Published: May 15, 2008 12:29 am            

Backstage Pass: Classic rock, doo-wop hits the MSU Riley Center stage Saturday

Backup band will have some familiar faces in it

For Brian Stephens, Saturday's show at the MSU Riley Center will be one of those full-circle events we experience in life from time-to-time.

About 18 years ago, when Stephens was 18, he swept dirt and gunk off the old Grand Opera House stage and played a gig there with his band.

For some, it surely was what it was, a bunch of people gathered in an abandoned old opera house to hear a local group play music.

But for Stephens it was a glimpse of where he might be able to head with his musical career. To him, that old opera house in 1990 was every bit as shiny and new and grand and beautiful as it is now in its renovated state as the MSU Riley Center.

This Saturday night the MSU Riley Center will rock with classic hits from the '50s and '60s when Cornell Gunter's Coasters, Elsbeary Hobbs' Drifters, The Platters and The Marvelettes take the stage at 8 p.m.

In the backup band for these groups locals will be able to spot a couple of Meridian folks.

Stephens, a Meridian native, will be on drums and Carey Smith of Meridian will fill in for the band on keyboards.

Stephens said the last gig he played with Smith was around 1995 during a Meridian Little Theatre production of "West Side Story."

When Stephens realized one of the keyboard players was going to be out of commission for this performance, he said Smith naturally came to mind as the perfect person to fill in.

"He's one of the few people I know who would probably already know all these songs," Stephens said.

A 1990 graduate of Meridian High School, Stephens moved to Atlanta in 1995.

Besides working with his own musical projects, Stephens has worked with bands like the groups performing here Saturday since 1999.

The Coasters are known for songs like "Searchin'" and "Young Blood." The Drifters had hits with songs like "This Magic Moment," and "Under the Boardwalk." The Platters are known for "The Great Pretender, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and "Only You." And the Marvelettes are probably best known for "Please Mr. Postman," and "Beachwood 4-5789."

The show Saturday includes choreography and Stephens predicts the whole house will be dancing and moving at some point.

"I've seen 1,000 people in some venues get up and dance," Stephens said. "I've seen 150,000 people at an outside venue dancing at the same time. It's pretty amazing."

The show would be great for all those who grew up during Rock 'n' Roll, doo-wop sounds, and it would be just as fun for their grandchildren. It's not a show you could snooze through.

"This is not your grandmother's music," Stephens said. "It's a high energy, vibrant, 2008 performance of these great hits."

With a concert and recording studio calendar of more than 300 dates a year, Stephens is one of the Southeast's busiest freelance drummers. Based in Atlanta, he also is a recording studio owner, producer, engineer, journalist, and music educator.

For 17 years he has operated his own recording studio and production company, BonzoTunes Studio (formerly Sound Decision Studios), located in the suburbs of Atlanta. He has produced, engineered, and/or mixed recording projects for independent artists like Magno, Amber Brooke, and Chris Day as well as corporate clients like Warner Bros. Records, 20th Century Fox, Verizon Wireless and Merial.

Some of the music he has produced has been licensed for use on television networks like ABC, MTV, Oxygen, and The Soap Network. He's also been featured on television and in magazines and newspaper publications such as The Meridian Star, Modern Drummer, and WTOK-TV's “Live At Five” TV program.

In 2000 he released his first drum instructional audio book entitled “Stickin' It Out – The Anatomy of a Professional Drummer.” For two years, he was a member of the teaching faculty at the Atlanta Institute of Music and has performed drum clinics alongside other noted players such as Gerry Brown and Richie Morales. Stephens continues to instruct drummers and audio engineers privately at his teaching studio in Sugar Hill, Georgia.

        

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