Clubs

Ben Murphy plays patron Raquel Garcia a tribute. “It’s like being in a rock band, except you’re calling people up for birthdays and things,” he laughs.

Lisa Olson Tribune

Full-contact singalong at Tempe's Big Bang

By Michael Grady, Get Out

November 1, 2007

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Pause at Fifth and Mill in downtown Tempe in the wee hours and you’ll hear fevered music bubbling up from below. The Big Bang looks like a cauldron cooking beneath The Library and Hooters. It dangles at the end of black stairwells, a dark coral reef of tables spun around two grand pianos. Each night, talented musicians tag-team for a nonstop flurry of singalong rock, crazy orchestrations and ribald audience repartee. But catching it all in a paragraph is like describing a color on the radio. The Big Bang is best understood on its own terms. So, with apologies to Billy Joel and “Piano Man,” here goes:

Click here to view more pictures from The Big Bang.

It’s 9 o’clock on Thursday night
In Tempe’s club, The Big Bang,
Bill and Travis are pounding the ivories,
Billy pauses, the crowd to harangue.

He says, “Folks that was not nearly good enough,”
Of their voices on “Jack and Diane.”
“You should all sing it proud,
Which means raucous and loud,
And you’re all liquored up, so you can.”

Oh, la, la, de de da
La la, de de de da da da

These are the dueling piano men,
Who tag-team the Big Bang each night.
They play rhythm and bass
And they’ll get in your face
If that gets you feelin’ all right.

Billy Ward, 42, is a pianist,
Who was classic’ly trained, with the soul
To play Claude Debussy,
But — c’mon, who would pay?
So he pounds out high-test rock ’n’ roll.

He says, “I played those cocktail piano bars,
Singing 'Misty’ and songs of that stock.
Here, the crowd is the show
And they let it all go,
So you’d better be ready to rock.”

Oh, la, la, de de da
La la, de de de da da da

Now, young Travis Byers is jovial,
When he hammers the ivories down.
A St. Louis doorman,
Who wanted much more, man,
He pounds out a mean “Leroy Brown.”

Ben Murphy, who once taught gymnastics,
Says this gig demands strong cardio.
“As a kid I took lessons,
Came home from those sessions,
Played Elton or old Billy Joel.”

“It takes ’bout a year to get good at this,”
Says Byers, who knows 200 songs.
“If they’re strayin’, or leavin’,
Play 'Don’t Stop Believin’,
And they’ll pull up and sing right along.”

Oh, la, la, de de da
La la, de de de da da da

It’s a snowballin’ crowd on a weeknight
Filling up from those two baby grands
When they stop in mid-song,
The crowd bears the tune on
With loud voices, raised drinks and raised hands.
“There’s a power in singing together,”
Ward observes, between verses and cheers.
“Some folks feel that fire,
In church or a choir,
And some of ’em get it right here.”

Contact Michael Grady by email, or phone (480) 898-6572

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