Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 | 6:47 a.m.
Who: Four Way Free
When: 7 tonight
Where: Henderson Events Plaza, 200 Water St.
Admission: Free
Information: 267-2171
The occasions when a cellist joins the band Four Way Free just drive home the fact that it enjoys plunging into different styles of rock.
"We sound like a lot of things," lead singer and co-founder Genji Nakano said by phone from a studio in Culver City, Calif. "We definitely have some pop stuff. Personally, I like some pop music, but a lot of stuff on the radio is not my cup of tea.
"All of us kind of bring our own thing to the group. We've always wanted to be a jam band. And Boody (drummer Larry Boodman) and I like Dave Matthews so we're kind of a jam band. And we've always wanted to be in a funk band. And we listen to a lot of James Brown and Stevie Wonder and stuff like that. And we also wanted to have a lot of fun and take it easy on stage - we saw Bare Naked Ladies one time and they have this easy rapport with the audience. So we take the best stuff from what we like."
The group has the dubious distinction of being created on 9/11.
"Tuesday morning , that was supposed to be our first practice," said Boodman, the band's co-founder. "Then everything happened. Some of us got together to practice anyway. Some couldn't make it. But it was our first rehearsal."
Since then Four Way Free has performed in Vegas several times, at the House of Blues and clubs off the Strip.
The group will be back in town tonight, performing at the Henderson Events Plaza for the weekly series Thursday Night Live!
The band consists of Boodman (drums and vocals), Nakano (vocals and guitar), Jeff Nunes (vocals and guitar), Berle Dixon (bass) and Peter McCaffrey (cello).
McCaffrey won't be sitting in for the Henderson concert. He's performing with the Louisville (Ky.) Orchestra, a full-time job. He catches up with Four Way Free when time permits and when the gig is right.
"When we play the House of Blues or do a big tour, he'll come join us," Nakano said. "But for the smaller stuff he doesn't make it."
Too bad McCaffrey won't be here to demonstrate his rock-cello technique.
"It seems peculiar," Nakano said. "But as soon as people hear him and hear how it fits in with the band, they love it."
The band, which has been touring nationally for the past couple of years, performs mostly original songs. The musicians have one album to their credit, "Trees to Climb On," an amalgamation of songs - some performed live, some in the studio. They are midway through their second CD, "Deeper," all of which is being recorded in the studio.
"For the first one we threw everything we had into the pot that we had done at the time," Nakano said. "This is the first time we're doing a full studio album. The reason we're so excited is that at last we can make the album the way we really want to make it."
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