A lot has changed since the musicians in BooneScuttle5 played their first Beatles tune together as junior high students at the Delbarton School in Morris Township. Today they no longer have to answer to the principal about the length of their hair or plead with their parents to allow band practice in the basement. But what remains unchanged is their fervent determination to get it right -- to play the music exactly as the British Invasion bands did on stage and in their original recordings during the '60s and '70s.
The five-member group's 150-song repertoire includes classic picks from the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Beatles, the Byrds, Herman's Hermits, the Kinks, Cream and the Yardbirds, among others. The group will perform Dec. 16 from 9 p.
m. to 1:30 a.m.
at Bernie's Hillside Lounge in Chester Township. "We try to replicate the way the songs were originally played," said bass player Joe Kelley, whose brother Dennis plays drums in the band. "We're not like the jam bands that take a song and just run with it.
We try to stay true to the records." "It was the highest praise we could get," said guitarist Dave Goessling. "By now everybody's heard the songs we play a thousand times and they have a much higher expectation of how it should be played.
Some things are kind of sacred. You have to play it just like the record because people hear the difference." That kind of accuracy doesn't happen by accident.
Band members research the songs carefully, and a very thick and well-thumbed volume of "The Beatles Complete Scores"-- their "white bible"-- is always within reach at every band practice. "We even play the exact types of guitars and basses the original groups used for those specific songs when they went on tour," said percussion and bass player Kevin Compton at a recent rehearsal -- this after a minor discussion had broken out over whether the Beatles used claves or wood blocks in the original version of George Harrison's song "Don't Bother Me." After 40-plus years of making rock 'n' roll, the members of BooneScuttle5 have amassed an impressive collection of instruments, some of them vintage.
For example, Goessling still plays the cream-colored 1966 Fender Telecaster he bought at Manny's on 48th Street in Manhattan. He later painted the guitar in psychedelic colors as a tribute to Eric Clapton and George Harrison, but has since stripped it back to its natural finish. All five band members contribute to the group's tight harmonies, but over the years there are some songs they've had to cut from the set list because of the vocal range required.
"It's because we refuse to change keys like a lot of bands do," said keyboardist and rhythm guitar player Myke Connell. "We don't want to do that. We try to keep the essence of the original song.
" Instead, they just keep adding songs. For example, since their last gig in late October, they've added several new tunes, including "Break on Through" by the Doors, "I'm Telling You Now" by Freddy and the Dreamers, "Red Rubber Ball" by The Cyrkle and "I Want to Be Your Man" by the Beatles. Dennis Kelley summed it up nicely: "There's just not a song in our set list that we don't want to play and wouldn't love to hear.
When you're having that much fun, it rubs off on people in the crowd. Our enthusiasm is given right back to us. While so many bands break up just when they start hitting their stride, the members of BoonScuttle5 have remained close over more than 40 years, in spite of diverse and demanding careers that have at times put whole continents, and even oceans, between them.
Over time a few members have come and gone, and the band has gone through five different incarnations since it first debuted as The Lyzzerds in 1964. The band's moniker changed to Culture from 1966 until 1968, when it morphed into The Sky through 1971. Nikita Boone was the band's next identity, designed to answer the question: What would you get if Khrushchev (the former premier of the Soviet Union) married Palladin (a TV western character played by Richard Boone)?
The band's present name is a loosely derived acronym of all the previous iterations. What keeps five guys together over so many years and through so many changes? "We make each other laugh," Compton said.
"We're friends, but musicians too." "It balances our lives and keeps us sane," said Connell. "It's like an oasis.
At one time or another, each of us has gone through a lot, so it's sort of sacred ground when we're having band practice or playing out." Their shared history also makes for some irreplaceable memories. Early on, the band played at dances at schools and community centers around Morris County and in the Short Hills/Millburn area.
One of their early gigs was at a Girl Scout Jamboree at the Morristown Armory where hundreds of prepubescent girls screamed and begged for their autographs. Later, when they got high profile gigs, they would end concerts with a "Who-style" guitar destruction and throw pieces of the guitar out into the audience. To avoid wrecking their best equipment, they stocked up on $25 used guitars at pawnshops on Eighth Avenue in New York City.
"We actually got paid for those appearances, and it was good money, so it was more than worth it," recalled Dennis Kelley. The band also used smoke bombs for dramatic effect, a habit that got them evicted from some early venues, including the Abbey in Morristown. During the college years and beyond, band members were scattered, living in different states much of the time and getting involved with other bands.
During that period, Goessling and Dennis Kelley had their own band and released a record that achieved some success on the Eastern Seaboard. They opened in Central Park in 1980 for Devo, a top-grossing group known for the hit song "Whip It." These days, the members of BoonesScuttle5 are all living back in New Jersey.
They may have day jobs, kids and mortgages, but their original zeal to stay true to the music hasn't faded a bit. Every hour they can schedule for themselves they spend practicing in Connell's basement and learning new material. The group is looking forward to playing at Bernie's, one of their favorite venues.
When the band played there last February to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' coming to America, they attracted the largest crowd the place has ever held. "Bernie had to turn people away," Compton recalled.
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