Style & Culture |

Local band displays spunk and funk

By Marshall Dury

Posted on Friday, February 16th, 2001, 12:00 am

E-mail

Kimberly Leonard.

John Burlock, B.J. Carr, John Fenland and Tim Johnson make up popular local band Fork and Spoon Raspberry.

Tell us what you think!
Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.

The name Fork and Spoon Raspberry could only be one of two things: either an extremely distorted view of a Southern fruit preservative or a rock band with an unique name. The latter is a local band from Bangor. They deviate from standard live music showing extreme spontaneity and pure fun while performing.

With band members Tim “Fork” Johnson on guitar and keyboards, John “Spoon” Fenland also on guitar, BJ “210″ Carr on bass and John Burlock on drums, the unique conglomeration has a distinct sound and personality. The name was derived before they ever played together and they knew they would be something different and fresh to the musical community. The name is a unique expansion of two brothers whose names could be “Fork” and “Spoon” with the last name Raspberry – an expansion of the friendship the band members hold for each other.

Fork and Spoon Raspberry offers themselves with open minds. Their lyrics are usually not meant to be taken seriously. These men are about principles: having fun, playing loud and getting the audience into their performances.

“It’s kind of like poets … not like it’s necessarily theirs but if you can read into it, it is there for the listener and that’s all that really matters,” said Johnson.

With most members in Bangor and Old Town, Fork and Spoon Raspberry finds playing together as a great time to get together and just have fun. This is clear in their live performances-occasionally creating their own version of The Wheel of Fortune and including the audience in many of their jokes. Having created what Fork calls “inside jokes for outsides,” this band places an emphasis on their antics.

“We came from small beginnings to something we’re comfortable doing right now,” said Fork. They show their passion for what they do in any of their songs and stage performances evoking a fun and quirky nature.

Admitting that their lyrics hold little substance and many of their onstage ideas are concoction of ways to relate to each other while playing, they set themselves apart from any aspiring band. Some of the bands song ideas like the Mario Brother’s theme song comes from a former band Johnson had been a part of in Syracuse. Nintendo blatantly rejected Fork and Spoon Raspberry’s distinctive idea.

The band members believe their live performances incorporate both their own energy and the potential listeners own ideas about music into their shows. In August 2000 Fork and Spoon Raspberry released their album “Welcome to Goober Island.”

Their obvious influences are Phish and any other bands that have a fun and a no rules code of ethics. Inspired by a small time band “Self,” Fork and Spoon Raspberry finds themselves taking a very electronic approach to a great number of their songs. Recording a great deal of “Goober Island’s” songs in an Old Town basement, many of the tracks for their album were first laid down in a house they’ve come to love.

“We specifically looked for a house that was quiet and kind of secluded. We wanted to be secluded but be able to have fun … we’ve never received any complaints but we love just to play downstairs,” said Fork.

The album’s title is inspired by a childhood friend who would create his own islands with poster board and markers when he was 10 years old.

With album staples that evoke energy, tracks like “Dinky” and “Thomas P. Foolery” are illustrations of the freshness that this band provides. Fork and Spoon Raspberry has grown from the smallest of beginnings to the possibilities of a great future. Having played on the UMaine campus several times and attending in musical extravaganzas such as Bumstock, Fork and Spoon Raspberry is on their way.

They create music and fun out of an embracement of life. Rock clich�s have no place in this fun and experimental band.

From humble beginnings in high school to direction in college and to the improvisational acts they perform during their sets, Fork and Spoon Raspberry are notable for their love of music and the audience. They are an irreplaceable gem in Orono’s music scene.