"Clueless, but tuneful'Kitsap's best cover band' returns to the street dance."
June 9, 2008 · Updated 3:52 PM
"The band playing the July 3 Bainbridge Island Street Dance and Barbecue, No Clue, has multiple musical personalities.Not only are they Michael Wright, Brian Feldtman, Jerry Barlow, Fred Pinard and Marshall Fosh Miranda, but they're also Van Morrison, Lynrd Skynrd, the Doobie Brothers and Billy Joel. When we do a tune, we want it to sound like the band who recorded it, Wright said. We'll listen to a song hundreds of times before we even sing it. Then we'll play it 50 times.No Clue tries for exactitude; their stated mission is to be the best rock cover band in Kitsap County and the Olympic Peninsula.The band considers precision a way of paying homage to what they describe as timeless songs. Listening to their tapes can be an eerie experience, as classic rock groups from the 1950s to the '90s are evoked with verisimilitude. Despite the whirlwind musical tour the group offers, No Clue is a band solidly rooted in Bainbridge culture.Guitarist Brian Feldtman has been an island resident for 22 years, while bassist Jerry Barlow graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1959, in the same class as Ralph Munro.Barlow studied french horn with high school music teacher Melvyn Samm, who he calls a very tolerant man. Feldtman's local musical education included a first gig in a Tacoma strip joint at the age of 13. The group formed a year and a half ago, when Feldtman and Barlow joined forces. They added drummer Miranda; Wright, who mastered keyboard for the occasion; and vocalist Fred Pinard - whose sole credential was that he had just lost a karaoke contest at the casino.I didn't win, but I got a job with a real band, Pinard said. A former body-building Mr. Teenage Sacramento, Pinard brings a kinetic energy and vocal versatility to No Clue, bandmates say.The other four musicians sing as well, each bringing a different vocal quality to enlarge the overall sound.We try to space it out so everyone gets to do the lead, Pinard said. We try to keep some kind of balance.For older audiences, No Clue's music may be nostalgic, but for young listeners it could be their first introduction to live classic rock and roll. The band has performed at such events as PTA-sponsored Halloween parties for elementary students. They also played for the opening of Sonji Sakai Intermediate School. When the group sang for last year's street dance, they met both of their self-imposed standards - making the music sound real and to make it danceable. We had a double encore at 11:30 p.m. in the rain, Wright said, so we must have created the right atmosphere for people to enjoy themselves.* * * * * No Clue, with special guest rock group Elijah and the Lion, will perform at the Bainbridge Island Street Dance and Barbecue, the evening of July 3.The free music accompanies the benefit barbecue, sponsored by Team Winslow. For more information about No Clue, call 842-8559. For information about the dance and barbecue, call 842-2982. "
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