In talking about his band, LoFi Delphi, bassist Andrew Belsick isn’t going to, as they say, front.
“We don’t write like weird, hipster music, right?” he says. “We play straightforward pop rock and we try to make it as catchy as we can and just try to be as melodic as possible.”
And if there’s a problem with that, it’s that “sometimes,” he says, “we feel like we don’t have a niche.”
So, while Lo Fi Delphi might not be all the rage along Butler Street, the band will appeal to people who like crunchy guitar riffs, big hooks and a singer with a pure, pretty voice built for mainstream rock radio.
That would be Becki Gallagher, who has been married to the bassist for nine years. They formed the band in 2014, bringing influences that reach pretty far back.
“We both grew up on a lot of pop stuff,” Mr. Belsick says, “so for her that meant like ‘60s bubblegum pop like the Beatles and Beach Boys, and all that shining bright goodness stuff. For me, I grew up on a lot of doo-wop stuff like the Skyliners, Frankie Valli.”
How do you grow up on doo-wop in the ‘80s and ‘90s?
“I grew up in the Mon Valley, so everything was consistently 20 years behind standard times,” he laughs. “Seriously though, I have a big Italian family, so at gatherings there was always the old crooners and doo-wop.”
He also had an uncle that got him into garage rock, so he says, “So all of that stuff just kind of informs us any time we write, at least from mine and Becki’s perspective.”
They formed the band in 2014 with drummer Tyler Jessup and, later, guitarist Andrew MacDonald, and have released a pair of EPs in “Victor” and “Always the Quiet Ones.” They returned to the Wilderness Recording Studio and producer J Vega for a third EP, this time looking to take the band’s New Wave-y power pop up a few notches.
“J was like, ‘Hey, I really want to do something kind of Cars-esque or Def Leppard-esque, in a contemporary way, where you have the lead melody and then you have at least three people singing the same harmony in unison and layering and layering and layering,’ ” the bassist says.
They called it “Tilt,” he says, because “Becki’s super into pinball and grew up with it because her dad fixes vintage pinball machines.”
In their minds, that theme even extends to the musical structures of a few songs, of a ball slowing being shot into action, bouncing around and getting stuck for a moment on the bridge. The title track, which closes the album, manages to put a relationship in pinball terms, Ms. Gallagher singing, “be my player 2.”
Mr. Belsick seems happy in that role.
LoFi Delphi plays its release show at the Funhouse at Mr. Smalls at 8:30 p.m. Friday with Wreck Loose, The Telephone Line and Essential Machine. $7. You can hear them Friday morning on the WDVE Coffeehouse.
RAMBLE ON
Randy Baumann’s Ramble will roll on in the spirit of Levon Helm Saturday for a fifth anniversary show with another all-star lineup of Pittsburgh musicians.
Gathering on the Rex Theater stage will be Scott Blasey and Rob James (The Clarks), Clinton Clegg and Mike Minda (The Commonheart), Joe and Johnny Grushecky (Houserockers), Max Somerville and Nathan Zoob (Wreck Loose), Jay Wiley (Hawkeyes), Molly Alphabet, Dave Wheeler, Addi Twigg (The Telephone Line), Jon Bindley (Bindley Hardware Co.), Chet Vincent (The Big Bend), Paul Luc, Kayla Schureman, Morgan Erina, James Hart (OutsideInside), Jill Simmons, Andre Costello (Cool Minors) and Chad Sipes.
Breaking with tradition, they’re going to do two sets with no opener. “As always, the overall theme, if there is one, is drawing from the canon of songs in the orbit of ‘The Last Waltz,’” says WDVE Morning show host and keyboardist Baumann. “It will definitely pay tribute to the fallen icons of 2017 — Tom Petty, Gregg Allman, Walter Becker — and we brought back a lot of the regular ramble family for this one.”
It begins at 9 p.m. 21 and older. Tickets at http://bit.ly/RandysRamble
CODE ORANGE KUDOS
Along with a Grammy nomination this week for best metal performance for “Forever,” Pittsburgh band Code Orange slipped into Rolling Stones list of the Best Albums of 2017 at No. 50.
RS writes, “The Pittsburgh hardcore-from-hell outfit delivers state-of-the-art heaviness with its third full-length LP, and its first for storied metal imprint Roadrunner.”
Expect Code Orange to turn up on a lot more lists before the year ends.
UGLY BEATS AT GET HIP
The Ugly Beats, a ’60s-inspired garage-psych band from Austin, Texas, will play a gig at its label headquarters, Get Hip Recordings on the North Side, Friday.
They’ll be joined by young Get Hip stars The Nox Boys, with Get Hip founder and Cynics guitarist Gregg Kostelich, who plays on the forthcoming album, sitting in on bass.
“He’s a Nox Man,” says frontman Zack Keim.
It begins at 8 p.m. at R.J. Casey Industrial Park, 1800 Columbus Ave. Admission is $7. The new Get Hip Record Store will be open from 7 to 11 p.m. with a special 20 percent-off discount.
First Published: November 30, 2017, 1:00 p.m.
