Paul Logan plays bass and sings in local trio Wild Blue, which covers songs by acts like Jimmy Buffet, the Eagles, Harry Nilsson and Fleetwood Mac. And of all of the labels put on his band, Logan thinks the typically tongue-in-cheek “yacht rock” might actually be the best fit.
“I think it’s a reflection of just how much somebody like Jimmy Buffett has had to do with the success of having feel-good music about piña coladas and cheeseburgers,” Logan says. “This is not politically relevant stuff. It’s just feel-good music, and that’s all it is.”
The music is also really challenging to play, and relies on near-pristine vocal harmonies—which is why when the band formed 12 years ago, they didn’t play a live show for two years. They wanted to get every detail of every song in their yacht rock catalog absolutely perfect.
“We play songs that no one else plays, because they take too much work,” Logan says. “People come and hear us and they go ‘Wow, I remember that song, I love that song. I haven’t heard it in 20 years.’ Then they throw 50 bucks in our tip jar.”
Logan waited five years for bandmates John Tindel (guitar/vocals) and Scott Slaughter (keys/vocals) to become available, because he considered them phenomenal vocalists.
Now the band is playing a farewell show for Tindel who’s moving out of the area. They haven’t played locally in recent years because they get booked so often for high-end corporate gigs in Monterey. But for this special occasion, they will return to Michael’s on Main. They plan to continue if and only if they can find someone of Tindel’s caliber to replace him.
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15. Michael’s on Main, 2591 S Main St., Soquel. $10. 479-9777.
