Ellie Erickson
BingBong (from left): Danny Hicks, Brian Bentley, Pam Barrett and Julie Kiland.
Since its first show in 2013, Madison-based quartet BingBong has honed their guitar rock sound to a bright sheen. The results can be found on the debut album, Pop Restoration. Razor sharp arrangements balance with plenty of power-pop hooks and spiky guitar riffing, living up to the band’s self-described mission to write “precision pop tunes.” A release show is set for Feb. 3 at the newly renovated east side institution Mr. Robert’s.
The songs are grounded by the locked-in rhythm established by bassist Julie Kiland and drummer Brian Bentley, working seamlessly with the at times chunky and at times chiming rhythm guitar by lead singer Pam Barrett. They provide a rock solid base with plenty of space for Danny Hicks’ tuneful lead guitar work to shine.
Pop Restoration was tracked live to tape (except for a few guitar licks and the vocals) at the all-analog Williamson Magnetic Recording, with former Smart Studios engineer Mark Haines. “All of our favorite music was recorded analog first,” Barrett writes via email. “We like the production quality which, to us, feels more organic, more human. With analog, and only eight tracks, the songs had to be well practiced and arranged from the get go. The dynamics are built in to the performance.”
The process of making an LP is necessarily more involved than, say, posting some tracks online, or getting a CD duplicated. After the album’s mix was finalized, Barrett took the extra step of hand-delivering the tape mastered for vinyl production to the next destination: Welcome to 1979 studios in Nashville. Engineer Cameron Henry cut the lacquers, which are then used to create the plates that actually are used to press records.
“When [Haines] handed me the tapes, he told me, ‘Be careful. This is the only mixed copy of your work. Don’t store them in the back of your amp,’” Barrett says. “To keep it totally old school, I bought a bus ticket to Nashville, bubble wrapped the tapes and stuffed them in my carry-on backpack, not letting them out of my sight.”
The band also created an informative website about making the LP, and their posts detailing the process make for a fun read.
It also includes future local music trivia answers, such as where the cover image for Pop Restoration originated (it’s music fan Marco Pogo’s turntable in action).
The quality of the music will be no surprise to anyone who has heard the musicians play live, as part of a panoply of Madison bands. Barrett was a founder of the similarly jangly Motor Primitives. More recently she’s appeared on local stages with alt-rockers The Sigourney Weavers, a band that also features bassist Kiland. Hicks has played with The Back 40’s, Arena Venus and Centime, while Bentley’s c.v. includes stints in two very different bands: the indefinable dance-rock craziness of Headpump and rootsy Jim James & the Damn Shames. Hicks and Bentley also have a shared history as members of Americana-leaning The Fauxtons. And that’s just a sampling of their other activities.
Barrett and Hicks first crossed paths when playing a benefit in the early aughts, but lost touch until 2012. “We ran into each other at the Harmony and Danny suggested the time was right to start a project together,” Barrett says. “We spent some time talking about what music we liked and, as soon as he said ‘Rockpile,’ I was in! I love Nick Lowe.
“Then, we started scheming about bandmates. Over the past 10 years, I’d been trying to get Brian Bentley to work with me since I saw him playing in Jim James and the Damn Shames, but the timing was never right. When I told him about this project, and mentioned Rockpile, he said, ‘Cool! I’m in!’ It wasn’t until later he confessed he had no idea who Rockpile was. But his rockin’ attitude was all-in perfect!”
Together, BingBong’s members comprise an all-star band of the sort of dedicated, often unsung musicians who keep our scene vibrant. The finely crafted Pop Restoration can only help raise their profile beyond Madison. The Feb. 3 release show kicks off at 8 p.m., and DJ Randy B (WSUM-FM Freak Scene host) will also spin tunes all night.
