Vodkanauts

The Vodkanauts coalesced in Sept '02 specifically to fill the support slot at a Dick Dale concert. The crowd response was so enthusiastic that the group decided to make the one-off project a continuing endeavor. A year and a day later, the 'Nauts once again opened up for The King Of Surf Guitar and garnered the same fevered reaction. The intervening year had seen the band perform numerous well-attended club dates as well as sharing bills with national acts like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Mermen.

Fast forward to January '04: After some original members depart the ranks, group founder MARK WARREN soldiers on. Along with bassist John DeBellis, he recruits Stan Arthur, RYAN ARSENAULT and Alex Stevens to fill out the band's emerging new sound. Change is an inevitable part of life, so in May of 2006 Alex parts ways with the group and original singer JONATHAN HARRISON returns to help refine the evolving sound of the Vodkanauts.

But wait, there's more! Towards the end of 2007, Ryan gets word he'll be going out-of-town for work... waaaaay out-out-of-town to flippin' Baghdad. So the band takes a hiatus. Initially intended to be only four months, it ends up being more than twice as long as the rhythm section opts to explore other creative opportunities during the ensuing downtime. Fear not, dear reader, as worthy replacements are soon found in the form of STEVE "BARKIN' BARNEY" BARNES on electric and acoustic bass along with TOM STALEY on drums. Barney is a longtime scene stalwart both fronting his own group (Barkin' Barney and the Tall Boys) and as a bass player specializing in rockabilly and jump blues (The Blind Mice, Charlie Vegas.) Tom comes with his own enviable rock 'n' roll credentials as he was the original drummer for NRBQ, serving with that storied group from 1968 through 1974.

THIS JUST IN... Barney has left the Vodkanauts to persue his roots rockabilly interests with the Cadillac Bombers. In time-honored Vodkanauts tradition, his replacement is the guy he replaced, JOHN DE BELLIS.

Four Takes On “The Beatles”
By Curtis Ross, Tampa Tribune Pop Music Critic

“The Beatles,” the Fab Four’s 1968 release better known as ”The White Album,” was sprawling and stylistically diverse, created under conditions so fractious that drummer Ringo Starr and engineer Geoff Emerick both quit at different points.

Saturday’s tribute to “The White Album,” presented by listener-supported radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM, was far less fractious although perhaps even more diverse.

The sold-out Skipper’s Smokehouse crowd, ranging from pre-schoolers to those old enough to have purchased “The Beatles” the day of its release 40 years ago Saturday, saw the four vinyl sides of the album performed by The Ditchflowers, Rebekah Pulley & the Reluctant Prophets, Four Star Riot and The Vodkanauts.

The Ditchflowers, led by area scene veterans Brian Merrill (Barely Pink) and Ed Woltil (Mad for Electra), were the most overtly Beatles influenced band on the bill. That didn’t stop them from giving the rinky-dink “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” a much needed roughing up, though. The Ditchflowers’ portion soared from the start but hit its peak on with Woltil holding his own, trading scorching lead guitar with Steve “Best Guitarist ‘Round These Parts” Connelly in a minute or two of sheer guitar heaven.

For Side Two, Pulley’s Prophets were augmented by a cellist, keyboardist and, for “Martha My Dear,” a trumpeter. When they stayed close to the originals, Pulley had trouble finding her footing. When she made the songs her own, though, the results were excellent. “Blackbird’ got a soulful, piano-led reading. The rather slight “Don’t Pass Me By” was transformed into something muscular, gritty and funky. Pulley used a looping effect to layer guitar parts for a haunting solo “Julia.”

The evening ended with a stage full of performers and most of the crowd singing along to non-album track “Hey Jude.”