"People get onstage and have no rhythm, " he said.īut, surprisingly, the crowd is supportive no matter how abysmal the singer is. "They'll do originals and covers but draw the line on someone else singing."Ĭlark begs to differ: "I think a lot of people want our gig." Taking on a new random and sometimes drunken lead singer every song is challenging. "It's tough to find bands willing to compromise their integrity as a band, " said American Tavern owner Jim McCarthy. American Tavern in Conyers tried it late last year but discarded the idea because the owner couldn't persuade self-respecting musicians to take part. This month, Peachtree Tavern in Buckhead started its own version on Thursday nights. Now others are trying to copy the success at 10High. The only current tune on the list of 100 is "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Darkness, because it sounds like it could be from 1989. To keep it fresh, the band adds three songs a week, recently adding nuggets by Queen, Led Zeppelin and Heart. "This is the type of music we wanted to do."Īnd it works for the 25-to-40-year-olds who regularly visit 10High and can sing along to tunes by Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Van Halen. "We all grew up in cover bands when the cover scene was big in the late '80s, " Clark said. Jurovics gathered willing musicians, and Clark compiled a list of 30 songs they all sort of knew, mostly metal numbers by the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC and Guns N' Roses. Curtis Clark, 10High's sound engineer and a former bassist in a Whitesnake tribute band, loved the concept. "We were dead on Mondays, so we had nothing to lose, " Jurovics said. Nicole Jurovics, who books acts at 10High, said she stole the idea last June from a bar in Los Angeles. For me, being onstage is like taking a vacation from myself for five minutes."
"That song is a crowd pleaser, " Arrison said.
Christopher Arrison, 32, transformed himself from a psychology student with Elvis Costello-esque glasses offstage to Dennis DeYoung redux in the spotlight as he took on the campy, over-the-top "Come Sail Away." Eyes closed, hands raised in praise-and-glory mode, Arrison unleashed a memorable farewell "Come sail away with meeeeee!!!" The crowd showered him with the night's biggest applause, and admirers high-fived him as he melded back into the audience.
"I love the energy here, " said Butch Walker, an Atlanta musician and producer, barely recognizable with a baseball cap slung low over his forehead moments after performing Journey's "Any Way You Want It." "It's just a chance for people to let their hair down and have fun." At least 100 bars in metro Atlanta tap into this audience-participation gimmick every week, from Star Bar's ''15 Minutes of Fame'' in Little Five Points on Monday nights to ''Klassic Karaoke'' four nights a week at Topps II in Austell.īut live-band karaoke amps up the experience. "We can't believe the monster we created, " said host and 96rock disc jockey English Nick.Ī Japanese import, karaoke has become a staple of the American bar business in the past decade. Last Monday drew the biggest crowd yet: 220 people, many of them off-day restaurant and bar types and local musicians, ranging from Second Shift guitarist Wesley Hoffman, with a massive Afro, to Sean "Sebastian" McGirr, an exotic dancer who stayed clothed. Live-band karaoke has become the hottest night of the week at 10High, a dark, grungy Virginia-Highland basement venue with exposed pipes, red-paint-flecked floors and four aging ceiling fans wafting the cigarette smoke. You really feel like a rock star with a band behind you." "But I just love to perform and get in front of people. "I'm not really very good, " admitted Stackhouse, 27, a waiter and screenwriter from Dunwoody who had also mauled Styx's "Come Sail Away" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me" earlier this month. Stackhouse's performance was a highlight (or lowlight, depending on your point of view) at ''Metal-Some Mondays, '' a weekly twist on karaoke: average folks singing to a live backup band instead of cheesy pre-recorded tracks.
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