Spend enough time in local music and the six degrees of separation that applies to most people on the planet seems to dissolve completely.
Take the eclectic Denver underground band Tarantella, named after an Italian Renaissance dance thought to possess healing powers. In the same way that Italy once was the world’s cultural crossroads, Tarantella inhabits a musical realm where a half-dozen bands featuring some of the region’s premiere players draw upon styles from punk to gospel to tango.
We tracked down Tarantella guitarist and Denver guitar-maker John Rumley to find out more about this group’s latest endeavor:
Q: That old saying about too many cooks in the kitchen – does it apply to Tarantella?
A: It does in every band. This band really started with Kal (Cahoone) and I doing most of the co-writing. Then Bob Ferbrache, a local producer and longtime friend, came in to play guitar and keyboards. The three of us actually work pretty well together.
We also have Chad Johnson, the drummer, Kelly O’dea plays violin, and Shane Trost is the bassist. He played bass with Woven Hand for quite a while.
(Tarantella) took a break for a while, but this summer we decided to put (the band) back together and record a new CD. It’s stuff we’ve been in the process of finishing for a good year and a half. We generally get to practice about once a week as Shane and I are in Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, our drummer has four bands and teaches drums, and Kelly is in three bands.
Q: If Tarantella could write the score for a film, what would it be?
A: One thing about our music is that the songs are pretty spaghetti-Western sounding. I love “Dead Man,” that Johnny Depp movie. Neil Young did all the guitar work on that. That would be my choice. We’ve also been told, though I don’t know that I agree with it, that we remind some people of David Lynch. If people say that, it must be worth something.
Q: A Tarantella tour: probable as the setting sun or as unlikely as a freeze in July?
A: It’s looking more and more probable. With our signing to (Jello Biafra’s label) Alternative Tentacles, we may do the South by Southwest thing. I already do a lot of touring with the Auto Club, but it’s hard with two bands, your own business and three kids.
Tarantella plays a CD release show to launch the new album “Esqueletos” on Friday at Bender’s 13th Ave. Tavern. Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots and Bambi Lee Savage share the bill.
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
