A perfect night for Bannana Frog
Frogchild / So is Anna Bannana’s closing or what? As of press time, we still don’t know–neither a bar manager nor representatives for landlord Kamehemeha Schools would comment on rampant rumors that the lights will go out at the end of this month. One potential suitor for the property told us last week that new leases are being offered that would keep the good times flowing, but that permitting and licensing issues make it unclear whether Anna’s can be saved.
In any case, if the venerable Moiliili beer hall really is down to its final weekend, we can’t think of a better way to shut it down than with a good old-fashioned Frogfest–as in Frogchild. The seminal dancefunkrock act that lit up venues like Anna’s and Java Java in the mid-1990s reunites Friday night for the first of what could turn out to be several shows over the next two weekends. There’s also a show planned for the first Saturday in April at JJ Dolan’s.
“We keep running in to people who say, ‘Dude! When’s the next reunion?’” says founding member Buck Giles, who will be joined by the original lineup of Jon Glazer, Andrew McLellan, Colin Reinhardt and Gary Wong. He says this will be the band’s third reunion since members parted ways in Seattle a little more than a decade ago.
Frogchild emerged in 1992, at a time when much of the life had gone out of Honolulu’s independent rock scene. Bands like Hat Makes the Man and Oriental Love Ring were long gone, and most of what passed for live rock music involved cover bands in Waikiki. Reggae outfit Dread Ashanti was building a following, however, as a band that could get people dancing to original local material, and Frogchild stepped–crazily–in the same direction.
“We’re like a cross between Steely Dan, Santana and then just a lot of funk,” says Giles. “We started playing at Java Java in Kapahulu, getting people out of their seats. At that time there weren’t many bands playing original music, or many places you could play it. So we got a following.”
Giles remembers Frogchild’s first show at Anna’s. “It was crazy. People were into it, dancing, climbing on the walls and stuff and one guy actually climbed the wall and fell into the air conditioning unit, and broke it,” he laughs. “I think we were banned from playing there for a few months after that.”
The band eventually relocated to Seattle and seemed to be on the rise until the inevitable split over creative differences. “We had been together for six years at that point,” says Giles. “We all wanted to do some soul-searching. It was time.”
A decade later, band members will be flying in from all parts–Glazer from New York, where he continues to play drums, Reinhardt from Seattle, where he has just received a doctorate in physics–and hoping to introduce their funky sound to a new generation of Frog-people.
“We want to turn everyone on, all our old friends and hopefully some of the new bands, who want to see what it was like back in the ‘90s.”
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