Step up to the Mic What s better than karaoke? Karaoke with a real live backing band By Gabriel Traverso This article was published on 01.06.11. The thought of karaoke often conjures up images of, as the band Cake puts it, A Japanese man in a business suit singing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. For most people, karaoke is about public embarrassment, good fun with friends, and having a few drinks (possibly a few too many). The reality, however, is that being on stage for a typical karaoke night means standing next to a machine, singing along with the prompt screen, while a bastardized instrumental version of some popular song plays over the PA system fun for some, but not exactly the sort of thing to write home about. However, Ray Rodarte and the members of Karaoke Rockstarz have brought to Reno something better than karaoke: the chance for would-be rock stars to sing their favorite songs in front of a live band. Live band karaoke is just what the name describes. It combines the best of karaoke with the energy of a cover band. Rodarte first pitched it to entertainment director Rob Stone at the Eldorado with the hopes of putting the show on at Brew Brothers. While the idea was received with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, the problem was that Rodarte had never done it before. I had heard about it and thought it sounded great, he says. It s hard for local bands to find the right niche, so this seemed like a good solution. We ve all sung along at the top of our voice to a song in the car and thought about what it would be like to be on stage. Who hasn t? So that s what we do. We offer people their chance at 15 minutes of fame. Band aid From the beginning, it s been popular. The band has been playing every Monday night, seven months straight at Brew Brothers, often to a packed room. We get regulars every week, along with people who have never seen live karaoke before, says Rodarte. We have one guy, Karaoke Bob, who has no rhythm, but everyone loves him! It s a blast. Rodarte is joined on stage by drummer Frank Fletcher, bassist Scott Parsons, and Tina Fink on keys and acoustic guitar. Rodarte says dancer Julia Mansfield-Cholico was the missing ingredient. She brings so much energy to the show, it s impossible to not have fun. Mansfield-Cholico is from London and has been performing in various shows at the Eldorado for seven years. I love this show, she says, I work six nights a week, and this is my night off, but it isn t work for me. It s just fun. And without her, Karaoke Rockstarz wouldn t be half as fun. She s the emcee, and she gets things started by singing songs like K.T. Tunstall s Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, dressed in the finest British punk aesthetic with an audacious faux-hawk, and her small stature is made up for by her tremendously infectious energy. When others are singing, she dances on stage and holds up a glittery sign for the audience to SCREAM! Kristen Drager completes the Karaoke Rockstarz show. During the show, she mingles with the audience and signs people up for each set, with about 10 to 15 people per set. On a given night, Drager can be seen flitting from table to table in a mini- dress, a bright pink wig, and equally brightly colored leg warmers, or singing Lady Gaga s Bad Romance. Her alluring smile and vivacious personality are all that s needed to entice someone to sign up for another tune. For musicians, live band karaoke is no cakewalk. It s incredibly challenging, says Rodarte. We all have to be synced together, as well as synced with the lyrics. Some singers can t find the first beat, so sometimes we have to tune them out and just keep playing. The Rockstarz song list is only about 220 songs strong, but they add new songs every week and are happy to take requests. However, for a band to be able to play songs from a highly varied list a list that includes The Beatles, Cheap Trick, Billy Ray Cyrus, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and many, many more is no small feat.
Sometimes we get started on a song, and I m not even sure I remember how it goes, says Rodarte. And I have to remember where the solos go, what effects to use it s not easy! Come alive The Rockstarz put on a show that makes regular karaoke seem like a watereddown nursing home variety act. I come down just to watch, says Mark, an audience member on a recent Monday. I love it. On the same night, a group of college girls celebrating one friend s birthday says it s nothing like karaoke they ve experienced before. It s like you re part of a band. After this, who wants to stand next to a machine and sing all by yourself? Three of them got onstage to belt a Katy Perry tune, complete with an impromptu dance routine. During the songs, Mansfield-Cholico and Fink sing back-up, and regardless of how well or poorly you might think you sing, with them backing you up, along with the competent band, it s very difficult to not put on a great act. The hardest thing for Rodarte in making this live band karaoke idea a reality wasn t learning the songs. We essentially have to have a hard drive of songs in our heads and be able to play on command, so talented musicians are a requirement, he says. But now that we ve been doing it awhile, we have a lot of fun. No, the hardest thing was a technical aspect getting the lyrics to sync up while the band is playing. Though live band karaoke is starting to get more popular around the country, there is no off-the-shelf solution for syncing the lyrics with the band. That s the sort of thing you can only get with standard karaoke. After pitching the idea to the Eldorado, Rodarte flew out of town to check out how other bands were doing it. Most bands simply give the singer a lyric sheet, so no one is doing it the way we are, he says. He came up with a way to have scrolling lyrics across all the screens at Brew Brothers to make it seem more professional, and he s still working on improving his system. I m actually working on a prototype live-band karaoke machine that I want to get patented. The Karaoke Rockstarz aren t satisfied playing Monday nights at Brew Brothers. Right now Rodarte is talking with the GSR to play in the Xtreme club, as well as the Carson Nugget. Starting this month we ll be playing every Wednesday night at the Carson Valley Inn, he says, And we re starting to take our show on the road. According to one audience member, Live band karaoke is addictive. Now they can t keep me off the stage. When the Rockstarz get going, the room fills up quickly, and the atmosphere quickly resembles something much more like a party than a karaoke night. That s what we love about doing this, says Rodarte. It s so much more than karaoke!
