Word-association test: "Cover band" equals "classic rock." That's the usual response around Milwaukee, where the festival circuit has been inundated for years with bands working the repertoire of the 1950s and '60s. But nowadays a generation that came of age in the late '80s and '90s is ready to hear some cover bands playing the music of their lives.
Enter Crazy Man's Basement, ready with a heartfelt set list of hits by U2, the BoDeans, Barenaked Ladies, the Police and Dave Matthews. The group originated in 1997 when Wauwatosa West High School teachers Tom Klubertanz and Andy Zietlow brought their acoustic guitars to school and began playing tunes during their break time in the privacy of a cluttered boiler room beneath the school's theater department. "We thought it looked like a crazy man's basement. That's how we got the name," Klubertanz explains. Coffee shops and school functions couldn't satisfy their desire to get out of the basement and play in public.
Last summer they hooked up with a pair of old friends, drummer Mark Kindler and bassist Bob Hedgcock, and began to work the festivals. Their music has filled a programming gap. "Here's what it takes to be on our set list," Kindler says. "If you can strip away everything down to acoustic guitars and voice and the song holds up, we might play it. If the song requires distorted guitars and keyboards, it probably won't work for us." Crazy Man's Basement has already begun to slip in a couple of originals each night, and are writing more tunes in preparation for recording a CD they hope to release before next summer.
Each of the band's members has a day job and a family, but the lure of rock 'n' roll keeps them hoping. "Anyone who says they never wanted to be a rock star is lying," Kindler says. "It's developed into an incredibly great hobby for us. Locally, it's turned into a successful club and festival band. We're happy in our careers and married to saints who support what we're doing. It'll be interesting to see what turn the band takes next."
Crazy Man Covering the 90's
