Check out ”Mexican Gun Fight” on Super Adventure Club’s myspace and you’ll have a new appreciation for the title…  

I told the duo after the show, “What stands out for me about you guys, and what I hear right away - you guys are pros. You’re polished; you really have command of the stage and your craft. It’s not often that you find two guys doing all this live and with such great time,” speaking of their rhythmic tightness. Jake, who either didn’t hear me correctly or was just being true to his humorous form - I couldn’t tell which, responded, “Well, why do it if you’re not going to have a good time?” I laughed and said, “Yes, that too.” There is certainly “good time” happening in more ways than one when Super Adventure Club goes into action.

Super Adventure Club (for those who have not yet become charter members by witnessing the club’s action in person) is, in bassist Michael Winger’s words, a “multi-tasking, multi-lingual power duo.” In addition to playing bass, Winger also serves up the lead vocals and mans a keyboard. Jake Wood, the other half of the duo, simultaneously plays drums and lead keyboards while holding his own on background vocals. On top of the musical multi-tasking, they currently have songs in five languages: English, Russian, Spanish, French and Italian. My head is spinning just writing about it. And after talking with the adventurers, it seems that’s a large part of the appeal for them - making their own heads spin. If it doesn’t involve conquering multiple levels of coordination, well, they’re just not interested.

 Winger and Wood both work independently on various projects. Winger is a producer with a special focus on rootsy singer-songwriters, and Jake is a drummer supporting singer-songwriters and others in need of a drummer who can knock out a show after a brief rehearsal. They take the music of the artists they work with very seriously. Consequently Super Adventure Club is their cathartic release and the point is more or less NOT to take their own music very seriously. Or so they say. They do have a lot of fun with their adventures, I’ll give them that. On the other hand Super Adventure Club has got to be the most serious approach to un-seriousness I have ever encountered. They started their adventures mid-2007 and started playing shows after only a couple months of battling the challenges of musical multi-tasking. I was told their rehearsals average 3-7 hours and that early on they even did one 10-hour stint. Imagine the silliness that must have ensued. At this point they rehearse several times a week for a minimum of 3 hours each time. That’s some serious commitment to adventure! And this says nothing of the solo rehearsal time these boys put in training their brains to do 3 things at once. Winger noted that they also “run the show before the show - on the day of the show.” So they’d had a rehearsal earlier that day to run through the whole set before packing up their gear and carting it over to the Utah. Yeah, that’s some pretty serious un-seriousness if you ask me.

Having said all that, there are few who can disguise such seriousness in a semblance of complete and utter un-seriousness. And now it’s time for one of those “you really had to be there moments,” and trust me, it’s really too bad you weren’t. For the ultimate climax, Super Adventure Club closed with their adventurous version of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back.” The interplay between their characters on stage was truly entertaining. Jake stole the show for me with his caricature background vocals, and Winger was dancing and prancing as much as his musical multi-tasking would allow. According to the comments I overheard from those around me, the only downside was that the Utah doesn’t afford much room to dance. Well, for those of you who might be interested in bringing a little sexy back of your own, I see Super Adventure Club is reconvening at the Elbo Room on February 13th where there’s a little more room to shake things up.

 Alas, this article would not be complete if I did not also mention the laptops that accompany Super Adventure Club. Between songs the laptops come to life with various movie dialog sound bytes that contribute to the adventurous action. I asked Jake if the keyboards were referencing the laptops for sound banks. At first there was some confusion about what I meant, especially given that we were limited by my knowledge of only the English language as opposed to the multi-lingual approach he and Winger are accustomed to. We got it sorted it out and yes, the laptops do provide the library of synth sounds for the keyboards to use. However, I thought it would be a brilliant if the laptops didn’t really do anything but just sit there for looks - a little adventure product placement, maybe gain some sponsorship from Mac. You could always reach over and ceremoniously hit a few buttons at particularly climactic moments. With these grand ideas I think I may have surpassed even Super Adventure Club’s threshold for silliness.

I asked Super Adventure Club where they would like to go with this adventure. Without an ounce of hesitation Jake responded, “Domination of the World Wrestling Federation.” I laughed and told him to send me the list of facetious goals and I’d put them in the article. He said, “No, I was quite serious about the wrestling.” When I quizzed him more about it today he said, “Wrestling? Who said anything about wrestling? We are a very serious band and it has never been about the easy money, the hard sex, or even the free drugs. And wrestling??? Our goals are for Ultimate Fighting Championship Mixed Martial Arts battles!”

 Well, I would say there will always be some kind of adventure to be had as long as these two boys have a club. If I had not had the opportunity to talk to them after the show I never would have imagined their long hours of rehearsal nor their intense brain-training battles with multi-tasking mastery. It was an inspiration to me to seek out an adventure and challenge myself.

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