Last night I finally got a chance to get out and check out a band I’ve heard good things about but keep missing their shows. I went to On The Rocks in Redondo Beach, CA to see Barley Legal. And I’ll never be the same again.
What do you get when you mix a backyard brew master with a group of talented musicians? A band named after a beer…Barley Legal.
When Brent Reger, amateur beer maker, cooked up a batch of beer for his friend Jason Carver’s birthday, he let Jason name the concoction. Jason came up with “Barley Legal.” “It (the beer) actually wasn’t very good,” says keyboardist, Mike Morano. “Then we played an open mic night and they asked what our name was. Jason told them, ‘Barley Legal’ and it’s been that ever since. Brent’s beers have gotten better since then too.”
How do you make a Barley Legal? Well, first you throw in the animated guitarist, Jason Carver to make sure the mixture is stirred frequently. Second you layer in some healthy doses of Mike Morano’s keyboards. Toss in a handful of Chris Shea’s drums. Finally you add a heaping pile of Jay Constable’s vocals and bass playing and top it all off with a crowd engaging front man, Brent Reger.
But what does it sound like? It sounds like the best wedding band you’ve ever heard. With a musical repertoire ranging from Bob Dylan to Paula Abdul, Barley Legal will, over the course of a night, play every song you’ve ever wanted to hear from just about every genre. And they nail them to such near perfection that I had moments of “is that them or the jukebox?” Adding their own flavor to familiar covers, Barley Legal is a must see if you love to drink and dance.
