On April 21, The State Room will host one of the most epic concerts local music has to date: Ménage à Trois, showcasing Crook and the Bluff, Candy’s River House and PIG EON for a fully-orchestrated evening of the blues and psychedelic Western sounds. Crook and the Bluff’s Kirk Dath (vocals, guitar) and Darin Farnsworth (drums) give us a small snippet of the evening they have planned for Ménage à Trois.
Farnsworth thought of the concept after a concert in Escalante, Utah. “We were just talking about how typical shows have flaws,” he says, “and I’ve had this idea of having a show where the music is just nonstop and how can we pull that off.” After months of planning and allowing the concept to take root, Crook and the Bluff were presented an opportunity to make this happen at The State Room.
“Logistically, we picked The State Room because they had a lot of equipment and had a large enough stage to accommodate three bands of our sizes,” says Dath, “a three-piece, a four-piece and a five-piece, all going to be onstage at the same time, all mic’d at the same time, all lit at the same time.” Ménage à Trois will seem much like a play: Audience members will pick up a program before entering the show so they can keep up with who is playing what at any given moment. “I don’t want to give everything away,” says Dath, “but Jordan Young from Candy’s River House, Sam Smith from PIG EON and myself will come out and perform a song all together.”
The night promises to be wild, as each band will begin to play on each other’s tracks, meshing their sounds together to create a unique concert experience. The show will also include live dancers. “We were lucky enough as Crook and the Bluff to do a show with a few of the dancers that will be performing at the Ménage à Trois show,” says Dath. “It’s just stunning. It adds so much to the show, and for people to add a visual element to the song, it seems to really work and fit seamlessly with the music.” Crook and the Bluff have worked with top-notch local performers such as Pretty Macabre, whom Dath describes as “captivating.”
The song you’ll hear on the track is “Red” by Crook and the Bluff. Don’t miss Ménage à Trois on April 21 at 9 p.m. This show is 21-plus, and tickets are on sale online for $13 or $15 at the door. For more information, visit crookandthebluff.com.
Thanks for listening to SLUG Mag Soundwaves.
- This podcast was created by SLUG Magazine and produced by Angela H. Brown and Secily Saunders
- Associate Producers: Alexander Ortega, Joshua Joye, John Ford, Kathy Zhou
- Executive Producer: Angela H. Brown
- Background music by Crook and the Bluff, Candy’s River House and PIG EON
- Soundwaves logo and art design by Nicholas Dowd
- Technical design by Kate Colgan
- Photo: Brian Cline
SLUG Magazine’s mission is to provide an honest journalistic alternative to mainstream coverage of arts, music, events and lifestyle. SLUG adds value to lifestyle through community engagement. Available in print and digitally on SLUGmag.com.