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Tight Hair Disco will ‘bring the funk’ of the ‘70s and ‘80s to Nanaimo this weekend

Eight-piece high-energy crew takes to the stage Nov. 5 at the Queen’s
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Katherine Beckett, left, Ian Olsen, Dave McCargar, Evert Pater, Hilary Beckett and Jody Dick of Tight Hair Disco will play the hits of the 70s and 80s at the Queen’s on Nov. 5. (Submitted photo)

Nanaimo will have the opportunity to ‘get down and groovy’ like it’s the 1970s this weekend.

Tight Hair Disco, an eight-piece high-energy band from Victoria that covers ‘the hits’ from the ’70s and ’80s will bring the funk to the Queen’s on Nov. 5 from 7-9:30 p.m.

For their first Nanaimo performance, the band expects to play selections by Donna Summer, Chic, Bee Gees, Earth Wind and Fire, Rick James, Evelyn (Champagne) King, Cerrone, Gino Soccio, Blondie and many more.

Taking the stage Saturday night will be Jody Dick on keyboard, Evert Pater on bass, Dave McCargar on guitar, Ian Olsen on drums, Eric Hughes on saxophone, Dave Flello on trumpet and sisters Hilary and Katherine Beckett on vocals and percussion.

Also the band co-founder, Dick said Tight Hair Disco has approximately 60 songs in its repertoire and is capable of playing an array of songs but the group’s favourites remain those by Chic.

“It marries up with our talents and our instruments very well,” he said. “Chic always has two female vocalists and then backups by some of the guys … they’ve got the keys, they’ve got the horns, they’ve got the drums, they’ve got the bass … and it’s a driving disco beat … and so it marries up pretty good with our makeup.”

Dick said the band likes to do ‘abstract disco’ and songs he wouldn’t consider mainstream for true disco fans.

“We do a lot of what I would call ‘club disco’ from back in the ’70s – they weren’t really mainstream radio play,” he said. “Me and Dave Flello are the only ones old enough that we were actually in the discos in the ’70s.”

The origin of Tight Hair Disco started in 2014 when, after a night of jamming together with a rock and roll band, Dick was approached by the other co-founder, Chris Lloyd, who asked him if he was open to disco and funk.

“I told him ‘it runs in my veins,’ because I actually did have a black velvet suit and I actually did have platform boots that zipped up on the inside,” he said.

According to Dick, Lloyd became involved in other projects, such as playing guitar for Gabriola singer-songwriter Sarah Osborne, and left the band to introduce McCargar, the current guitarist.

For Saturday night’s gig, the keyboardist said the audience can expect to see Tight Hair Disco “dressed to the nines” in retro fashion, including platform boots and large lapels, and encourages the audience to sport similar attire.

“It just makes the whole night a lot of fun … It’s like Halloween all year round … The vibe of our shows are all about fun. We like to play music for people and watch them smile on the dance floor. We get the biggest charge out of watching people have fun… And we try and be as authentic, in terms of sound, as possible,” he said, adding that he has four different keyboards specific to different sounds of the ’70s and early ’80s.

Tickets for the retro experience can be purchased online at www.showpass.com.

READ MORE: Nanaimo cover band returns to Queen’s for Halloween show


mandy.moraes@nanaimobulletin.com

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Mandy Moraes

About the Author: Mandy Moraes

I joined Black Press Media in 2020 as a multimedia reporter for the Parksville Qualicum Beach News, and transferred to the News Bulletin in 2022
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