GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN. COM
Indie rock band "Postmodern" members, from left, Ipo Bunnell, Noe Bunnell, Mindy Mizobe and Lani Teves.
YOU'LL never see their CDs on store shelves or hear their latest singles on mainstream radio, but they're out there. Flying under the radar of other local bands who play nothing but covers or stick to their Jawaiian roots, Oahu's alternative music scene continues to thrive in a variety of spots around town. And this weekend, 10 local acts and one talented emcee will come together for a pair of shows in hopes of financing an East coast tour for one of their own. Popcorn’s poppin’
Jason Genegabus
jason@starbulletin.com
Two local nightspots, Manoa's Bedroq Bar and Grill and Club Pauahi downtown, play host tonight and tomorrow to the third annual "Popcorn Mini Fest." Money raised from the concerts will be used to help send self-described "ordinary pop band" teradactyl on a seven-show tour next month.
>> 8 p.m. today at Bedroq Bar and Grill, 2535 Coyne St., featuring teradactyl, Linus, Little Moments, Pocketlite, and Paul and Gwen. Free, 21 and over. "Popcorn Mini Fest 2003"
>> 8 p.m. tomorrow at Club Pauahi, 68 S. Pauahi St., featuring Hellbound Hounds, Postmodern, Commonplace, the Bunkbeds, Omega Cix and Mike Phono. $5 cover, 18 and over.
Call: 942-8822 or 521-7252
"The last one we held got really big," said Jeff Sanner, teradactyl's guitarist and co-promoter of "Popcorn." Last year's show, held at both UH-Manoa's Campus Center Ballroom and Manoa Gardens, helped finance the band's West Coast trip to play three concerts. With touring costs more than doubling for this year's mainland adventure, Sanner was forced to move "Popcorn" off-campus for the first time.
"We still wanted to be close to UH," he said of the move to Bedroq for tonight's concert. "(But) the activities council at UH is kind of a hassle to go through them to get a show together ... and the cutoff time for UH is 8:30 at Manoa Gardens. I kind of wanted it to go later."
And later they will go -- doors open at 8 p.m. for those 21 and over, with no cover charge all night. "The more drinkers, the better," laughs Sanner, as the band has an agreement to get a cut of the evening's bar sales in return for doing the show. Joining teradactyl on stage will be Linus, Little Moments, Pocketlite and the duo of Paul and Gwen (which happens to include Paul Bajcar, who also plays with teradactyl).
ON SATURDAY the fun moves to Club Pauahi, where Sanner and bandmate/promo partner Ara Laylo have been putting on "Avant Pop" since the beginning of the year. The Hellbound Hounds will be joined on stage by the Bunkbeds, Commonplace and Postmodern along with DJ Mike Phono and emcee Omega Six. For Postmodern drummer Noe Bunnell, the evening will definitely be more about fun than work.
"We're really excited to play at Pauahi," she said earlier this week. "We go to all of Jeff and Ara's stuff -- we try to support their things."
For the 23-year old elementary school teacher and fellow band members Ipo Bunnell (Noe's sister and the group's lead vocalist), keyboard player Mindy Mizobe and guitarist Lani Teves, showing support means going down and playing for free. None of the ladies will get paid for tomorrow's show, but they want to see their friends make it out on tour next month.
"If you've been going to shows since high school, which we have, then you know everybody there," Bunnell said. "I don't know where all these bands have been coming from, but it's good that they're going to be there ... I really like Linus a lot. And I like teradactyl, of course."
Teves sounds just as excited about Postmodern's performance tomorrow night as her bandmate does. "It's a fun place ... I like to go there whenever," she said of tomorrow's venue. Ask the graduate student at UH-Manoa what her band will sound like during their performance, on the other hand, and it becomes a bit more difficult for Teves to find the right words.
"I can't even describe it ... it's not something that's easy on your ears. It's not really poppy or feel-good music; it has roots in punk. It's really discordant.
"We all kind of play differently, and somehow when we play together, it kind of comes together. I wouldn't say it necessarily matches, but it's postmodern!" she said.
Bunnell, who attended Maryknoll High School with her sister and Mizobe before meeting Teves at UH-Manoa, agrees. "We always try to play a strange mixture; if everyone plays something differently and you don't think it would go together, we try to make it go together."
OVER THE COURSE of tonight's and tomorrow's concerts, teradactyl hopes to raise most of the $3,000 they say is needed to finance their East Coast tour next month. When they arrive for performances in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C., Sanner predicts that the band will "rent a car, probably, but the sleeping arrangements (will be) probably couches and floors in living rooms ... (but) we're excited about doing a tour again."
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