What does a band that played music for “The Powerpuff
Girls” have in common with a rock band whose bass player
strums alongside Weezer’s Brian Bell in his spare time?
They’re both bands that will be at the Coop tonight as the
energetic retro rockers of Dressy Bessy meet Arlo, an indie band
with catchy rock tunes that typically stay within the boundaries of
time-honored, no gimmicks rock ‘n’ roll.
Dressy Bessy aspires to capture the sound of the 1960s rock
‘n’ roll bands that made people want to get up, dance
and have a good time. The band’s singer, Tammy Ealom, is full
of laughter as she keeps an upbeat attitude about the band.
“(Our music) is just groovy. It’s energetic,
it’s positive. We’re real positive about what
we’re doing and enthusiastic about it, and I like to think
that we emanate that,” Ealom said.
The name of the band even reveals the members’ funky
nostalgia for the 1960s ““ Dressy Bessy named itself after a
doll from the era that taught kids how to do things like snap,
button and zip their clothes.
Arlo, whose name is a tribute to the man who used to do the
sound at a venue the band frequented, has been working on a new
album that won’t have the same straight ahead rock sound of
the band’s past two albums.
Citing the time the group’s drummer got arrested because
he just couldn’t handle paying his parking tickets, the band
members justify their claim that the only thing they can actually
manage to get right in their lives is creating music.
“Musicians, a lot of them are good at one thing but
can’t handle their lives otherwise, you know. (Music) is the
only thing we know how to do,” guitarist and vocalist Nate
Greely said.
Dressy Bessy can certainly relate to the concept of band
activities taking up most of the group’s time: Ealom and
guitarist John Hill have found their home transformed into a
makeshift Dressy Bessy headquarters, where the band works hard at
making its own merchandise like buttons, stickers and magnets.
Despite all the hard work and time the band sucks up, Ealom keeps
herself from getting too worn out or discouraged.
“We put a lot of hours into (doing things for the
band),” Ealom said. “I think it’s all worth it if
you just believe in yourself and what you’re doing, and
you’ll be fine.”
Dressy Bessy urges its listeners to never be too down that they
can’t get up and dance, in the tradition of 1960s rock
‘n’ roll, of course.
“It used to be like, when my mom was in high school in the
’60s, that at all their school dances they had a band, and
everyone would dance to the band. And it’s getting more and
more that you see people just standing there, and then eventually
they just can’t help it and start wiggling their tail
feathers, which is cool,” Ealom said.
Arlo would rather see college students get more involved in the
underground scene they claim to follow.
“I kinda wish (some of the college radio stations) would
get more into smaller bands because, sometimes, a lot of the
college radio stations just play major label stuff. So colleges are
good ““ college radio is what keeps us alive. But I just wish
it could be even better,” Greely said.