(Founder and Music Director of the Lexington Lab Band)
What happens when you get a group of accomplished musicians together to recreate the songs of the 1970’s and 1980’s?
The Lexington Lab Band. That’s what happens.
They are so good it’s impossible to describe.
You’ll just have to go to their website to understand: www.lexingtonlabband.com
Michael Vandemark spoke with us about the group he founded and is the Music Director for.
Q- Michael, how did you get the idea to put this band together?
A – The short story is, I was gigging a lot locally ( Lexington, Kentucky) and had some young kids and it was just wearing me out to be out all hours of the night and then show up and have to be a great Dad the next day.
There were some similar situations for some other guys and so I happened to see Daryl Hall’s web show ‘ Live At Daryl Hall’s House’ and I thought they’re doing video. This was before YouTube was all that big . Probably in 2011. I mean it was there but it isn’t what it is today.
He was releasing ‘em on his own website and I thought we can do that.
I always liked to dissect the songs. I really enjoyed performing songs but I’m not really a songwriter and so I thought I’d really like to dig into some of these classic songs and learn how they were actually constructed. Maybe we can do the note for note covers and video and throw ‘em online and see what happens. So, that’s the short story.
Q – Are all of the musicians we singing and playing online based out of Kentucky?
A – 95% of ‘em probably are. That’s always the goal. We do have some guys and gals that are friends of friends.. We’ve had a few people from original bands come to join us, That sort of thing, but mostly it’s a Kentucky project, yes.
Q – How do you refer to the Lexington Lab Band? Is it a tribute band? Is it a concert band?
A – Most people would probably call us a cover band because we don’t just tribute one artist. However we approach all of our covers as a tribute. Maybe a classic tribute band focused on many artists.
Q – You’ve got a lot of talented people in this group.
A – Thank-you Sir.
Q – In some cases their rendition of the songs is just as good if not better than the original artists who recorded them.
A – Well, I appreciate that.
Q – As compliments go, it doesn’t get much better than that. How do you determine the songs you’re going to play? And how do you determine who will play what instrument on what song and sing what song?
A – O.K. We usually kind of start with a genre’ we want to go with like an 80’s Rock or a 70’s Classic Rock or a Country or Pop and then I’ll often think about who’s the singer, who kind of handles that genre’ well and then I’ll reach out to that singer and they’ll kind of help me walk through some song selections.
A guitar player may also be involved in that or a keyboard player depending on the genre’.
If we’re going to do 70’s Classic Rock I’ll probably identify what guitar player we want to use and also use them to determine some of the songs.
Ultimately I come up with a set list and the direction and vision but I try and use some of those key positions to try and help me. Obviously they have to be super comfortable with the songs that we’re asking them to do.
Q – How many musicians do you have?
A – So, we’ve been doing this 13 years and we’ve used over 100.
Q – And all of their photos are posted online?
I don’t think the website is complete from all of the people we added last year. The website is probably around 80 on there.
There are probably 20 or 30 that are involved yearly. So, you might see them more. It’s hard to get all those people involved every year. So, some folks will do a video set every 2 or 3 years. Something like that.
Q – Does everyone in the Lexington Lab Band have side projects? Do they have their own bands?
A – Many are in cover bands. I wouldn’t say the majority are. Many of them are in local cover bands. There’s a handful that are actually touring musicians out of Nashville right now that do it with us. One of the guys is a composer. He does tv movies and theme park soundtracks. So, there definitely is some other musical involvement with some other members but honestly most of ‘em are lawyers, teachers and bankers.
Q – Now that’s impressive !
A – It’s definitely like kind of a weekend cover band on steroids. That’s kind of the way I look at it. It’s all guys and gals that just love to play music and want to keep re-living their childhood.
Q – Does this band play out “live”?
Once a year we do a massive 3 hour kind of I call a variety show. This past year we had almost 60 of us at the show and we played 3 hours of music. We do that every Labor Day weekend here in Kentucky. It’s a logistical nightmare. So, it’s really impossible to do it more than once a year. It’s great. Last year ( 2024) we had almost 5,000 people show up from 36 different states and 4 countries.
Q – What type of venue was that?
This is an outdoor like a festival, like a Woodstock type event. Food trucks.
Q – That must be some festival!
A – It’s awesome.
Q – I understand the Lexington part of your name because you’re based out of Lexington, Kentucky. But, what’s the Lab got to do with it?
A – I always laugh when people ask me about that. I’m not the most entrepreneurial, marketing person. It’s probably a poor choice. It’s a confusing term.
In Academia, in universities, the Jazz programs have these bands called Lab bands. North Texas is the most famous. They have a 1 o’clock lab band, a 2 o’clock lab band and a 3 o’clock lab band. They’re just a band that comes and read charts. They just go through music. All that sort of stuff.
So, that just came to my mind when I was thinking about it. And then, add on breaking down these songs to the most basic elements and getting everybody to learn their parts. So, it’s almost like a laboratory.
There is a musical kind of use of the word Lab Band out there although it’s not well-known and then of course the laboratory side. We’re breaking these songs down to their smallest elements and then putting them back together.
Q – By placing these videos online what do you hope to accomplish? Are you looking for some kind of a record deal down the road? If such a thing as a record co. even exists anymore.
A – (laughs). No, Sir. The goal has always been and always will be playing and learning the music together. YouTube online is just the most convenient avenue for us to share that experience. So, there’s no goal. Nobody is going to be trying to do this full-time or get a record deal. We’re playing other peoples’ music .We could probably figure out a way to go out on tour but everybody has jobs. So, the ultimate goal really is to play great music that we all love together and then since we’re doing it, why don’t we share it with the world?
Gary James
Official Website: www.lexingtonlabband.com
