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attention on the upcoming festival circuit and will play at South by Southwest this spring. Powell-Palm is confident about broadening the playing field: “Everything else we’ve already got. … We just need the tracks and we’ll see a nice exponential curve in our activity.” Despite the band’s youth, the members of Beauty Slap are by no means beginners in their trade. Berntsen was performing regularly under the guise of Jakeisrain before getting involved with Beauty Slap, and has had the opportunity to study under Grammy-winning composer Robert Aldrige as well as travel to Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions in Los Angeles to study mixing and mastering with Alan Meyerson and Seth Waldmann. C Street is a well-respected quintet in local chambermusic circles and has played in a variety of chamber concert series, including in Corpus Christi, Texas; Baltimore; and the group’s own series at Carnegie Mellon. The members come from all over, and have held many positions as members of orchestras or brass collectives, or as teachers. For many classically trained musicians, the transition to dance music may have stood as a challenge, but C Street was already exhibiting some funkiness in its classical performances, the members memorizing the pieces and moving around on stage. “It’s really way out there and radical for a classical audience, but for this stuff it’s kind of on the conservative side,” trombone player Gabriel Colby explains. “We feel that we can let loose, be a little freer and have more fun onstage.” C Street is still performing regularly as a brass quintet, but the members feel as though Beauty Slap and their classical work have a symbiotic relationship that improves the group’s playing and overall performance. “It works well,” says promoter and DJ “Pandemic” Pete Spynda, an integral figure in the local brass-band revival. “What they add is a different dynamic on the Pittsburgh scene.” Beauty Slap is approaching a moment where the musicians have to decide if the project is their priority. When asked about potential conflicts, Powell-Palm and Berntsen at first seem unable to give an answer. “A really interesting moment for me was last year when C Street’s residency officially ended,” Berntsen says, “and we hadn’t even come up with the name Beauty Slap yet, and they stayed in Pittsburgh.” The group formed quickly because the musicians found something that they could all connect with in the music. The passion that they exude onstage is palpable. With more confidence, Berntsen says, “Everybody seems hesitant to walk away at the moment.” I N F O@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.12/11.19.2014