The AdjusterZ In Concert This New Year’s Eve

Steve, what inspired you to create The AdjusterZ? 

Steve: I got bored with today’s musical scene. People are numb to music now with the studios having pumped out perfected audio and video for decades. Real rock music seems gone. Dance clubs have retrofitted their dance floors to add more chairs to increase food sales. When was the last time you saw a really captivated, young audience?

The people who frequent the scene work hard every day and have no idea how fun music once was. Today’s audience has been left insulted and desensitized. It’s like trying to show an action movie to a kid who just watched Transformers. How do you compete with CGI? I believe a little chaos creates bittersweet engagement. I almost named the band, ‘The Joker.’

Hmmm, that’s thought-provoking. So how did you go about recruting your band members?

Steve: I obviously needed the band members to have the right personality.  I  needed people that were seasoned and creative enough to have the musical ability I needed, along with the ability to insert a little pandemonium; able to create something we could laugh about first before we tried the first take! You do have to be willing to subject yourself to a whole new level of criticism. Just what if James Bond really did meet the Pink Panther?

I also wanted the musicians to have the type of sense of humor that could be conveyed musically on stage. If you can’t laugh if you make a mistake, then you can’t work here!  But I didn’t want a band with silly costume skits.  It’s insulting and old school. I just wanted the band to just convey itself musically as a surprise. Let the audience figure it out. They’re good at that.

I went after David “Rook” Goldflies right away! (laughs) I knew he was crazy enough and musically-gifted enough for the work itself, but I also knew that he has the cynical kind of sense of humor I was looking for. It really is music after all, and I wanted someone that could laugh in the face of chaos, and David was the man for that! David can apply the left and right side of his brain simultaneously. He’s that type of genius.

The rest of my comrades are equally nuts! We’re just a bunch of quirky, musical goofballs.  We just wanna have fun playing something different. And everyone in the AdjusterZ loves to ROCK!

So, David, you’re involved in many projects, including the Allman Goldflies Band, the Panama City POPS Orchestra, and releasing songs for your new album by TNEO. What inspired you to join the AdjusterZ? Can you tell us a bit about the group?

David: I’ve known Steve Pizza for many years. Good guy. Steve would give me a hard time for accidentally bumping my microphone when performing with the Panama City POPS at Aaron Bessant Park. Recently, we worked together developing the performance of the Allman Goldflies Band with the Panama City POPS at the SweetBay Community’s Amphitheater. Unfortunately, Hurricane Michael forced the cancellation and rescheduling of that performance.

While preparing for the AGB show, Steve and I talked about what a fun, professional band would look like. In previous years, Steve had played at the New Years Eve Beach Ball Drop at Pier Park on Panama City Beach and we both thought it would be interesting to assemble a group of musicians that would best represent our ideal group for the gig. Bam! The AdjusterZ was born!

Even though the AdjusterZ has a rather short history, we had something happen that caused us to recognize how special it is to work together as musicians. Our initial line up included the very talented keyboardist/bassist/trumpeter Chaz Butler. The band had its first rehearsal with Chaz and everything fit together perfectly. But Chaz passed away unexpectedly two days later. We were stunned at losing such a fine musician. We regrouped and were fortunate to find another fine, local musician to fill that seat, keyboardist extraordinaire, Shawn Perry.

The group now consists of Kevin ‘Mo Dee’ LaCour on drums, his wife, vocalist Kathleen LaCour,  vocalist Lennie Jenings who also plays bass and percussion, Shawn Perry on keyboards, me on bass and fiddle and Steven Pizza on guitar. This is a solid, rocking band that will bring a great time to Pier Park this New Years Eve. The event is free and open to the public.