[HPforGrownups] What do the Weird Sisters sound like?

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 53668

Patricia Bullington-McGuire wrote:
>On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Alicia wrote:
>
> > So my question is: what do other people think The Weird Sisters sound
> > like?
>
>I've always imagined they sound something like Rasputina
><http://www.rasputina.com/>.  I'm sure that's not quite right, though, as
>Rasputina has only cello, vocals and drums.

 From the descriptions, it seems that The Weird Sisters are an instrumental 
band (at least, there is no indication of any vocals during their performance).

Perhaps because of the age I am, I am an (embarrassed) fan of 70s Prog Rock 
and bizarre instrumentation for those bands was not a surprise. I also 
happen to be a fan of classical chamber music, so my tastes are considered 
by most people to be exceptionally strange.

Last year, I attended a concert which featured (without amplification) a 
combination of the following (though not all at once): "classical" guitar, 
steel-string guitar, banjo, cello, double-bass, harpsichord, marimba (a 
kind of wooden xylophone, for those who don't know), limited drumkit (two 
snares, a bass, a couple of cymbals) but lots of everyday percussive 
objetcs (bottles, kettles, etc), and for the wind/brass section: clarinet, 
trombone, tuba,  trumpet and something which wasn't, but sounded like, 
bagpipes.

This was NOT experimental classical music; it was very much rock music with 
a rock beat and rock chord progressions. It was absolutely magnificent. At 
least I thought so, and the couple of hundred people who were there with me 
thought so too. :-)

Don't ask me to describe the sound. Most of what they played were their own 
weird versions of classical standards, although there were also one or two 
compositions of their own. All I can say is that you haven't lived unless 
you've heard the William Tell Overture played on banjo, double-bass, 
marimba and trumpet with a bagpipe-like drone underneath it all!

BTW the group didn't have a name, but was composed of several individuals 
who *do* have a certain notoriety in appropriate musical circles, and 
apparently they're hoping to record something this year if a label takes 
them on. I imagine the Weird Sisters to sound much like they did. I 
suggested that they might to get in touch with JKR to get permission to use 
that name but I don't expect them to.

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, a strange guy who likes strange music