• Flashback Alert: Uncle Jesse Brings Us Back in Time

    Pia Finnigan Posted On August 28, 2015
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    Sometimes our weekly dose of FBF (flashback Friday) or TBT (throwback Thursday) on social media is not enough to give us the nostalgia fix we crave every now and then. When my own curiosity was too much to handle, I had to check out Uncle Jesse at Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The popular venue, seemed to be especially a buzz to welcome a 9-piece cover band, dedicated to the genre of ’90s pop music. I came across the event through the ever relevant Facebook invite, from a childhood friend and prominent member of Uncle Jesse. Yes, the cover band & I would dare say tribute band, is an ode to everything the current crop of millennials can all relate to. Each member of the band seemed to find their niche with their take on a ’90s persona. Performing, the band members personified a grunge rocker or nerd swooning over Kelly Kapowski through their music, costumes, acting or noticeable all three! From Doug Funny the guitarist, (complete costume head to toe), to a Hanson/Nirvana t-shirt to four Britney Spears on stage at once, Uncle Jesse’s commitment to the whole world of the ’90s really heightened the show and kept the standing room only, “full house”, on their feet and dancing, the entire hour and a half show! 

    Tracking down co-founder of Uncle Jesse, Justin Starr, aka Doug, he brought us up to speed on where we could find the band since their last performance, 2 years ago. Starr also shared how the incredibly gifted performers came together and why the band opening with their rendition of “Happy Birthday” to John Stamos, the original Uncle Jesse should have been a given to the audience!

    No Depression: Can you introduce us to the band?

    Justin Starr: Members: Evan Shyer – Vocals,  Grace Wall – Vocals, Kristine Bogan – Vocals, Abby Burke – Vocals, Emily McNamara – Vocals, Dave Schottland – Bass, Vocals,  Justin Starr – Guitar, Vocals, Josh Ehrlich – Keys, Vocals and Fabio Amato- Drums. Evan, Kristine, Abby, and Grace, and Emily are all singers in a wide variety of gigs and groups as well as waiters at Ellen’s. Emily is a singer and hosts musical performances. Fabio is a full-time drummer – session work, touring, etc. Josh, Dave, and I are all teachers.

    No Depression: How did you decide on a ’90s cover band?
    Justin Starr: The idea of being in a ’90s cover band began when I was in grad school. I was doing pit orchestra work on guitar for a staged production of High School Musical (so rock n’ roll, I know). Also in the pit were Dianna Hnatiw on drums and Phil Murphy on bass. During downtime we would just jam out on songs by Green Day, Foo Fighters, and more. We started talking about the desire to have a ’90s cover band. We said if we ever lived in the same town after school, we would start a band. When I got home from school, my best friend and former-bandmate Evan Shyer talked about wanting to play together. Things just kind of came together when Dianna moved to the NYC-area. However, we still needed to fill out the roster of the band. Evan was in a barbershop singing group with some other musicians and inquired if they would like to play – Dave Schottland on bass and Josh Ehrlich on keyboards. We also wanted to get a female voice into the group to make our band more versatile. Evan worked with Grace Wall at a Ellen’s Stardust Diner in NYC – a diner at which all the wait-staff sings! – and brought her down. Later on, we added her close friends and fellow diner coworkers Abby Burke and Kristine Bogan, which gave us even more versatility – now we could do group numbers like the Spice Girls, Salt N Peppa, Ev Vogue, etc. Eventually, Dianna had to move across the country so this was the first time we really auditioned a spot in the band for people we didn’t know. It was a little nerve-racking and it started to get to a point where we wondered if we’d ever find someone. But then Fabio Amato walked in and pounded the skins and that was that! Also, there was a small gap when our female singers were unavailable so we had Emily McNamara fill in. She was such a great fit that we now have four incredibly talented women!
    No Depression: What is your favorite type of music? Were you always a fan of ’90’s pop?
    Justin Starr: It’s funny, in high school I was into hard rock/heavy metal of the ’70s-80s – Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Black Sabbath, and the like. I was, however, very much into what was popular during middle school. I was buying the latest singles at The Wall (remember The Wall?!). But during late middle school and high school I was focused on metal. I was aware of the popular music of the time and may have even liked it, but it’s not what I reveled in. In college, though, I started getting my hands on all the recordings I could from Kazaa, making my own 90s greatest hits albums. I called it, “It Came From The ’90s,” like those commercials you would always see on TV. I do think there is something fundamentally better about the quality of music then compared to, say, now.
    No Depression: Do you put a creative spin on some of the songs? 
    Justin Starr: There are certain songs in our set that are standards for us to play, maybe because we put a spin on it in some way that makes it our own or the crowd just responds to it so well that we don’t see a reason to cycle it out, or we just really like it ourselves. Other material we cycle in and out. After all, who would want to come see the same show over and over again? There is such a plethora of great material from that time period that some songs must be left out when you only have an hour and a half to perform.
    No Depression: Being friends with many of the members do you feel more free to improvise together?
    Justin Starr: There’s not a lot of improvisation in our shows. Personally, I try to be very faithful – literal, even – with certain guitar solos. That is not to say that is true for everyone in the band, but it is often the mindset that I am in. There might be little personal spins on songs, a little bit of flexibility, but overall we’re there to bring people on a trip through memory lane via music so we’re functioning within a certain framework.
    No Depression: Have you recorded any music together?
    Justin Starr: We have not recorded any music together in a studio setting. One of our shows was recorded and that’s where the footage in our promo reel comes from.
    No Depression: Who/what are some of your musical inspirations?
    Justin Starr: That’s an interesting question because the answer I would give if I were discussing my composing would be very different. For this band, the musical inspirations tend to be the artists themselves – I’m trying to play someone else’s music. Sometimes I’m playing it very faithfully, sometimes I’m putting a little of me in there. Like when we do 4 Non Blondes, I definitely do some things that are not in the song. I’m actually pulling from my hard rock/metal background a bit.
    No Depression: Favorite ’90s band?!
    Justin Starr: Favorite ’90s band? Next you will ask my mom which of her children is her favorite. I don’t know about favorite band/artist, but I can say without a doubt that Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill is one of the best albums start to finish ever.
    No Depression: How did you decide on the classic “Full House” character, Uncle Jesse for your bands namesake?
    Justin Starr: For the name we were trying to think of something that really represented the ’90s. Full house, while born in the ’80s is generally thought of as a 90s show, which is pretty analogous to most of the band. Also, his hair was so iconic – it was practically its own character. How many times did Uncle Jesse warn if anyone got close, “Watch the hair!”
    https://www.facebook.com/UncleJesseNYC
    https://twitter.com/unclejessenyc
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