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Bethesda lives dream with Bonnaroo show
By John Benson
Like a scene out of “The Walking Dead” is how Bethesda singer Shanna Delaney describes the last time her Kent-based band played Youngstown.
“We played the Lemon Grove on Zombie Night,” said Delaney, a Pickerington native and 2007 Kent State University graduate. “We dressed as zombies, too. Our bassist’s wife is an artist, who actually did all of our artwork. She did our makeup. It was really good. We made a lot of lame zombie jokes. Like in between the songs, if the crowd was really quiet, we’d say something like, ‘Man, this is a dead crowd.’ It’s so lame.”
The antithesis of lame is exactly where Bethesda — Delaney, Eric Ling (guitar, vocals), Justin Rife (drums), Jesse Scaggs (guitar), Chris Black (violin) and Dan Corby (bass) — finds itself these days on the indie circuit.
The group’s EP release, “Dreamtiger & Other Tails,” led to opening slots for Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s, Jessica Lea Mayfield and Azure Ray, as well as showcase dates at SXSW Music Festival this past spring.
However, nothing prepared the group, which has been compared to Arcade Fire, The Decemberists and Mumford & Sons, for what happened last month when it played Bonnaroo. First of all, how does a local band, albeit rising in national circles, get such a gig?
“People were scouting us,” Delaney said. “They came to three different shows. They asked us to play [Cleveland’s] Burning River Fest and said there might be another festival they might want to put us on. It turned out to be Bonnaroo, which is like a dream.”
That dream involved a show on the Bonnaroo Cafe Stage that took place just after The Shins left the main stage.
“People were screaming and jumping and dancing and having such a great time when we were playing,” Delaney said. “There were several hundred people there who had never heard of us. We were performing the same time Phish was playing. We thought there would be nobody. They were such a fun, energetic crowd who came up and danced and asked for an encore. That was pretty cool.”
Ah, so apparently, Bethesda is the anti-Phish band.
Delaney said, “That’s right. We were hoping all the people who didn’t like Phish would like us.”
Up next for Bethesda is its full-length debut, which it hopes to have out next winter. The album is a bit more folk driven with songs such as the dynamic “The Reunion” and the poppish “Stop Motion Picture.”
Fans wanting to hear new material can do so when the group plays at Cedars on Friday.
When it’s pointed out there may be some unsuspecting fans who caught Bethesda’s last zombie-friendly show and may, well, believing such costumes are customary when watching the band, may come dressed as brain eaters.
“No, I think people knew it was Zombie Night,” Delaney said, laughing. “The whole place was filled with zombies, but that would be so cool if they did come dressed. I’d be OK with it.”