Pistols at Dawn & Compact Deluxe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
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Midwestern surf bands have always had a hard way to go.

When some wag isn’t cracking wise about the limited opportunities for wave riding hereabouts, folks who aren’t familiar with instrumental rock’s long history in this country are certain to ask about which Beach Boys songs will be in the set. As Alex E. Smith, drummer for the Madison-bred instrumental act the Pistols at Dawn puts it: “Yeah, you say surf and people go, ‘Oh, the Beach Boys.’ We go, ‘Nah, like Pulp Fiction.’ Then a few of ’em get it.”

Two years into their run, the Pistols at Dawn have managed to cobble together a very respectable following from the kinds of audiences that have a soft spot for old-school instrumental acts like Dick Dale, Link Wray and the Ventures. The 23-year-old Smith says guys in their 40s and 50s nearly always respond to both their guitar- and Farfisa-driven originals and familiar covers like the theme music from The Munsters.

Basement shows and regular appearances at surf celebrations in Minneapolis and the Wisconsin Dells have also attracted skate punks, bikers and hardcore instrumental fans to their flame. Something about the mix of a steady 4/4 beat with warbling organ and a guitar smeared with thick applications of reverb clicks with the outlaw demographic. “When people hear us, they usually like it,” laughs the Pistol’s stocky bass player and onstage emcee Matt Leaverton, who at 47 is the old man of the multi-generational group. “Of course, if you listen to Z104, you probably don’t.”

This past Sunday, as the Pistols at Dawn held forth in front of 50 or so punks, freaks and graybeards at the sun-baked Willy Street Fair, the band’s appeal was immediately apparent. If 23-year-old guitarist Alexei Broner’s aggressive slashing on the brooding “Timebomb” didn’t grab your ear and give it a shake, 30-year-old organ jockey Tim Consequence’s cool phrasing of the breezy head to the classic Booker T. & the MG’s groove “Time Is Tight” most certainly did. The music wasn’t astoundingly original, but it was loud, it was fun, and the band and the crowd were on the same wavelength.

In my book, that’s a party worth attending – even if Z104 addicts who spend their morning commute singing along with Beyoncé and Daughtry would never quite understand why nearly everyone within earshot was grinning like a circus clown.

Compact Deluxe Opens For VO5 At WORT Benefit Friday Night
NOVEMBER 23, 2015 BY JOSEPH CRAWFORD MRAZEK AND WORT MUSIC DEPARTMENT

WORT supporters get to experience a new retro-sounding group, Compact Deluxe, at the Cardinal Bar Salutes WORT benefit on Friday, November 27th. The keyboard-driven trio open for campy disco act VO5 at our post-Thanksgiving dance party. Suggested donation for this special event is $10. The show starts at 8:00 p.m.

Compact Deluxe co-founder Tim Consequence is a man out of time. Born in 1977, the year punk rock broke, he collects & restores vintage keyboards & sound equipment. He uses them to perform covers of mostly instrumental music from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Describing the danceable sound he strives for as “party-time music,” Consequence joins forces with virtuoso organist Harris Lemberg & drummer John Woodburn to perform an intimate showcase of Cold War-era music.

Compact Deluxe honors such groups as Booker T & the MGs and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass with punchy, trippy renditions of Memphis soul, surf rock, spaghetti Western soundtracks, ’60s spy-show & movie theme tunes as well as lounge-pop. Imagine Ennio Morricone‘s hypnotic “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly” mashed up with Dick Dale‘s “Miserlu.”

A native of Wisconsin Rapids, Consequence has a day job as a stagehand & recording engineer. His passion since age 16, however, is performing music ranging from hip-hop (as organist in Optigan) to the B-52s (in the tribute band Deadbeat Club). He has collaborated with Lemberg (aka Harrissimo) since 2007.

During a recent visit to Acme Sound Studios near the ice arena on Madison’s east side, Consequence invited me to smell the electronic guts of his Hammond B-3 organ – a tactile treat that reminded me of a visit to the Stax Museum of Soul Music in Memphis.

He also demonstrated his Leslie cabinet, a modulating device used frequently in recordings by the mid-’60s Beatles. The Leslie’s spinning speakers project sound through all four sides of the cabinet, filling an intimate venue like the Cardinal Bar with its whirring melodic drone.

Consequence then fired up his Rheem Le Bass, a gorgeous little red & white instrument with black keys that can substitute for a bass guitar. He’s proud of the ’80s-era Yamaha synthesizer he gutted & used to build an analog-digital hybrid Tim calls a “digi-Farfisa.” It hums to life beside his silent vintage Vox Continental keyboard.

Tim also showed me a Farfisa model Compact Deluxe organ, which inspired the band’s name. He bought it via Craigslist from fellow enthusiast Chip, a Madisonian who served as Melissa Etheridge‘s guitar tech.

Consequence & Lemberg formed the predecessor band Compact Duo a few years ago, recently expanding it to include acoustic drums & occasional female guest vocalist Terry Lynn Lane. Their first gig was in August 2015, on the seashell-shaped stage at the Tempest.

The band’s mission, Consequence says, is to be “efficient in space and time.” Compact Deluxe plays tunes that rarely surpass 3 minutes in length. Their equipment, while old & heavy, requires few wires to set up.

Compact Deluxe is playing a gig at the Tempest immediately after the WORT benefit on Friday night. They’ve been given a monthly residency at Tempest, so Madison live-music fans will be able to hear them regularly soon.

“We’re all about the community-sponsored radio,” Consequence says about performing at The Cardinal Bar Salutes WORT benefit dance concert Friday night. “We’re happy to do it.”

WORT’s been sticking it into your ears for forty years. Yet we remain hip enough to bring you fun bands like Compact Deluxe & V05. If you’re ready to dance while having your mind pleasantly blown, come to the WORT benefit this Friday night at the Cardinal Bar.