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ENTERTAINER OF THE MONTH
An Octopus’ Garden
As I introduced myself to Mr. Sut……. Nath…….. I was caught just a touch off guard when he said, “If you don’t mind, you can call me Brother Octopus.” Ah, okay, what could I say. Well, Brother Octopus, alias approved! Brother Octopus is the namesake of the band, playing guitar and performing lead vocals. As I asked about the roles of the other members in the band, it’s a good thing this was over the phone. Between rolling my eyes, giggling and looking at the phone quizzically, Brother as I would call him, introduced me to the other, fish in the band. When I say rolling, giggling and quizzical, those are not bad things. After all, multitudes of bands in the 80’s had outfits and some even had names that would raise eyebrows.
Coming out of my box, as Brother Octopus came out of the ocean, I sat down to my notes as I was “introduced” to the other members of the garden. Little Guppy, doing harmonies and synthesizer with Golden Boy on the electric guitar. Playing keytar, actually, bass keytar, is Dogfish and New Guy covers some vocals and keeps the wave going on drums. At this point I am half expecting Aquaman to make an appearance, but as we all know, Aquaman sucks. Obviously, Brother Octopus et al, have a bit of a gimmick going and it makes perfect sense for them to carry it though in any public forum. You work hard to set
yourself apart form
others and on slip of the proverbial tentacle could drown that work back in the sea from whence it started.
One of the first things I like to find out is how bands classify what they do. With so many genres and sub-genres, where does Brother Octopus see themselves? Brother tells me that their sound is modern alternative with some electronic elements and even pop. As I listened to some of their latest disc, Serenaded Through Seaweed, released in 2017, I really felt that I heard a tinge of The Beatles. Brother was surprised as the rock pioneers are not on their lists of influences. So maybe the Liverpool four are not behind their music, where does the influence come from? Brother lists off The XX, Grouplove and Mother Mother, obviously some alternative bands as the muse behind the music.
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