Singing Along to A.A. Bottom
The Wichita Falls cover band live at the Iron Horse Pub
As a one-time musician, I remember what it was like to be in a band where there were one or two members who were not up to snuff in some regard, and it meant there were certain songs you could not play. When I saw A.A. Bottom play, it was a refreshing reminder that there are still bands out there making bold choices and tackling the hard stuff, with the talent to nail it.
A.A. Bottom is a Wichita Falls six-piece rock band who played covers on the night I saw them, fronted by guitarist and vocalist Dean Faulkner.
Faulkner strikes a working-class pose without even trying and his voice matches the image, belting blues and classic rock lyrics with the power of Springsteen and the sneer of Michael Paré as Eddie Wilson.
Faulkner is the lead vocalist among four singers in the band, which gives A.A. Bottom plenty of options in playing tracks from the 70s, when seemingly all rock needed to have multipart harmonies like The Eagles. Faulkner plays a double cutaway Gibson Les Paul Special, too, but he also has two extremely talented guitarists at his side — Jason Brown and Colby Schwartz.
I’ve been a fan of Jason Brown’s guitar work since I saw him perform in the James Cook Band in early summer 2023. I’m learning you can always count on Jason to tear it up on one of his Les Pauls, and once again on this night, Jason did not disappoint.
At Jason’s side, Colby Schwartz performed guitar acrobatics of his own, on a number of different guitars throughout the night, readied and swapped on a moment’s notice by a member of their two-person crew, Scott Hutson and Jimmy Goolsby.
Not only does A.A. Bottom tackle all the 70s classics with multipart harmonies, multiple guitar players allow them to cover classics with double guitar harmonies — Thin Lizzy, Steely Dan and others — and when Schwartz and Brown start letting those double guitar leads fly, it is a thing of beauty.
On bass, A.A. Bottom’s… ahem, bottom, is handled by Buddy Suggs, a solid bassist and anchor for the band.
Bassist Suggs marches in lockstep with the other half of the rhythm section, another amazing drummer, in a long procession of amazing drummers that I’ve seen on the Wichita Falls scene, Kenny Ochoa.
If you’re going to an A.A. Bottom gig and expecting a drummer scoobee-dooing with some brushes on a piccolo snare to the clink of cocktail glasses, you’ve got the wrong party, man. Kenny is a beast. His rolls and fills sound like gunfire, and once Ochoa gets going, you are going somewhere, so hang on.
As good as all of the aforementioned musicians are, A.A. Bottom’s weapon of choice might be Mike Estep. Mike supervises festivities from behind his keyboard and laptop and serves to fill out the sound of A.A. Bottom in so many ways.
Number one, Estep plays guitar too and, although I didn’t see him play it on this particular night (maybe I missed it), he keeps it right next to his keyboard onstage in the event it’s needed. Mike also performs admirably on backing vocals, and even occasionally does a lead vocal, too.
Most impressive, however, is Mike’s contribution on the keys. Having an accomplished keyboardist like Mike in the band allows A.A. Bottom to play things you don’t often hear in the club — “Lunatic Fringe” by Red Rider is one selection that comes to mind.
As enjoyable as it is to go see a band playing all original music, taking a night to check out a cover band like A.A. Bottom, where you can sing along to the songs and forget about responsibilities, is just what the doctor ordered.
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