When Vintage Postcard perform, their audience is treated to today’s hits in yesterday’s style.
Beatniks on Conkey hosts “A Night of Music with the Vintage Postcard Band” Jan. 27 in Hammond, marking the first time the group has performed there.
“We’ve mostly played at bars, breweries, cideries and that kind of thing,” said vocalist Amy O’Brien, who co-founded Vintage Postcard with pianist Jeff Otto.
“We talked about ‘Can we bring this to the theater scene and do more of an actual show?’ We wanted to really put this in a venue that would showcase the actual music because it’s neat what we do. People at the breweries love it, but we wanted to showcase just the show itself.
“What I enjoy most is bringing people together with music and watching the faces of people and it hits them what song it is. Just bringing some light to someone’s day through music — that amazing thing is the best part of being a musician.”
The set ranges from classic musical and show tunes to hits by performers such as heavy metal band Metallica.
“Our songs are basically songs of the 1980s through today that are altered to sound as if they came from another time period. The type of music we play ranges from the 1920s to the 1960s. We do Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ but it’s got this Dixieland feel,” said O’Brien, of Westville.
“We also play some standards so we like to tip our hat to Peggy Lee, Etta James and some of those powerhouse vocalists from back in the day.”
O’Brien’s husband, Nathan (guitar and vocals), along with Stephanie Naumoff (vocals) and James Simon (trumpet); both of Valparaiso; Mike McCalmet (drums), of LaPorte; Larry Meschi (saxophone and clarinet), of Schererville; and Don Parker (bass), of Wanatah, round out Vintage Postcard.
“As a group we’ve only been doing it about a year but the experience in the group is many years because we’ve all been involved in bands, theater or both for many years,” said O’Brien, noting that she and Otto, of Schererville, did not cross paths until winter 2016 despite both doing theater in the area.
O’Brien proposed the idea for Vintage Postcard (www.facebook.com/vintagepostcardrocks) to Otto, who is also the pianist for the band Tonal Attitude, and things rapidly fell into place.
“We were going to just play around and see what we thought about our group working together. The next thing we knew, we had booked a fundraiser for an organization called Hannah’s Hope,” she said.
“What we intended as starting slow really took off much quicker than we anticipated. It’s been well-received. We’ve really been pleased with the progress we’ve had so far.”
O’Brien credited Naumoff with Vintage Postcard’s name.
“It really fits our theme because we do things that are old and the whole postcard thing reminds me of the vintage life when people were sending postcards,” O’Brien said.
“It’s really fun to watch the audience and see when that light bulb moment hits. It’s great. This is an experience not like you’ve had before. We’re not a typical cover band. There’s something for everyone.
“People that are young say, ‘I know that song.’ The older folks like it because it reminds them of big band music or jazz music. We do ‘Thrift Shop.’ I know my mother does not like the original Macklemore & Ryan Lewis version but she loves our version.”
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
‘A Night of Music with the Vintage Postcard Band’
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 27
Where: Beatniks on Conkey, 418/420 Conkey St., Hammond
Tickets: $15
Information: 219-852-0848; www.beatniksonconkey.com
