By Michael Broerman
All I want for Christmas is The Werks, and Christmas is coming early this year to Woodlands Tavern in Columbus. On December 21 Dayton jammers, The Werks, are throwing the annual Werkers Union Holiday Party alongside Athens Pink Floyd tribute band Any Colour and Barefuzz. But this won’t be just any ordinary Werks show. Next Friday we will see the band donning some tube socks and paying tribute to funk masters the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Anticipation among Werks fans, the Werkers Union, is high for this experimentation. In years past, the holiday party tended to be more of a “super jam” of musicians from various bands such as the “Ohio All Stars” which featured members of The Werks. It has also been a way for the band to showcase local Columbus acts like Electric Orange Peel and this year’s winner of the Werkout battle of the bands, Barefuzz.
The Werks are heading into an incredibly productive winter with the upcoming holiday party, an outdoor festival in their hometown of Dayton the next day, a Phish after party December 28, playing with Twiddle in Boston for New Years, the release of the new album Sonder in January, and the third-annual Winter Werkout in February at The Bluestone in Columbus. Somewhere in between all of this, Werks drummer Rob Chafin talked to Weird Music about how The Werks plan to finish out the year and bring in 2019.
Weird Music: What made you choose the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Going back through setlists there’s a rare “Aeroplane” but not many other covers from them.
Rob Chafin: You know we actually did some covers a couple times this year at various locations throughout the U.S. but we decided to do just a fun cover set that not a lot of people were doing. It’s funny because months after we chose it our friends, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong,decided to do some Chili Peppers for Halloween. We were like “dammit we thought we were being original”[laughs].
WM: So how long have you guys been working on this set? Since before Werkaween then?
RC: We’ve been plotting it since back in the summer basically.
WM: Was the goal to do a whole night of covers by getting Any Colour as well?
RC: Yeah the idea was to make it a special event for The Werkers Union and we wanted to make it a fun night of covers. [Any Colour] is great. We wanted to add them to the bill because they’re from Athens and is one of the best Pink Floyd bands in the whole country. So, we’re very lucky to have them at the show and playing at the Winter Werkout as well.
WM: Do you always do a holiday show at the Woodlands?
RC: We do. The Woodlands is one of our favorite venues because they’re kind of a Werks bar in a way [laughs]. We love the staff and it’s the homie spot for sure. We love playing there whenever we get a chance.
WM: I also have to mention the new single “Stars Collide.” The song has a real dancey drum beat and hearing that, along with the electronic experimentation of Werktronic, makes me wonder if that’s a direction the new album will take?
RC: Um, yes and no. We’re definitely sonically exploring a bunch of different things, that’s kind of what makes us The Werks. We’re always trying to push the boundaries and keep on incorporating new sounds and styles into our music. A “you never know what you’re going to get” kind of vibe.
While we all wait patiently for the gift of new Werks album Sonder coming in January, the one thing Werkers know they will get is a set of serious funk in Blood Sugar Werks Magic Friday at the Woodlands…..but only if you’re good.
One Response
Great interview, Mike