The New Standards

By Diane Miller
Music Editor

What do you get when you combine the bass player from Semisonic, the keyboardist/vocalist of The Suburbs, and a really badass vibraphone player? You get Minneapolis’ most awesome remake trio – The New Standards. They are a band that are set up to be and sound like a jazz group, but instead of taking the traditional route, they gather their most favorite hit songs and recreate them with their own personalities and instrumentation – piano, upright bass, and vibes. “The motivation behind this group was purely for the fun of making music and playing our favorite songs,” says pianist Chan Poling. “We sat down in our living room one day and said ‘Do you know the song “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by Neil Young? Or do you know “London Calling” by the Clash?’ And we just started playing them acoustically in our living room and we had such a blast.”

Starting big in the 80’s with his band The Suburbs to writing works for film, theatre, and television, Poling has a repertoire of music that punctuates his professionalism in the world of music. He has been representing the Twin Cities music scene for decades and since 2005 has moved into something entirely new. Joined with John Munson, who has reached celebrity status from the popular 90s rock band Semisonic, as well as Steve Roehm from the band Electropolis, the trio is made up of all-stars that know a thing or two about how to play music. “We’ve been playing music for years and years. We’ve done the big rock thing. We thought it would be fun to play acoustically without all the amplification and all that gear you have to hall around,” says Poling.

The cool part about The New Standards is that they take songs from all over the spectrum and rework them into their own established musical character so that a song like “Song 2” by the 90’s alternative band Blur, can have a familiar quality to a song like “Such Greats Heights” by the Postal Service – a modern indie electronic group. They are two completely different songs in their original forms, but under the musical wing of The New Standards, these songs have the ability to reach an expanded listener.

Their jazz vibe speaks strong largely due to their set up, yet also due to their approach of writing. Often at the beginnings of their songs it is hard to recognize what tune they are doing because some of their works will sound as if they are playing an original jazz tune as an introduction. When the vocalist comes in, it then becomes extra easy to recognize the song due to the vocalist staying true to the melody and lyrics. It is then when the instrumentation starts to really connect and become familiar to us.

Take the song “Hey Ya”, originally by the hip hop band Outkast, for example – their version starts with dissonant chords on the piano, a mysterious bass line, and fluttering arpeggios from the vibraphone. Just from that alone, no one would be able to pick up what they are covering having no prior knowledge of what pop tunes they cover. But as soon as John Munson starts singing, it becomes instantly recognizable, and the instrumentation starts to make sense.

Knowing what Poling has accomplished as a musician, it inspired me to ask him what it takes to reach such high levels of success. He humbly responded with: “Never say never. Do what you love and branch out. Explore all you can contribute.” Being an individual who has accomplished selling out multiple shows at Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, packing the 1000+ seated Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, winning an Emmy, and being featured in The New York Times, I’d say his words are extremely valuable.

On Thursday, December 22nd, they will be landing their creations in town at the Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre. Holiday songs will be included in their set, being the show is super close to Christmas. All in all people can expect to have an enjoyable and entertaining time. FMCT is going to be an awesome, intimate setting to watch The New Standards. “We really enjoy ourselves playing for people. People always comment on how much fun we have on stage. We never script anything out or rehearse anything. We just go up and have a party, and I think the people feel it. There is a good feeling on stage,” says Poling.

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IF YOU GO
WHO: The New Standards
WHEN: Friday, December 22nd
WHERE: Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre
INFO: All ages; $23 in advance; $25 at the door