License to thrill: Spy Band to play Saturday at Nut Tree
Something unusual will be afoot Saturday at the Nut Tree Plaza — a group of nine musical “agents” armed with instruments will play some of the most instantly recognizable pop culture espionage themes of all time.
The name of this ensemble? Band. Spy Band.
Spy Band, also known as the Band with the Golden Gun, will be performing music associated with some of the most well-known spy and detective franchises of all time — mostly James Bond movies but also a good amount of classic TV themes — Saturday in the next installment of the Nut Tree Plaza Summer Concert Series.
While many tribute bands hearken back to the '60s by performing popular songs from that time, Spy Band's repertoire is focused around another type of '60s music: the combo of jazz and rock & roll typified by the spy movies and TV shows of that era.
Yes, this is a show that will bring audiences back to the days of suave suits, Aston Martins and martinis that are shaken, not stirred.
Alan Parks, bandleader and self-described mission coordinator, said the idea came after he attended a Christmas party thrown by his wife's employer that had a James Bond casino theme.
“They had a deejay spinning the James Bond theme songs,” he said. “I was listening to that, being a live musician trying to think of live entertainment ideas, and thought that would be a cool idea for a band to play. It just got me awe-inspired.”
After a year, Parks had written arrangements of many famous Bond theme songs and formed a band. The group consists of members from all over the region from Sacramento to San Rafael to Napa, and they have performed at venues such as the St. Helena Performing Arts Center, Lucky Penny Community Theater and Napa Town and Country Fair.
Most of the band's set consists of new arrangements of Bond themes from all eras, from the iconic John Barry theme to the titular songs from “Goldfinger” and “Live and Let Die” to Carly Simon's “Nobody Does it Better” from “The Spy Who Loved Me” all the way to Billie Eilish's titular theme from the latest Bond film, “No Time to Die.”
They also do a number of themes for famous espionage TV and movie series such as “Barney Miller,” “Get Smart,” “Hawaii FiveO,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Pink Panther” and “Streets of San Francisco.”
Parks said the songs are fun to perform but also challenging.
“Even though I wrote the arrangements, I tried not to simplify them overly much,” he said. “I tried to stay true to the originals, and it's very difficult music to play… It seems like there's a reason nobody plays these.”
Parks said it takes a lot of skill to pull these songs off, but Spy Band has that level of skill.
“The people that I've got playing are pretty much musician's musicians, so we're playing it just to see that we can make sure that we get through these songs,” he said. “They're a bit of a challenge sometimes.”
Parks said the music is very nostalgic, as he grew up watching Bond films on TV with his father and later saw them in theaters. He also said it is exciting to play these songs live because they are so complex.
“It adds a different energy than what you see on the films or on an album,” he said. “They're just big epic ballads for the most part. Some are more uptempo, but they're just interesting to hear played live.”
The band's saxophonist, Ken Stout, does the booking for the Nut Tree Summer Concert Series, and Parks felt Spy Band would be a natural fit.
“It's really well cut out for these summer series concerts,” he said. “It's not something you're gonna see down at your local nightclub or in a restaurant. It's just a little too much for most of those places.”
Parks said audiences will enjoy the nostalgic set list and the music itself.
“Fans of fusion jazz will be every interested in this,” he said. “A lot of the TV themes are basically fusion jazz, a lot of Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini. Pretty much a nostalgia act in sort of a `Oh yeah, I remember that song!' It's fun that way.”
Spy Band will perform 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday in the Nut Tree Plaza breezeway between China Stix and the Jelly Belly Store, 1661 E. Monte Vista Ave.
Subsequent Nut Tree concerts include The Spy Band Show on June 18, Delbert Bump's SAIL Latin Jazz on June 25, a 4th of July celebration with Alive Music Orchestra on July 2 and Brette Alana and the Steve Krohn Band, July 9.