Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Rachel Bujalski A scrap art musician uses B-52 drums, a single-headed drum made from steel oil cans that were manufactured back in 1952, in his performance. They were cleaned up, mounted on stands made from stainless steel scraps, and a drum-head put on the open end.

Media Credit: Rachel Bujalski The Scrap Arts Music Show performed at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night. Most of the instruments used were created by bending and welding great sounding, recycled material.

One person's junk is another person's treasure. That old saying certainly came to life Saturday night when percussion ensemble Scrap Arts Music dazzled fans at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts with their wildly energetic and entertaining performance called "Phonk!"

As the first stop on SAM's world tour, Bloomington audience members got a fresh taste of what the ensemble is all about.

However, this percussion ensemble is no ordinary group of musicians. Gregory Kozak, creator and composer of SAM, said there are over 140 handmade instruments that are made from discarded materials found on construction sights, in dumpsters or basically anywhere they can find trash.

"All the stuff that was on the stage was thrown away by people. And when I picked it up I thought, 'Why are people throwing this stuff away?'"

In fact, one of the instruments they used at the show was a spinning can which was found in a dumpster in Bloomington. By using local discarded materials, they can find resources to make new instruments anywhere in the world.

"If we were to come to Bloomington or Roanoke, Va., or Hong Kong, we can make instruments out of local resource materials," Kozak said. "And they would perform roughly the same function, but they'd look completely different."

Along with their lively music played on scrap materials, the group also keeps the audience on their toes by utilizing the entire stage with dancing, skipping and all forms of physical movement. With the sculptural musical instruments, the choreography and humorous aspects in the show, Kozak compared this layered show to a delicate Italian dessert.

"It's like a giant tiramisu," he said with a smile. "There are layers. And we've got our own thing going on here that encompasses so many different things. It's an idea that crosses a bunch of boundaries."

Malcolm Shoolbraid, percussionist in SAM, said the ensemble tries to incorporate humor into the show to interact and connect with their audience. Performing in front of an audience gives them a chance to express their musical talent as well as their personalities.

"We're just not serious people. That's all there is to it," Shoolbraid said. "We're just a bunch of hams."

The musicians revealed their silly personalities to the Bloomington audience by using unusual objects like balloons in their musical numbers. Shoolbraid, who is going into his ninth year performing in SAM, said interacting with audience members and making them laugh is what helps keeps the ensemble energized.

"When you're on stage, you just kind of get jazzed up and there's a lot of energy that comes back from the audience."

As Vancouver natives, Kozak and his team members are no strangers to traveling or performing in front of new audiences.

"We don't know anybody in that audience and I think the quickest way to make friends with somebody is to make them laugh," Kozak said.

They have even made audiences laugh while performing at big events like NBA half-time shows and music award shows.

Just as the musicians transform trash into instruments, the show itself is about transformation. They actually created their own costumes to correspond to the elements in the show.

"We're all about making our costumes transform just like the stuff on the stage transforms," Kozak said.

Their outfits are predominately black, but also use a bit of color to add a nice touch to some of their silvery, gray instruments on stage. And, perhaps most importantly, they use zippered clothes to quickly transform their costumes into a new, fresh look.

To keep things new and exciting, this is the last tour these particular costumes will be used, which left group members a little worried about what Kozak would come up with next.

"I'd like to make stuff out of newspapers," he said. "I think it's a really uncharted territory. And they're everywhere. That way we would never run out of costumes."

Whatever material the next costumes are made out of, it has to be a material that allows the musicians to move freely.

While watching the show, it is sometimes hard to believe that the musicians are not panting heavily from total exhaustion half-way through the performance from the amount of physical energy displayed.

Percussionist Christa Mercey, who has been performing with SAM for three years, said the group members were more tired than usual after Saturday night's performance since the group has not performed a full show for about five months.

However, the musicians said there is nothing that can really prepare them for a show, even working out beforehand.

"The first two or three shows on the tour are a little bit more difficult. But then you get used to it," Mercey said.

As the tired and hungry performers reflected on their first night performing on their tour, they agreed that Bloomington was a fine place to kick off their performances across the world.

"The audience was great and we had a great time being here," Kozak said. "Hopefully we'll get a chance to come back and play some of the weirder instruments."

In creating these "weird" instruments, Kozak and the SAM ensemble reminds fans that something thrown away may easily be transformed into a one-of-a-kind instrument. All one needs is a little creativity to get the ball rolling.

For music and art lovers looking for more information about Scrap Arts Music, log on to their Web site at scrapartsmusic.com/scrap.html to learn more about these unique musicians.

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