INSIDE

Local band Encore keeps on rocking and rolling!

By Meg Olson

The band Encore is celebrating a solid year drawing a crowd at TJs Restaurant and Lounge on Saturday nights, with their combination of passionately delivered rock and roll and local flavor.

If the band has a founder it would be International Marketplace manager and guitar player Jay Lewis, who said he and fellow guitar player Stuart MacFarlane had been looking for more opportunities to play. “We started just getting together in his basement,” he said. They were joined by bass player and All Point Bulletin garden columnist Doreen Trudel and started playing at the Dockside Café, later joined by Grant Snell on keyboards.
The fledgling band had its own British invasion starting in late 2006 when rock and roll veteran David Archer joined on drums. Archer is a former member of the Bradfords, who came to the U.S. in the 1960s to tour with the Rolling Stones but were replaced by a U.S. band. Vocalists Ellen Mertens and Linda Krahn are sisters, cousins to Archer, and were also part of the Bradfords family as the band toured the U.S. and settled in Minneapolis.

“They’re pretty much former professionals,” Lewis said. “The rest of us are just hacks but we love it.”

Lewis describes the band’s repertoire as “old time rock and roll, sprinkled with more recent stuff,” and he added they rehearsed regularly to add new material. “We just love music and we love to play,” he said.

The band has had a regular spot at TJs three Saturday nights a month since January 2007 but has also played at other local restaurants and taverns as well as private parties. They have no intention of taking their show on the road. “The border hassles, travel, besides we’re all old!” he said.