It's A Small World, As Re-imagined By An Under Cover Weekend Bands

Photos by Bryan Sutter and Jason Stoff

Now in its fifth year, An Under Cover Weekend has ten local bands play a set of covers by an idol or influence of their choosing. Spread over two nights and almost certain to sell out, this years incarnation spans maybe the widest range in the event's history: Via Dove will play as AC/DC, Dots Not Feathers will plays as Stevie Wonder, the Jump Starts will take on the Violent Femmes catalog and so on.

In the spirit of pursuing novel what-ifs, we asked a few of the participating bands the following: Suppose there is an It's A Small World style ride at an amusement park, but its theme is instead one song by the artist you are covering for AUCW. That song, on repeat, is the soundtrack, and the ride, its operation and backdrops, are all based on the song. You must ride this ride for twelve hours a day for a week. 1) Which song do you choose? 2) Describe the ride.

Bryan Sutter

Band: Dots Not Feathers, performing as Stevie Wonder
Song: "Sir Duke"
"The fact that the chorus repeats itself about a thousand times over yet I still don't ever get bored with it bodes well for my twelve-hour-a-day adventure," says singer Stephen Baier. "The ride would be a music lover's paradise, seeing as the song is a tribute to Stevie's favorite musicians, complete with an animatronics brass section with cameo appearances by animatronics versions of Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald. Also there would be light-up wall pieces of sheet music illuminating notes notating the intro arpeggios and the downright amazing instrumental bridge. Twelve hours a day each week wouldn't be enough."

Bryan Sutter

Band: Bo & the Locomotive as Cake
Song: "Race Car Ya-Yas"
"Water from the lazy river laps at the ass of the demolition derby car boat," says front man Bo Bulawsky. "The river picks up speed as you enter the menacing tunnel of Large Fuzzy Dice, Willy Wonka style. Mechanical chickens dance like children, mechanical children cluck like chickens. The fuzzy dice dangling from the ceiling loom ahead like a Deliverance inbred. They are unavoidable; they smack the faces of unsuspecting passengers. The only thing standing between the end of the tunnel and the exit is another boat, full of people in smiling Mickey Mouse mascot costumes. And also you're drunk."

Bryan Sutter

Band: The Orbz, performing as Stone Temple Pilots
Song: "It would probably be STP's 'Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart,'" says singer Jason Robinson. "Something about the dexterous guitar work is eminently listenable. That and Scott's lyrics require some time to decipher ― 'eat your Sunday deathbed motorcade' ― plus there's that defiant kiss-off chorus: 'I'm not dead and I'm not for sale.' Twelve hours a day? I could live with that.
"As far as backdrop and all that, maybe a Tim Burton-inspired caricature of Scott, all big head and scraggly body, animatronically swaying in his little lithe junkie way in front of a shifting psychedelic display. The DeLeo brothers as a two-headed figure plunking away with furious energy at their respective instruments."