Reno startup Karaoke Rockstarz singing a happy tune John Seelmeyer, 9/17/2012 The rock-n-roll soundstage and all the associated gear completed its long trip home to Reno from California s Orange County. But it won t be sitting idle for long in the industrial building a couple of hundred yards from a runaway at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Instead, the management team of Karaoke Rockstarz Inc. expects to be training as many as seven bands on the soundstage in preparation for next year s busy season of fairs and festivals. It s an ambitious plan for the company, which had three bands on the road at the peak of last summer s season. Working from a list of about 220 songs, the bands accompany audience members 45 or so per night who has signed up for a few minutes on stage. Like traditional karaoke, which relies on recorded music, Karaoke Rockstarz helps out singers with follow-the-bouncing ball video displays of lyrics. And as audience members sing along they see the lyrics on a separate display the amateur singer on stage often gains confidence to strut, to dance, to bruise knees with rock-star slides across the stage. Ray Rodarte, a seasoned veteran musician who s been playing clubs in the Reno area since the early 1970s, polished the concept of Live Band Karaoke the company has registered the name during regular Monday s night gigs at Brew Brothers nightclub at the Eldorado Hotel & Casino the last two years.
Rodarte, the company s chief executive officer, recruited General Manager Kris Olsen, and the concept began to turn into a company about a year ago. His biggest victory so far was a 23-night engagement at the Orange County Fair, a show that drew strong participation from star-struck kids and their videotaping parents at early-evening shows and traditional wannabe rock singers later on. The company s musicians also have been regulars at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, Calif. Now, Rodarte is looking to slowly expand the company s offerings into the corporate market parties, team-building exercises as well as cruise ships. For a company whose growth is entirely self-funded, Olsen says cash is a constant concern. Karaoke Rockstarz Inc. builds stages, trucks its sound equipment and markets its shows all of which require cash up front but promoters generally pay only when the shows are completed. As the company begins to staff up for a busier schedule next year, Rodarte doesn t expect any problems finding talented musicians for its bands. There are a lot of middle-aged musicians looking for work, he says. In Southern California, we ve got people champing at the bit. Along with direct employment of musicians, Karaoke Rockstarz also may license its name and its lyrics-display technology to other groups. The lyrics display, he says, differentiates Karaoke Rockstarz from a handful of competitors around the country. New band members hired by Karaoke Rockstarz undergo a month-long training session before they re sent on the road. It s not necessarily easy work. At the start of each show, Karaoke Rockstarz hostesses sign up participants and arrange their appearances so that there s a logical flow to the karaoke concert. Julia Mansfield who is part-owner of the company, works as an emcee at many of the shows, calls for audience screams at appropriate moments in their songs, and ensuring that singers are comfortable on stage. Every night is new, says Rodarte, noting that s a breath of fresh air for musicians who have been playing the same 40-song set every night for years in casino lounges. On the other hand, the job requires that musicians stay on top of 220 songs, It s a lot to remember, acknowledges Rodarte. You ll never get bored.
From: Sherry Sue, Entertainment Manager Date: November 9, 2011 Re: Karaoke Rockstarz I am the talent buyer for Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, California. We have over 100 shows per year at our venue and, without a doubt karaoke night with the Karaoke Rockstarz is one of the most successful events we promote. They are highly energetic, very professional, and use only high quality equipment. They are the only group we use on a weekly basis and it has become a very successful night for the casino. I would highly recommend Karaoke Rockstarz if you are looking for a fun filled night of karaoke. Please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions. Thank you, Sherry Sue 530.534.4016