Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wizards of Ozzie
Duo leave comfort zone for tribute.
When keyboardist Steph Taylor of the Miami rock duo the State Of takes the stage in the Gleason Room at the Fillmore Miami Beach on opening night of Mad Cat Live’s four-show interpretation of the 1972 Black Sabbath album “Vol. 4,” she’ll be several steps outside of her comfort zone.
She didn’t grow up listening to any heavy metal, much less Black Sabbath, the British quartet whose dark, throbbing incantations are not known for shiny pianism.
“My first thought was, ‘OK, this could be a really interesting challenge and an opportunity for growth as a musician.’ And, boy, has it been for me,” Taylor says.
For Taylor and her bandmate in the State Of, drummer Nabedi Osorio, the Mad Cat performances — Thursday-Sunday — will be a chance to walk the walk that they encourage their students to take during classes they lead at Miami Girls Rock Camp. The annual summer program, which Taylor helped create in 2015, teaches girls ages 8-17 a new instrument and a week later culminates in a performance. in a clubstyle setting in front of hundreds of guests.
music instructor at the Mandelstam School in South Miami who also teaches piano, bass and guitar in private lessons, Taylor says the benefits of Miami Girls Rock Camp extend beyond music.
“They show up all shy and quiet and nervous, and by the end of the week they are, like, front and center onstage, playing for 500 people like it’s nothing,” Taylor says from her home in Shenandoah. “That’s a really important thing, for girls to find their own power and to be proud of it. Our camp, yes, it’s a music camp, but more than anything, it’s an empowerment camp.”
The Mad Cat Live series presents transitional albums by major artists, with some songs remaining true to their origins and others deconstructed and synthesized according to the imaginative specifications of Mad Cat founder and musical director Paul Tei. Accompanied by large puppets and other mysterious effects, performances of Black Sabbath’s “Vol. 4,” which kick off the not-for-profit Mad Cat Theatre’s 18th season, will include local multiinstrumentalists Erik Fabregat and Darren Bruck.
Taylor has taken part in Mad Cat Live performances dedicated to such piano-friendly albums as Paul McCartney’s “Ram” and Harry Nilsson’s “The Point.” For Sabbath, she is experimenting with new techniques to find a home for keyboards (sounding more like an organ) within the wall of guitar, bass, drums and howling vocals on a classic such as “Snowblind.”
“It’s great to feel challenged, and it’s important for me, as someone who’s a leader of Miami Girls Rock Camp, telling all these kids, ‘Hey, you need to step outside your comfort zone and try something new and rise to the occasion and meet these challenges.’ I can’t not take those same risks in my life and preach that,” Taylor says.