cairo fred · and frontman for last train home described their music as “steely dan and warren...
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CAIRO FRED
www.cairofred.com
CAIRO FRED is Desson Thomson and Brad Heck, the principalsongwriters and founders of the band, bass player John Dawson, gui-tarist Andris Plavnieks, pedal steel guitarist Buddy Griffin and drum-mers Brian Riordan and Erik True. Their music is truly indefinablebut distinctive and eclectic. Washington Post rock writer Eric Braceand frontman for Last Train Home described their music as “SteelyDan and Warren Zevon’s ungodly spawn.”
Even Desson and Brad are stumped to describe the sound. Brad hastried this description: “sort of a bastardized noir alternative countrypop groove rock.”
Here’s Ronnie Newmyer, bass player for Nils Lofgren and the formerband Groovey on the band’s CD “Out of the Blue”: “Lots of wittylyrics and hooks that hang in there like a bad cold.”
Ultimately, the music, which contains elements of country, rock, reg-gae, pop and--yes--humor, is simply Cairo Fred.
Desson and Brad, longtime friends who met during the late 1970swhen Washington’s club scene consisted of such long-gone venues asthe Cellar Door in Georgetown, Mr. Henry’s at Tenley Circle, theAtlantis, the old Columbia Station, Redding Jail, Reek’s and theChancery, finally decided to form a musical partnership when theycollaborated on their first composition, Raincoat. It was a perfect part-nership. Brad wrote the music. Desson wrote the lyrics and melody.After that, songs started flowing freely, with such titles as FreedomStreet, Need A Lover, All the Love in the World, Women Are Chains, andFinally.
Thrilled with their collaborations, Brad and Desson decided to form afull band. Brad, the musical leader, called up longtime pals JohnDawson and Andris Plavnieks, who had grown up and played togeth-er with him in the Washington area, and asked them to join. They
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(continued)
Lots of witty lyrics and hooks that hang in there
like a bad cold.
CAIRO FRED 2
www.cairofred.com
readily accepted. Soon after, Brad and Desson met Buddy Griffin and,later, Brian Riordan, asking them to be part of the experiment.
The name? Cairo Fred suggests so many things. The sepulchral mys-tique of a grave robber furtively entering an Egyptian tomb? A bitcharacter in the old “Pink Panther” movies? Code name for a terror-ist? A guy from Cairo named Fred?
You know how it goes. Desson had scrawled some ideas on a napkin(Uncle Ned?). The one that everyone dug was Cairo Fred, but wheredid it come from? Desson is a big fan of the movie Lawrence of Arabia,and had always remembered a fanzine article he’d read as a kid inwhich Lawrence star Peter O’Toole recounted his glory days makingthe film and partying with his costar, Omar Sharif.
O’Toole’s nickname for his Egyptian pal? Cairo Fred.
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QUOTES
www.cairofred.com
Steely Dan and Warren Zevon’s ungodly spawn.
Eric Brace, The Washington Post
Lots of witty lyrics and hooks that hang in there like a bad cold.
Ronnie Newmyer, the Tommy Lepson band
There is little I hate more than spending a rainysummer day indoors, but that was my lot lastSaturday, thanks to Hurricane Charley. I decided totake care of a couple of things that I'd been meaningto do, including listening to your Out of the BlueCD.
What a delight! I thoroughly enjoyed every song, thewonderful harmonies, the unpredictability andquirkiness (just like you, kilt boy) of the tunes. Justwhen I thought I knew where something was goingit would change by half a key and take a new twist.I now have Raincoat firmly stuck in my head.
Christa
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DESSON THOMSONLyrics, Vocals
www.cairofred.com
Raised in England and a former schoolmate of the Clash’s JoeStrummer at the City of London Freemen’s School, Desson moved toWashington in the 1970s to attend American University. He studiedfilm and literature there. After graduation, he formed a band for a fewyears called Kaspar Hauser (named in salute to a Werner Herzogmovie) with college friend Ken Cobb. They played in theWashington area at such clubs as Reek’s, Columbia Station and theChancery before disbanding in 1980.
