Web posted
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Seattle area band with local roots needs your vote
By CHRIS ROBINETTE
Traveler Correspondent
Take a healthy dose of funk, infuse it with some rock and roll, throw in some three-part harmonies with vocalists and you have the formula for one of Seattle's rising bands, Dr. G and the Funky Recovery. Headed by one of Ark City's natives, Evan Gackstatter, the band has been gigging around the Seattle music scene since January 2007.
Gackstatter, an ACHS 2003 graduate, is the son of Shannon and Gary Gackstatter of Ark City.
The band, which is made up of Gackstatter on guitar, drummer Daniel Thomson, bassist Tim Carey and vocalists Bridgid Roney and Makala Romero, have worked hard performing about two or three times a month at various hot spots around Seattle such as Chop Suey and the Nectar Lounge. The work has paid off. The band has found itself in the top ranks in a national competition sponsored by the Web site FameCast.
It started in the summer of 2006, three years after Gackstatter moved to Seattle from high school to attend the Cornish College of the Arts. With Gackstatter on guitar, he joined a bass player he met at Cornish and a local drummer. Between school and busy schedules, the small group evolved. Their first performance was at Gackstatter's senior recital in January 2007.
Gackstatter's time at Cornish had a huge impact on the band and its style. He studied a variety of subjects related to music, from styles of jazz to music theory, composition and arranging pieces of music.
"I studied with a bunch of musicians who didn't play guitar," said Gackstatter.
This gave Gackstatter the opportunity to look at the guitar in different ways, which had a profound impact his style.
Gackstatter's musical style had been developing since his early childhood. Raised in a family where both parents play instruments and perform, he found himself surrounded by music, and he loved it.
"I wanted to play. I wanted to play really bad," he said.
According to Gackstatter, his two biggest influences to play guitar and get involved with music were his parents and the Beetles, both of which influenced him from a very early age. He especially owes much of that initial influence to his parents.
"My love for music and everything was instilled at me at a very early age because of my parents, and I am very thankful," he said.
Gackstatter's love for music has come a long way, Dr. G and the Funky Recovery have been doing well in the FameCast competition. Their two songs, "Otto" and "Lunar Legacy" are at numbers 14 out of 537 and 24 out of 406 in the rock and pop categories respectively. The competition has five rounds, the Open Round, the Top 50, Top 25, Top 10 and finally the Top 5.
Currently, the band is in the Open Round. The bands that make it to the top five are flown to Austin, Texas, for a battle of the bands that culminates in $10,000 and a record deal for the winner.
The band is excited about its prospects, but is still depending on votes. Those who are interested in supporting the band in the competition can vote by logging onto the FameCast site and voting.
Everyone is allowed to vote once per day until Jan. 22, when voting ends.
How to vote
Go to www.famecast.com/login.php
Click on "Register" and select "I just want to vote" in the pop-up and register your e-mail.
Go to www.famecast.com/drgandthefunkyrecovery
Click on the "video" tab and click "Vote for me in the open round"
You will then be taken to a page where you can vote.
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