Oh Boy! Rave On is Coming to Lawrenceville

What’s a working musician to do when he’s in a British Invasion cover band and notices other, similar groups starting to pop up?

Chris Roselle decided to start a new band, called Rave On!, dedicated to sharing the music of the great Buddy Holly. He also continues to perform with Carnaby St., his British Invasion group.

“That’s been in existence for 15 years and I started to notice a lot of British Invasion bands starting to come on the scene within the last few years, so I thought, I think it’s time to do something different,” Roselle says. “And I said, ‘I love Buddy Holly music, maybe I’ll just try that.’ And that’s actually been taking off like wildfire because nobody’s doing Buddy Holly in this area. There are a lot of guys in the Midwest that do it but on the East Coast there aren’t that many.”

Rave On! features Roselle on guitar and vocals, Pete Farley on bass and background vocals and Don Guinta on drums and background vocals. The group will perform at Weeden Park in Lawrenceville on June 30 for a free concert that’s part of Lawrenceville’s Music in the Park series.

Fans can expect to hear hits Holly made with his band the Crickets (and some solo songs) like “That’ll Be the Day,” “Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy” and the tune that lent Roselle’s band its name.

Holly died on Feb. 3 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa. Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper also perished in that crash on what’s known as The Day the Music Died (among the songs it inspired is Don McLean’s ’70s-era hit “American Pie”). But Holly’s music has lived on, and it’s just as catchy today as it was 50-plus years ago.

“They are unbelievably great songs,” Roselle says. “They’re short, they’re fun, they’re everything you’d want in a song. They’re melodic and feel-good.”

Roselle is 47 and was born after the famous plane crash. He isn’t quite sure when he first heard Holly’s music, but when he did he was hooked and started buying his records.

Some of his favorites include “It’s So Easy,” “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (written by Paul Anka) and “True Love Ways.” The band also delves deep into Holly’s catalog, performing songs that casual fans might not be familiar with.

“There’s a song called ‘Take Your Time,’ and that’s actually a Buddy Holly-penned song, it’s one of my favorites,” Roselle says. “Occasionally somebody will ask for that, and then somebody will hear it for the first time and ask, ‘What is that song?’”

 Roselle says playing Holly’s music came relatively easy for him and his band mates.

“It’s funny because sometimes you’ll get a guy who maybe has a jazz band background and is really accomplished in his music or instrument and they can’t grasp the simplicity of it,” he says with a laugh. “As simple as it is, it can be hard for some people, it’s almost too simple for them and they can’t grasp the right feel for it.”

As much as Roselle loved these songs, listening to them intently to figure out how to play them has led to a deeper understanding and appreciation of them.

“There was so much going on in these songs that if you hear it on the radio, it just passes you by,” he says. “But when you’re analyzing them, you hear things in the background and think, Oh I never head that before.”

An example of that is a keyboard solo on “Everyday.” It’s played by Vi Petty, the wife of Norman Petty, Holly’s producer. She played the solo on an instrument called a celesta.

"I thought it was interesting that an older woman played that part on a rock and roll song,” Roselle says, adding that she chose interesting notes in playing that solo.

During Rave On! concerts, Roselle wears Holly-like glasses that are actually props and often wears a suit (though he’ll don more casual clothes for the summer outdoor show in Lawrenceville) but he avoids making the shows gimmicky and doesn’t try to outright impersonate Holly.

“I try to get a little of his nuances in the vocals,” he says. “We kind of have the same timbre in our vocals but I don’t try to mimic him because I want to put a little bit of our stamp on it as well. I don’t want to be too corny with it like these Elvis guys who go a little too far.”

Rave On! will perform at Weeden Park on June 30 at 7 p.m. Weeden Park is located off Main Street (Route 206) adjacent to the Post Office. For information, go to www.lawrencevillemainstreet.com.