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Suite D’s and Guitar Bomb: a match made for Halloween
By John Benson
Rock historians aside, not many people know that funk legend Rick James and classic rocker Neil Young actually played together in the mid-’60s under the name The Mynah Birds.
Celebrating this oddball pairing, and exploring the notion of a trick or treat, is Youngstown native Obie Savage and his band The Suite D’s, along with guests Guitar Bomb (of Brooklyn, N.Y.), Teddy Pantelas, Lethal FX, Quotes Dawson and more Friday at The Lemon Grove.
“The idea behind the show is I always liked to do a big Halloween bash,” said Savage, a 1994 Ursuline High School graduate who now calls Brooklyn, N.Y., home. “So we’ve got a bunch of Halloween bands together, and we’re going to have a Rick James and Neil Young theme running throughout the night. The Mynah Birds were a Motown band that recorded two songs before Rick James went off to prison for deserting the military.”
Considering Guitar Bomb is blues-rock oriented and The Suite D’s — Savage (vocals, recorder, theremin), Justin Arroyo (bass), Luke Lenz (drums), Dave Woodard (vocals, keys, bells), Joe Stilson (vocals), Katie O’Neil (violin), Nick West (guitar) — are funk-based, it seems like a perfect marriage for the evening. As for the latter act, its roots date back to the ’90s with the band The Sweet Delights. Savage split for the Big Apple seven years ago but decided he missed Youngstown’s music scene and reformed the group under The Suite D’s.
“I figured I’d continue to play with them because I travel home enough,” Savage said. “That way, we can just get together and jam and have fun. And it’s been pretty successful. Every time we play we get a great crowd, so we’ve just been pressing on. In fact, we’re going to be recording in Youngstown. The group has only released one EP, so this will be our first full-length album and probably won’t be finished until after Christmas.”
Among the new tunes Savage expects the band to play at its upcoming gig are the bluesy funk song “Party Pants” and the doo-wop driven “Fingers.”
“They’re both bizarre,” Savage said. “Everything we do is a little bit bizarre.”
Speaking of bizarre, what is it about Halloween and Youngstown that makes it a must-play night for Savage and his cohorts?
“Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, maybe the only holiday I actually like because it’s no pressure,” Savage said. “It’s all about fun, doing whatever you want. Anything goes on Halloween. This night we have jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, a little bit of everything going on. And we’ll go all night.”