Grunge-A-Palooza – a double 1990s music reference, and the name of an Aug. 12 concert with at Ardmore Music Hall.
The featured bands in the lineup are all from this area, except for New York City Pearl Jam specialists Last Exit. Taking the stage will be Stone Temple Pilots tribute Purple to the Core, Foo Fighters tribute White Limo, Nirvana tribute trio loveKILLEDkurt (a provocative reference to the conspiracy theory that Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain’s death was a murder staged to look like a suicide) and Flannel, a group with a ’90s alternative rock repertoire that includes songs by Green Day, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, 311, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Sublime, Radiohead, Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more.
“They brought substance back to music,” Flannel frontman Dave Allen said of the artists whose songs he sings. “It takes away from the ’80s hair bands, where it was ‘girls, girls, girls’.”
Allen was in third-grade when his mother brought home Pearl Jam’s assertive opening statement, “Ten.” He recalled often sporting “big stereo headphones” with that CD on repeat. “This music, for me, is my therapy. The lyrics and music have really gotten me through tough times. It really allows me to belt out the emotions,” he said.
Flannel has performed at the Hard Rock Cafe, Parx Casino, The Block at Harrah’s and the former Legendary Dobbs over their 15+ years in existence.
“We love this music so much,” Allen said of the five Grunge-A-Palooza bands. “We all became really good friends from this process, and our hearts are all in it.”
White Limo lead singer Clint Davis said that when his band and Flannel recently played a double bill at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, the show sold out. “We just got into it as something to do that was fun. We’ll end up getting more gigs when (Foo Fighters are) taking breaks,” he said.
Formed with people he’d played with in other bands, Davis said it was when they first ran through Foo Fighters’ 2011 song “Rope” that they knew they’d end up playing all-Foos all the time.
However singing like Dave Grohl can be dangerous, according to Davis, because the former Nirvana drummer’s unorthodox vocal style makes breathing tricky. “There were a couple times where I … almost passed out. I was never really a screamer. I growled a little in my original stuff,” he said, adding that the song “Monkey Wrench” took a year and a half of rehearsal to get right.
