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Karaoke Underground’s greatest hits
Husband-and-wife team Kaleb Asplund and Hannah Ford met in college in Sioux Falls, S.D., and bonded over a shared love of under-the-radar music. Both taught English in Japan, where they developed a taste for karaoke. When they moved to Minneapolis in 2002, they went searching for places to sing karaoke that appealed to their discerning tastes — and eventually became regulars at a hole-in-the-wall punk rock karaoke series where patrons crooned Black Flag, not Journey.
“It happened in the dive-est Mexican bar in northeastern Minneapolis. And they just had MP3s and a sheet of paper they’d hand you with the lyrics on it,” Asplund says. “There was a horrible mix. You would just get up on stage with a sheet of paper and yell.”
Inspired, they started Karaoke Underground in 2004 after moving to Austin. The series offers singers the best in indie and punk rock in lieu of standard karaoke favorites. The Beatles? Queen? Boston? Try Sleater-Kinney, the Pixies, Cat Power, Pavement and the Replacements instead. Karaoke Underground has built a loyal following and attracted a few singers of note over the years — even Britt Daniel once stopped by to sing Spoon’s “Anything You Want.”
Ahead of Karaoke Underground’s trial run at Red 7 tomorrow night, Asplund and Ford shared some Karaoke Underground favorites with the American-Statesman. The show takes place in Red 7’s indoor lounge and is free.
Most popular song
Asplund: I’d have to say “Waiting Room,” by Fugazi. There have been fluctuations with other competition but that’s the big one.
Ford: It’s a jam. That false ending? It just rocks. And everybody always knows it. We put on a South by Southwest show once that was full of Washington, D.C., kids and they just went nuts on it.
Most difficult song
Asplund: “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine,” by Modest Mouse. Modest Mouse is just hard to sing. And on a Fun Fun Fun Fest note, Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” is nearly impossible. You have to know that song inside and out. ’Cause half of it is just talking and it’s hard to get the cadence right, and when the singer starts totally ripping into it, it’s hard to keep up.
Ford: They had that one back in Minneapolis, and I actually had to do the walk of shame back to my seat. It was too hard. The Streets’ “The Irony of It All” is hard. Because the song is two characters talking, and it’s a funny accent on top of that.
Good song for beginners
Ford: When I started doing punk rock karaoke in Minneapolis, I didn’t know any of the songs on their list. I wasn’t very in tune with the punk scene at that time. So I sang Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” for about five or six weeks.
Asplund: The tricky thing about “Bad Reputation” is that it goes on about twice as long as anyone remembers.
Ford: Most of the easy songs are like that. People tend to sign up for “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones when they’re really drunk. And it’s easy to do, but I think about all Ramones songs are about twice as long as they should be. For karaoke.
Best song for a group singalong?
Asplund: “TV Party.” Black Flag.
Ford: “TV Party” is the best group song. Especially when people come up with their own favorite shows.
Asplund: Because there are references in the original song to “Dallas,” “Monday Night Football” and whole bunch of shows that aren’t on anymore. So people sometimes mention “The O’Reilly Factor” or whatever show they’re not watching instead.
Artist with most Karaoke Underground tracks
Asplund: The Minutemen, definitely.
Ford: We did a 20th anniversary show for (Minutemen guitarist) D. Boon’s death in 2005. We put 20 Minutemen songs on our song list and said we’d give you a free drink if you did a Minutemen song.
Asplund: Two people took us up on it. One guy was really excited though.
Ford: I think the whole thing’s always worth it for the one guy.
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By jordan
August 20, 2010 4:51 PM | Link to this
come to Speakeasy Wednesday nights for Austin’s first “idol” style singing competition. They’re qualifying finalists to compete for $5,000 and much more! check it out: tinyurl.com/23qa7bb