Local rockers master the Springfield sound
Who brings Simpsons songs to life? They do, they do
What’s the deal? No, Homer’s Grammy-winning barbershop quartet hasn’t reunited, but there is nevertheless a very good chance you might encounter “Baby On Board” in a Be Sharps set list one of these days since the half-Torontonian/ half-Hamiltonian quartet sources its material solely from The Simpsons.
On the band’s just-released debut EP, the coyly titled Please Don’t Sue Us Fox — which is almost certainly gonna get the Be Sharps a cease-and-desist letter from the network’s infamously ruthless lawyers, anyway — you’ll hear a rumblingly heavy romp through “The Stonecutters’ Anthem,” a smoulderingly ominous take on Lisa’s agit- folk union anthem “The Union Strike Song (Lisa Needs Braces)” and a brawny rockabilly “Canyonero” (augmented with a few slippery guitar licks here and there) that’ll sound especially nice the next time you hop behind the wheel of an oversized SUV and head out on the highway on a deer-smuckin’ rampage.
A little less high-concept than Arizona “Nedal” band Okilly Dokilly, perhaps, but if you’re a Simpsons fan there’s absolutely no way the Be Sharps won’t leave you sporting a big grin. Also, they kinda shred. Please tell me they do a couple of Sadgasm tunes.
Sum up what you do in a few simple sentences. “The Be Sharps is a combination of my insane love for The Simpsons and the band’s love for playing rock music really damn loudly,” says the band’s singer/guitarist Adam Carter. “We only play songs from the show’s golden age, like ‘Canyonero,’ ‘Hail to Thee Kamp Krusty’ and ‘Can I Borrow a Feeling?’ The majority of the set is just us trying to not burst out laughing the entire time. Really, I’m just hoping this band helps me finally realize my dreams of owning a race car bed.”
What’s a song I need to hear right now? “The Stonecutters’ Song.” The band earns the Stone of Triumph here simply for ending their churlish metallo-version of the secret Stonecutter society’s anthem (“Who controls the British pound?/ Who keeps the metric system down?/ We do, We do . . .”) with an extrarousing “We f---in’ dooooo!”
Where can I see them play? At Stop, Drop & Roll on Aug. 19.