The El Orbits line-up has changed for 2007.
David Beebe has taken a hiatus from the band to have surgery on his throat and will be spending the next few months recuperating. After that he’s off to Marfa, TX to work on another project.
Thomas Escalante, front man for Clouseaux and lead singer for the Houston based ska phenomenon, The Suspects, has stepped into the role.
Other changes include guitar sensation Jim Henkel (The Musical Find of the 90’s) hanging up his ax and moving into the role of keyboardist while Allen “King of the Oldies” Hill picks up the bass and Allison Fisher take over as lead guitarist and also lends her unique vocal stylings to the mix.
Steve Begnoche and Eric Hughes stay in their role of alternating drummers and I’m not sure where Landis Armstrong fits into this new mix. Probably still the pickup guitarist when the band plays Austin and other outlying areas.
The El Orbits have always been one of my favorite bands. Beyond that, they have been Cynthia’s all time favorite local band. She even likes them more than MY band, The Flying Fish Sailors!
Cynthia had not seen the new El Orbits and therefore had not rendered a verdict on the new line-up. That changed a few Fridays back when the band played a rare Friday night public gig at The Big Top. I say rare because The El Orbits are a wedding and private party machine, only breaking this pattern every Monday night at the Continental Club from 9-Midnight and I we’re just not a go out on Monday night kinda couple.
The show was really good. Even though the band had not played in public very many times in this configuration, you could hardly tell it by the way it sounded. This new incarnation of the band is strong, stong, STRONG.
If you’re a get out on Monday night kinda person, I strongly recommend checking ’em out!