Killer Flamingos fly high as popular dance band in Michigan, Ann Arbor

Addie Shrodes

Editor

ashrodes@wccnet.edu The Killer Flamingos strikes up its first song of the night and pop rock vibrates through every surface. The band’s cover of Katy Perry’s “Waking up in Vegas” makes the crowd sway and tap their toes. A few begin to dance and sing to the music. And that’s just the first song. Hopped up on Red Bull and going all night, the Killer Flamingos gets the party started. The long-time band switched to strictly covers a few years ago after its successful 2001 album “Sick Society,” but it hasn’t lost its draw. Ann Arbor Current Magazine and Hour Magazine voted it best band in Ann Arbor and Detroit, respectively, in 2008 and 2009. The band plays four to five nights a week in Southeast Michigan, including at the Cavern Club in Ann Arbor, where The Washtenaw Voice interviewed the band members before a Saturday night show. They play or travel to shows upwards of 50 hours a week — and enjoy every moment. “We love it — we play music for a living,” said bass player David Gondoly. “Since I was a kid that’s the only thing I’ve wanted to do.” Three of the band’s five members went to school for music, and each member is expert at his or her instrument, a point Gondoly attributes the band’s success to. “Everyone at their own instrument is really, really talented,” he said. The band started as a house band at a bar in Allen Park in 1994 when the bar owner gave it the name “Killer Flamingos,” said Darren Drake, the only original member. After Drake took the band out of the bar, Michelle Carravallah added her sultry, powerful voice as lead vocalist nine years ago, and Gondoly and Todd Best joined as accomplished bass and guitar players. In a drummer switch out, Tim Webber joined three years ago, and the band’s been solid ever since. “There’s a great chemistry,” Gondoly said. “I’ve certainly been in a lot of bands where after a while you just don’t like each other, but this is just not like that ­—we’re like family.” “And we’re all grateful of the amount of time we’ve spent together, because it’s just unheard of,” Carravallah added. They thought of changing the name of the band a while back, Drake said, but Killer Flamingos stuck. “It’s always been synonymous with just a good party band,” Drake explained. The band plays covers of current pop music, like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, old-school hip-hop and modern rock. It also has revamped songs, such as “Ignition” by R. Kelly, that have been a hit with crowds. The band’s second original album, however, is still an ongoing project. “It’s sort of recorded, but not mixed or finished,” Drake explained. “So there’s kind of an album floating out there in the matrix.” In about nine years as an independent band, the Killer Flamingos has acquired an extensive fan base, with Ann Arbor, Royal Oak and Novi as the main centers. “We’ve built up a following and the following becomes part of your friends too,” Gondoly said. “We have great fans,” Carravallah interjected. But the band agrees that Ann Arbor has the best crowd. “This is totally not pandering,” Gondoly said. “I know what he’s going to say already,” Carravallah jokingly interrupted. “The Ann Arbor crowd’s great,” Gondoly enthused. “They are great,” Carravallah confirmed. “There are a few crowds where you can literally play anything, and Ann Arbor is one of them,” Gondoly finished. “They’re appreciative and energetic without being ridiculous ­— like some places get really drunk, and it’s just praying they don’t fall on you.” “Ann Arbor by far has the most responsive, fun crowds for live bands,” Drake added. The Cavern Club in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor is the band’s favorite local venue, and it plays there a few nights a month. Nick Easton, the club’s owner and manager, said the band “always brings a huge crowd,” upwards of 600 people each time. “I really, really like playing (the Cavern Club),” Carravallah said. “I call it my weekly dose of rock stardom because people are so excited.” The fan base in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan is one of the reasons why the band members call the band a career and not a job. “We passed up ‘job’ a long time ago,” Gondoly explained. “When we’re playing a place every now or then for $50 a night ­— that’s when it was a job. Now it’s a career for sure.” And they don’t plan to stop anytime soon. “I’ll keep this up ’till I drop dead,” Drake said, only half jokingly. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else, and I think everyone else feels the same way.”