40 years, so another hour was never going to kill them. In fact, thanks to Matt Smith and his crew, the set was most pleasurable and the band turned out to be an inspired choice. The Cherry might not be veterans of the SRC standard, but they’ve still been around for a good long time and have honed a sound of very pleasant and melodic psychedelic pop-rock. If Marshall Crenshaw had been in a Nuggets-era band, it would have sounded like Outrageous Cherry and written songs like “Young and Miserable”.

And so to the SRC, who were predictably magnificent. The three-guitar attack of Gary Quackenbush and Steve Lyman (original members), and Ray Goodman (later member, also of the Detroit Wheels) sounded immense, while Glenn Quackenbush added neat frills from behind his keyboard stack. Contrary to my preview blog a few days ago, the drum stool was filled by former Bossmen and Popcorn Blizzard (featuring Meatloaf) man Pete Woodman and he too sounded huge, as did bassist Ralph McKee (lawyer by day). Original bassist Robin Dale even flew over from China for the show and made an appearance on stage, though he did look mildly awkward singing backing vocals in his Asian gown. Still, it was good to see him up there.

Every song a fan might want to hear was played, from the singles “Black Sheep” and “I’m So Glad” to this writer’s personal favorite, “OneSimpleTask”. The cover of Martha Reeves’ “Heat Wave” was a little cabaret, but what the hell. Singer Scott Richardson was having the time of his life and he could even be forgiven when he slowed his band down for the umpteenth time and told the women in the crowd that he loved making love to them all night long, “from midnight to 6 a.m., and then we started all over again”. A touch cheesy, but fuck it. Let’s allow the guy to enjoy the spotlight. Most importantly, his voice sounded perfect.

The expectation leading up to this show was such that anything other than fireworks would have been an anticlimax. The fact that everyone was leaving sporting beaming smiles speaks volumes.

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  • Connie Baker

    I disagree with your article.  We left in the middle of I’m So Glad.  The music was great, but Scot Richard totally lost his ability to sing.  You would think that someone would have told him to hang his singing hat.  We were so disappointed.

  • Rita Richardson

    So glad for the rockin’ review!  GO SRC!!!!

  • Charel196

    Cut him some slack…he probably hasn’t snag much stuff like this in 40 years. And on a handful of rehearsals.

  • Rita Richardson

    Thanks, Charell, and you are exactly right.  They’ve worked their butts off the last 3 weeks, AND you should hear all the incredible songs he has written since in the decades since the SRC.  He has FANTASTIC songs.

  • Peggy

    Connie, you cheated yourselves by leaving before the band warmed up. The best part of the show was yet to come. Black Sheep was phenomenal, and the show just got better from there. The crowd was rocking and seemed very satisfied when the show was over. On the upside, it was so crowded that when you left there was more room for me!

  • Rrobot

    In all fairness, (I’m NOT complaining), Scott is singing the two songs I heard on Retro Kimmer’s site, an octive down. A little sad.

  • Connie Baker

    Then they shouldn’t have charged $25 bucks a pop to hear him.  Trust me, we have been fans for years!  But he shouldn’t have gone up on that stage.  It was like bad karaoke.

  • Peggy

    Getting older isn’t sad – it is just different. There are a lot of things that change in our bodies between the ages of 25 and 65, and singing in an lower octave is one of the adjustments that has to be made. If anyone went to that show expecting to see a bunch of young men frozen in time then, well, THAT is sad.

  • Rrobot

    I’m 57 and can still sing as well as when I was in my twenties.

    Use it or lose it!

  • Charel196

    Scott’s speaking voice sounds just like it did when he was young so I feel if he had a voice coach and some time of training he could regain his higher singing range.

  • DK

    Hey Folks, I was happy just to see all the contributing band members together on one stage! I saw them with Steve, Glen and Gary at Tunny Street Saloon in Dearborn and they were great then too. Sorry if it sounds as though I’m getting paid to say this, I’m not. I always have been, and always will be a SRC fan!