The Great Barrier Reefs appear live on Knoxville on WDVX's Blue Plate Special
The Great Barrier Reefs have been something of a household name in Murfreesboro in terms of the frequency of their shows in the past. But their jazz-funk pan steel concoction hasn’t been around the ‘Boro since October, which is about a year in Murfreesboro time.
On March 16, the Reefs are bringing a revised sound to Wall Street, so the Pulse thought it would be worth asking a good local jazz fusion band how things have been going for them outside of Murfreesboro.
“All things said and done, we didn’t come back broken and pissed off that we did it,” says GBR percussionist/keyboardist/steel panist Tony Hartman about the band’s extended tour, which ended last December.
2011 was a happening year for the band, starting with a record release in April, tours through the South and Midwest throughout the summer and festival dates, like the Bowling Green International Festival last September. Some cities were hit for the first time; others were reruns where the reception is getting warmer.
“Memphis, Knoxville, Atlanta—each time we go back to these cities, it’s bigger and better. It’s good to take this thing that was born and raised in Murfreesboro, take it out in the country and see how other people dig on it,” says Hartman. “So far it’s been positive.”
Last year’s tour was the longest the Reefs have done as a group; the band members’ lives don’t allow for too many prolonged tours. Hartman is a percussion instructor for the Oakland High School band, is involved with the MTSU salsa band, gives private percussion lessons and is the director of Steel de Boro, a steel drum band composed of local fifth and sixth graders.
A couple members are still finishing up their degrees at MTSU and Belmont. Bassist Taylor Lonardo runs Spring Street Studios in Murfreesboro, and Hartman, Lonardo and guitarist Al Janelle are in the popular local cover band, Nick Carver Band.
Redrocket, the Reef's trusty minivan; (from back) Rheal Janelle, Matt Heller, Josh Dunlap, Tony Hartman, Taylor Lonardo, Joshua Salter
The Great Barrier Reefs, however, are on the front burner lately. The band is putting together a live album, and they’ve written half the material for a new record. The first full week of March will take them on a brief tour through Hartman’s hometown of Davenport, Iowa, Chicago and Louisville.
All booking and publicity is handled by Hartman, who’s interested in seeing where the Reefs will go after a successful year.
“The band is a pretty big priority, not so much that it’s making me a lot of money, but it is my baby,” he says. “Players come and go and so do groups. That’s why I’ve been so aggressive with the touring. I want to get the most out of it that I possibly can.”
Hartman grew up like so many other artists—getting into music through church and his parents. His mother is a music teacher and his grandmother taught piano and played organ. Hartman was initially a student of piano. Piano led to cello, which led to upright bass, which led to percussion, including the steel pan drum.
“It’s too much fun not to play instruments. They all have a little secret to them. They all have a pattern. As a kid, I didn’t watch a lot of TV, I didn’t play a lot of video games. I just played a lot of instruments,” Hartman says.
Plenty of instruments and inspiration go into The Great Barrier Reefs’ fusion. As for their new sound, it has to do with the addition of guitarist Rheal “Al” Janelle.
The Barry Mando Project will join the Great Barrier Reefs on March 16 at Wall Street
A couple skilled guitarists have come and gone peacefully through the band, but the newest has kicked the GBR sound up a notch.
“Not only does changing members change the chemistry of the group, it changes the sound. Especially with guitarists—they can really define a group’s sound. The way they play, the type of distortion they do, the tone,” Hartman says.
A south Georgia guy, Janelle is into the distortion and brings a southern rock sensibility to the Reefs that definitely wasn’t there before. It’s added a grit that has tweaked Hartman’s songwriting as well, and kicked up the energy in their live performances (which sometimes needs to be toned down for restaurant gigs).
“I don’t want to say Janelle’s guitar playing gives our sound more of an edge, because that’s not exactly right, but it’s definitely different, and I’ve been writing new tunes based on that sound,” Hartman says.
The best way to find out how different the Reefs are is to go see them with Afro and the Barry Mando Project March 16. The best Hartman can describe the change is sound is that the GBR have gone from “super turbo smooth” to “super turbo.”
Visit thegreatbarrierreefs.com for free downloads of “To The Bridge Burners,” and two live tracks, “You Gotta Cheer Up, Debbie!” and “Matt’s Birthday.”
