Performance

June 9, 1989

 

“New Talent”

By Louis Marroquin

 

It’s the lead vocalist performing behind a stand-up drum set that first catches your ey about the Nace Bros., but it is their bluesy, “rock and soul” music that keeps audiences in the Midwest coming back time and again to hear this up-and-coming band.

 

Says Scott Link of Bogies in St. Louis, “The clientele comes in and sees the stand-up drum set, and goes, ‘wow, what is this.”’  But that initial intrigue would not be enough for Link to book the band “every other Tuesday through the end of this year’s baseball season.”  He says by the end of the year, the Nace Bros. will have performed at Bogies about 14 or 15 times.

 

David Nace, stand-up drummer, vocalist and leader of the band, says the stand-up drums began as a visual thing, but it soon became apparent that the set-up was also functional.  “I do a majority of the lead vocals,” he says, “and I was completely covered up by the drums.  People were wondering who was singing.”

 

The stand-up set allows David his rightful place at center stage, and according to agent Alan Rommelfanger at Garry Mac Productions, it allows for an ideal situation of the band to serve as opening act, since the band can completely set up on the front line of the stage.

 

The band, of course, is more than just a stand-up drum set.  David is joined by his brother Jim Nace (the key songwriter) on guitar, harmonica and vocals; Tim Williams on bass and vocals; and Bart Colliver on keyboards, acoustic guitar and vocals.

 

The band has been together for eight years, although David and Jim’s history with Williams goes back to grade school days.  David says they eventually drifted apart as many high school friendships do, but they joined back up to form the Nace Bros. band.  Colliver is the newest addition to the band, having joined two years ago.

 

But David and Jim’s interest in music goes back further than grade school.  In fact, they are part of a musical lineage that was preceded by their father Johnny Nace, a famed Midwest guitarist who still performs, a fiddle-playing grandfather, and a musical great grandfather before him.

 

While performing in central Missouri, the band caught the eye of Garry Mac Productions, which currently books and manages the band.  According to Garry Mac, the first thing that attracted him to the band was their talent.  “And second,” he adds, “and almost as important is their aggressiveness and great attitude.  You ten to get a little toasty after you’ve been doing it as long as they have, but they’re still excited.

 

“I had managed some clients in the past, but had gotten out of it for a while to develop my company,” says Mac, “but when I saw these guys, I knew I had to get back in.”

 

The current order of business for the Nace Bros. is the compilation of an EP cassette which will be used to bring the band to the attention of a major label.  The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the summer.

 

But in the meantime, the Nace Bros. are enjoying their regional success, performing at such venues as The Zoo, The Grand Emporium, Gatsby’s, The Lone Star, Liberty Drug, Blayney’s, The Blue Note Café, The Slope, The Coyote Club and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.  They have also shared the stage with such acts as The Rainmakers, Jerry Jeff Walker, The Tailgators, Commander Cody, The Guess Who, Al Stewart and Kook Ray and the Polaroidz.

 

The Nace Bros. are now primed for a break into the national spotlight.  They have already broken barriers in their own region.  Says Link, “We always put St. Louis band in there (at Bogies).  They like to hear their own bands.  But (the Nace Bros.) have the talent to make it happen.”