BENTON HARBOR —
Sometimes it’s difficult to find something to do after college.
Matt Priest and a bunch of old friends from Kalamazoo College put a band together just for fun in Chicago. Now they’ve got critically-acclaimed Canasta on their hands.
“Kalamazoo is our home-away-from-home,” Priest said, pacing around his Chi-town apartment while “drinking too much coffee.”
They’ve played the Kraftbrau Brewery and Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, hope to play Bell’s again soon, but Kalamazoo people will have to drive to Benton Harbor’s The Livery to see Canasta Friday.
In 2002, Priest — originally from the Chicago suburbs, K-College class of ’97 — and other K-College grads who ended up in Chicago played music together “because we missed hanging out,” he said.
Canasta evolved, lost and gained members (Priest and Elizabeth Lindau, class of ’97, are the only K alumni remaining). Soon the band found “there was actually going to be a market for it.” The group dared hope that “maybe that one day we could make a modest living playing music.”
The sextet plays “ultra melodic orchestral pop music,” he said. “We spend a lot of time on the orchestrations, and we have slightly more diverse instrumentation than some rock bands.”
Priest does much of the singing, a bit of trombone and bass, and most of the lyric writing. The rest collaborate on the music creation, using violins, keyboards, horns and drums.
If you go
When:
8 p.m. Friday
Where:
The Livery, 190 5th St., Benton Harbor
Cost:
$10
Contact:
269-925-8760,
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Large multi-instrumentation bands aren’t common today, and the rare examples are being herded into the sub-genre of “ork-pop.” “But 30 years ago, having strings and horns and keys on your album was no big deal. Everybody did in the ’70s. ... But back in the day you’d have a big record company pay for all that.”
Some of the second album, “The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather” (2010, RWIM Chicago), recalls ’70s bands such as Steely Dan -- not that Canasta sounds like them, but they’re also making hip music that’s complex, but accessible at the same time.
Steely Dan is a big influence to some in the band, Priest said. He’s been getting into the ’80s British band The Style Council and that band’s current descendent Divine Comedy.
What he’s looking for is “really sophisticated, cultivated pop music,” Priest said.
Critics are looking for it, too. The Chicago Reader wrote that “‘The Fakeout ... is so perfect — every note falling into place with deeply satisfying craftsmanship — that you’ll swear you’ve heard it before.” The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Pop rarely sounds this warm and natural when it’s this intricately composed.”
“I don’t even know if the rest of the band is on board with this or not,” he said, but Priest’s goal is that “every song we write should potentially be somebody’s favorite song.” He wants what listeners want, “melody, memorability, hooks ... I think about the listener a lot.”