by LAURA TABOR
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Begin with a pop/rock standard. Then add in a dash of electronic background, some creative lyrics and pure, delicate vocals.

Mix together to get Kapluckus.

Kapluckus, a band with ties to Boone is gaining ground in the regional music scene.

Michael L. Gregory, an Appalachian State University alumnus, said four of the band members grew up together in Radford, Va.

They played with each other in various bands in their youth before forming Kapluckus in spring 2007.

“It feels good to play with those guys,” Gregory said. “You can really lock into each other because you’ve played together for so long.”

The fifth member is Constance N. Waddell, a senior music performance major.

She met Gregory through classes at the Hayes School of Music, and he asked her to do vocals and play keytar for Kapluckus.

“I’m an opera major,” Waddell said. “So singing pop/rock is a fun break.”

While Waddell does a lot of the vocals, Gregory earned some fame for his own voice by appearing on Fox’s “American Idol”.

“I got to sing for the higher level of producers, the show’s creators who decide the direction of the show,” Gregory said. “At that point, everything is on camera.”

While Gregory did not make it to Hollywood, a small piece of his performance of Akon’s “I Wanna Love You” aired on the show.

Gregory’s attitude toward the whole experience was positive, and he never took it too seriously.

“If you go in with the wrong attitude and a big ego, you are in the wrong place,” Gregory said.

Now Gregory sings along with Waddell when they do shows with the rest of Kapluckus.

The lyrics for their melody driven tunes are mostly derived from personal love and heartbreak stories among the members.

“Really good writing comes out of real emotion and experience,” Gregory said.

While the band is not currently on tour, plans are in the works for a Boone show around October.

Local fan and friend of the band Sue M. Bayrd, a junior Spanish major at Appalachian, cannot wait for that to happen.

“I like the spacey sounds,” Bayrd said. “Also, their lyrics are hilarious; they makes me laugh more than anything else.”

Until the band frequents Boone, Bayrd and other fans can download the songs from iTunes, according to the Kapluckus’ Myspace Web site.

For the recently released physical album, “Endless Space,” visit CD Baby Web site, at cdbaby.com/cd/kapluckus.

Stephe Halker, an artist from New York who has done work for musicians including Sufjan Stevens, did the graphics that blanket the album’s layout.

The result is a space theme, featuring the members of Kapluckus jamming in space suits and jet packs.

The album art is not the only unique part of the band, though.

Kapluckus aims to make a truly one-of-a-kind sound.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comments