| The Werks open the band’s fall tour with a show in Bowling Green |
The Werks is ready to jam with local music fans.
The crowd’s reaction to the five-piece band’s genre warping playing helps to shape those performances,
said drummer Rob Chafin.
"We play off the crowd," he said. "The bigger the crowd the better we play. They’re part
of the music… They help create the music."
Chafin said the band enjoys playing the Cla-Zel in Bowling Green because it’s a spacious room, and the
band likes the college scene. "We generally have a younger crowd that likes to dance," he said
of the band’s previous trips here. "We really tap into that college market."
Chafin added the venue’s old-theater ambiance is another attraction. "The room’s beautiful."
The Werks will perform at the Cla-Zel, 127 N. Main St., Wednesday. Doors open at 7 p.m. Music, which
includes special guests DJ What The Bleep and IntraVenusBass, starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the
door.
The band arrives in Bowling Green with a musician new to their ranks, but familiar to many local music
fans. Joining Norman Dimitrouleas, keyboards, Chris Houser, guitar, and Dino Dimitrouleas, bass, is
Aaron Armstrong, formerly of Toledo outfit, Boogie Matrix. This will be the first Northwest Ohio show
for him since he joined.
The Werks had shared the stage on several occasions with Boogie Matrix. Chafin said he and Armstrong
jammed around the campfire at a number of festivals, and when he said he was splitting from Boogie
Matrix, The Werks recruited him.
Armstrong adds another dimension. "We can turn on a switch and just go into a heavy ridiculous drum
jam… getting into that Latin tribal stuff," Chafin said. "We definitely bring in that
element."
That just adds to the band’s palette of grooves and colors. That variety dates back to the band’s
founding in 2006 when members of Columbus and Dayton bands joined forces.
"We all have very different musical tastes," Chafin said. Yet there’s a core of musical
influences that binds the band – Phish, the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin.
"We can switch to a different style of music at the drop of a dime," he said. The beat can
shift from rock to bluegrass to electronica to funk.
All this is spun out on the spur of the moment, driven by the band’s well-honed improvisational
instincts. "That unexpectedness is what makes it really fun," he said. "You’re not going
to get the same show twice."
With so much ad libbing there’s bound to be a miscue or two. "The mistakes are what make it,"
Chafin said. Watching the band work itself out of those missteps is part of the appeal for fans.
"Sometimes the mistakes will turn into positives it’s just part of constantly exploiting the
boundaries of music, pushing those boundaries."
That keeps fans coming back for more.
"We never know what will happen and the crowd is a big part of it," the drummer said. "If
the crowd is really into it, we get really into it."
"We put all our effort into making the live show as good as we can," he said. That includes a
"massive" light show. "The visual aspect is 50-percent of the experience, just as
important as the music."
The Bowling Green Show is the first of a fall tour. The 29-date itinerary that takes them around Midwest
and into the south.
The band is excited to hit the club circuit, Chafin said. "Everyone’s excited to get out there and
play."
