Frankie and the Bridge Mix have found a niche among Lethbridge cover bands—1950s pop music.
There are lots of cover bands that focus on the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, but none that just focus exclusively on the ’50s. Enter Frankie and The Bridge Mix, who packed the Slice for their first official gig, Sept. 27.
There is definitely a need for people to just cut loose and dance and have a good time, so it was great to see the Slice packed with people doing all of the above. I didn’t get to many gigs last week due to school, snow and sickness, but was glad I caught that one.
They feature three of Lethbridge’s best singers, Erica Hunt, Ashley Thomson and Victoria Officinalis, who each took turns singing the hits of the 50s. Erica Hunt and Ashley Thomson also added duelling kazoos, taking the place of horn sections which were a prominent feature of ’50s pop.
They were a lot of fun as they blasted through two minute gems of sugary sweet pop, nonsense music, doo wop, rock and roll and surf music, encouraging the audience to pull out their best swing dance and ’50s moves.
Some of the highlights were “Sea Cruise,” Rockin Robin’,” Lollypop, Lollypop, and “Rama Lama Ding Dong,” which let everyone show off their vocal range and harmonizing abilities.
I’ve heard Erica Hunt and Victoria Officinalis sing before, but seldom get to hear the very animated Ashley Thomson, who was not only hilarious, but showed an impressive vocal range throughout the set
Guitarist Frank Daigle ended their first set with a sinister version of Link Wray’s instrumental hit “Rumble.”