EDITOR’S NOTE: Barrage 8 will perform at 7 p.m. Friday. This story has been corrected. The date was incorrect in the original.
PORT ANGELES — Amplified violins with distortion effects? Call it the musical love child of Ludwig van Beethoven and Jimi Hendrix.
Barrage 8 — a musical group of eight string musicians and one drummer — has thrown out the book on “traditional” string music by delving into the modern era.
“Stylistically, we are not limited to any particular style,” Tony Moore, founding member, said this week.
“Unlike a bluegrass group that plays bluegrass, or a Celtic group that plays Celtic music, we can play all the meats in the cultural stew in our ensemble.”
That includes modern pop songs such as “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars and even music by rock band Radiohead.
“We can do everything, stylistically, which is cool,” Moore said.
“The other thing is the sound we are able to produce, which is really something we’ve evolved and are now very happy with the creation of this Barrage 8 concept. It is a rock and roll show that is done with classical instruments.”
Barrage 8, presented by Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, will perform live at 7 p.m. Friday at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave.
Tickets are $15 to $35 for those 15 and older. Tickets for youths 14 and younger are $10.
Tickets are available online at jffa.org or at Port Book and News at 104 E. First St. in Port Angeles.
Musical reincarnation
Barrage 8 was preceded in 1996 by Barrage, which Moore founded with John Crozman and Dean Marshall.
Barrage toured extensively through 2012, when the group was discontinued.
“We used to be primarily violins with a rock band behind us,” Moore said.
“We had a few years off there but we played straight from 1996 until 2012, and we played over 3,000 shows in 27 countries.”
Barrage 8, consisting of musicians from all over the United States, took up the mantle this year and has hit the road to share its unique sound.
“We play a lot of shows,” Moore said.
“The players come and join us from various cities in the United States and they [tour] with us for a year or two and pretty much live out of a suitcase.”
Barrage 8 features all the instruments in the modern string family, with the “8” in the name representing a re-imagining of the string octet — five violins, viola, cello and double bass, Moore said.
“Now we are able to use the cello and the double bass to provide the [backing] rhythm sounds” formerly provided by an electric guitar and bass, Moore said.
“What you used to have to do on electric bass or on a rhythm guitar we can now do with the string instruments themselves,” he said.
“It is a very powerful sonic attack — very much what you would hear in a symphony orchestra in the sense of different levels of sonic palate we now have available which we didn’t have before.
“It is a very full and powerful sound, and unique because you don’t [commonly] see cellos and double basses and violas rocking out.”
Music for all ages, tastes
Performing such an eclectic variety of music makes stringed instruments more accessible to a wider portion of the public, Moore said.
“That has always been our gig,” he said.
“It has been a choreographed presentation since day one. We don’t sit behind music stands. We have a very young, energetic and athletic approach and that is what allows us to communicate better with the audience.”
He said the shows “break down the fourth barrier,” and encouraged people of all ages to attend the performance.
“The main reason is that it is appropriate fun for all ages,” he said.
“We are able to do that because there is something for everybody in our show.”
For a younger audience, “they enjoy the rhythm and the rock and roll feeling of the lights,” Moore said.
“We have a really engaging light show and it very much feels like a rock show.”
Older folks can appreciate the level of talent exhibited by the performers, Moore said.
“The technique is played in a very learned and classical way,” he said.
“Even though [the musicians] are only 25 or 26, they have been playing the instruments for 22 years. It is a very classically learned approach to the way things are, and usually older people really find [appreciation] for that.”
Most people “can’t just pick up a stringed instrument and let ‘er rip,” Moore continued.
“There is a lot of dedication and hours that go into getting to the level our players are at.”
Keeping rhythm
A major component of the group is percussion, Moore said.
“We have a wonderful drum kit player and percussionist who is kind of the engine room of the whole approach,” he said.
That sound is expounded upon by an arsenal of other string instruments — such as mandolin or guitar — donned by the performers when appropriate, Moore added.
That lends “a little flavoring to each tune depending on the style we are playing,” he said.
“On a blues tune, one of the players will pick up a guitar and play out a good blues riff — just to make it so we can pepper the music with different instrumental influences.”
Another tool used by the players is the use of distortion and other sound effects on their violins, Moore said.
“They will go through a classic rock medley with a solid body seven string electric violin. That gives us the ability to do all these rocking Boston and Kansas guitar solos on a violin, and make it sound like something you’d be used to hearing.”
For more information, call the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts at 360-457-5411.
