House Blend
Watertown Riverfest Appearance
Saturday, August 2
2:30 p.m.
and
7:00 p.m.
By Greg
Ylvisaker of the Watertown Daily Times
staff
House Blend, the
2008 WAMI Best New Artist award winner, will take the stage at Riverfest for
two shows on Aug. 2. The first will begin at 2:30 p.m., with the second
beginning at 7 p.m. They play a variety of different songs, including
originals, and recently played on the main stage at Bastille Days in Milwaukee
on July 13. Their performance received favorable reviews from audience members.
Bonnie
Quaegberger and Mary Zweig, both from Richfield, were in the audience at their
most recent show.
"I thought
they were very talented," Quaegberger said. "The singer in the middle
was very good."
The singer she
mentioned was Bryan Dorsey, 19, from Cedarburg, who shares vocal duties with
Mike Dixon, also 19. Both are the two remaining original members of the band
which came together about four years ago when they were still in high school.
Zweig enjoyed
the variety of their music selections, and called their original songs
"very good."
"We're
primarily a festival band now, rather than a club band," Dixon said. "We
really like it that way. Playing outside is more fun than being inside. So far
the response to what we play has been very good."
This last
statement is supported by their winning of the 2008 WAMI award for best new
artist. The award is something the band is very proud of, and it was a goal
they have had for quite a while.
"That was
something we worked really hard to get," Dorsey said. "We got a new
guitar player and drummer with Karl Lemke and Tom Elmendorf coming on in December,
and that really changed our sound and took it to a new level."
Part of the
reason they needed new bandmates was because the original musicians decided to
stay at school for the summer. All of the performers are 19 and 20. All of them
are in college, with only two of them attending school here in Wisconsin. This
creates some difficulty trying to schedule shows and practices, because
everything has to be done on school breaks when they are all home.
"It makes
things pretty tough," Dixon said. "The good part is Bryan and I have
been playing together for so long our timing is usually pretty good, so we can
just start playing. Tom and Karl are naturals and usually don't need too much
practice. They pick things up almost immediately."
They start
trying to get their summer lineup in order in January, so they can "hit
the ground running" as Dixon put it.
Aside from
having the band, all four members of the band have other jobs. After they are
done working, they will usually rehearse for about two or three hours, five or
six days per week.
Their practice
has paid off in the form of a busy performance schedule.
"Last year
we started performing outside of the Cedarburg area, and began playing shows in
Milwaukee," Dorsey said. "We are trying to expand a little more this
year, and branch out to some of the other festivals in the area."
He said they
were excited to play at Riverfest because "it's always fun to get out and
play somewhere new." They were also pleased with having two shows with a
large window of time between them. They are looking forward to being able to
get out, see the fair and try out some of the rides.