Even though some bands take issue with being the “opening act” at a concert or a festival, one local group is ready to make the most of that position at an upcoming event.
“Once we’re on that stage just try to get us off of it!” challenged Dave Mansfield, drummer of the local blues quartet The Rhythm Rats. “We, the band and the crowd, are going to have a good time!”
The event that will lead off with The Rhythm Rats is the 8th Annual Howe-Irvington Block Party. And for Mansfield and the band’s guitarist “Fast” Johnny Scharbrough, it will be an opportunity to catch up with some of their fellow Howe High School alumni.
While a student at Howe High School, Scharbrough (Class of ’77) was in the band The Cruisematics, a group that included several of his schoolmates — Bob Tanansovich, Dave Shadioe, Scott Thomas and “Smoking” Dave Wyatt.
“I had my first pro bar gig at Chubby’s (Wadsworth) Club LaSalle on Michigan Street,” Scharbrough said. “I ended up hosting the bar’s weekly blues jam for seventeen years.
“Guys like Yank (Rachell, a legendary blues mandolin player and Indianapolis resident) would show up and sit in with whoever was onstage at Club LaSalle. It was a fun place to play music.”
While Scharbrough has been a mainstay of the Indianapolis blues music scene, Mansfield’s musical background is of a different genre — punk rock. David was the drummer for local punk bands Cerebus and Latex Novelties prior to hooking up with The Rhythm Rats.
“A lot of local musicians grew up in the same neighborhood as Johnny and I did (around Christian Park),” Mansfield said. “Guys like Tony Burton, Joe Mattingly and ‘Smoking’ Dave Wyatt.
“You had two bands, Cerebus and the Cruisematics, who lived within a half-block of each other. You really didn’t have to look far for guys to play music with back then.”
While blues and punk rock are two types of music not normally associated with each other, Scharbrough says that having a drummer with Mansfield’s background is beneficial to The Rhythm Rats.
“The thing with Dave being an ex-punk drummer is the power and tightness his playing brings to the band,” Scharbrough admitted. “I haven’t been in a band with this kind of feel since the Cruisematics!”
Scharbrough added that playing with Mansfield and the other three members of The Rhythm Rats, singer Billy Gee Miller, bassist Ray Valanot and harmonica player/vocalist Allen Strattyner is a welcome change from his last group the Circle City Blues Band.
“We (the CCBB) only had two practices in five years!” Scharbrough said, “I tried to keep it together, but the drummer and bass player ended up hating each other. You definitely can’t survive with that stuff happening. With the Rhythm Rats we’re practicing in Dave’s basement every week!”
“Billy is 76 years old and still an amazing singer!” Scharbrough boasted. “I mean 76 years old! And he’s still going strong today.
Scharbrough recalled the night when Valanot joined the band that would become The Rhythm Rats.
“Last fall we were playing a show at the Sugar Shack,” Scharbrough said, “and Ray sat in with us for the last three or four songs that night. And we just clicked! That’s when The Rhythm Rats were born.”
While The Rhythm Rats aren’t shopping a demo or looking to be “the next big thing” in the music industry, Mansfield said that he and his bandmates know to never say never.
“If someone writes a check, we’ll cash it!”
The 8th Annual Howe/Irvington Block Party, hosted by the Howe High School Class of 1977 will be held on Johnson Street (one block east of the intersection of Washington Street and Ritter Avenue) and Ritter Avenue (just south of Washington Street) on Saturday, August 23rd. This year’s Block Party runs from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
The NY Slice & Sully’s Famous Hot Dogs are this year’s awesome food vendors, while Whiskey Business Sports Bar and Entertainment will have a beer garden on Ritter Avenue.
In addition to the Rhythm Rats, the live entertainment for the 8th Annual Howe/Irvington Block Party will be provided by emcee Pete Anderson, Rising Son, and Blue Alchemy.
Admission is free. For more information regarding the 8th Annual Howe-Irvington Block Party, go to the 8th Annual Howe-Irvington Block party’s page on Facebook.