In the late 1980s he was hired at the Washington Post where heworked in the Style section as a feature writer. In 1987, he became afilm critic for the Weekend section. He has been there more than 17years, writing movie reviews, interviewing filmmakers and in recentyears, hosting a biweekly online chat. He’s also a scriptwriter whenhe’s not reviewing movies, as well as the main lyricist and lead singerfor Cairo Fred.
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DESSON THOMSON
www.cairofred.com
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BRAD HECKComposer, Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
www.cairofred.com
Born and raised in Washington, Brad spent some formative teen yearsin Wiesbaden, Germany, where his father was an engineer-scientistfor the U.S. Air Force Europe Headquarters. He formed his first bandin Germany, the Kombinations, when he was 13.
Brad has enjoyed much success as a songwriter. He was a top tenfinalist award for the Mid Atlantic Songwriters Association for thetune Juicy Juice. He was also in the top ten for DC-101 songwritercontest for his song Say Can You See. He wrote all the music for theoff-off broadway show Captive Audiences.
He was co-author of a Heck/Plavnieks tune Sweet Little Xmas Kiss onthe collection CD And to All a Goodnight, available at amazon.comand cdbaby.com. Another song he wrote, with Desson and AndrisPlavnieks, Jones, is part of a collection CD, Addiction: Highs and Lows,also available at cdbaby.com.
As a performer, he has played bass for the Drifters on an east coasttour, as well as guitar, bass and keyboards for various bands inWashington and New York. He has arranged and recorded forSamantha Newark and various other artists.
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ANDRIS PLAVNIEKSComposer, Guitar, Vocals
www.cairofred.com
Andris has enjoyed his continued relationships with his old friendsfrom the early days of high school bands, which ultimately led to theforming of Cairo Fred. His favorite pastime in high school was learn-ing Hendrix licks, organizing jam sessions, and writing songs. He puthimself through college by playing guitar in nightclub bands.
Upon completion of college and earning an engineering degree,Andris continued as a full-time musician. He was the winner of radiostation WPGC’s Unknown Star contest with the song Love To SeeYour Smile.
He has performed in various bands for presidents, congressmen, andnumerous charity organizations, as well as many weddings and corpo-rate banquets. He has also performed before Queen Noor of Jordan.One of his songs was on the short list for an album by country artistsBlackhawk, although it wasn’t ultimately recorded.
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JOHN DAWSONComposer, Bass, Vocals
www.cairofred.com
John, a Washington native, and Cairo Fred’s bass player and con-tributing songwriter, has been a fixture on the Washington DC scenesince the 1970s. John, Brad and Andris were playing original music atclubs like Mr. Henry’s Tenley Circle, along with legendary groups likeBabe (Stewart Smith) and Big Yankee Dollar (John Jennings).
Youngsters are most likely to have heard him with Mike Cotter andChuck Underwood at Durty Nelly’s in Bethesda.
John exemplifies the wide-ranging influences and tastes in CairoFred. He has a master’s degree in choral conducting (with an empha-sis in 16th century polyphonic vocal music), has played and sung jazzin the Toni Wilson group, ran a dance band Playing Favorites for tenyears, and currently plays in the 10-piece band Fresh Air.
And John’s the guy who did the Tyson’s corner commercial. Manypeople remember the jingle in which he sang all the store names real-ly fast on one note: “Nordstrom, Woodies, Hecht’s and Zales, Lord &Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Bally,” etc.
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BUDDY GRIFFINPedal Steel Guitar, Vocals
www.cairofred.com
Buddy was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland in a largemusical family with six sisters and a brother. He started playing guitarat the age of 12 and by 15 was in his first band. The British wave ofbands influenced him heavily at first, then Dylan, then the countryrock sounds of the 70s, Byrds, Poco, CSNY, anything that combinedgreat harmony parts and pedal steel guitar.
He has played in many area bands since then and has honed hiscountry steel and guitar skills, performing with many local artists,including Tommy Lepson and Ruthie and the Wranglers.
Buddy has always wanted to take the pedal steel guitar out of purecountry and meet the creative challenge of applying it to other musi-cal styles. Cairo Fred’s songs have given him that opportunity.
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BRIAN RIORDANDrums
www.cairofred.com
Brian, a Washington native, and the enthusiastic, driving spiritbehind Cairo Fred, started his drumming career in the early 1970swith local R&B and rock bands in the area. They included the bandJasper.
In the 1980s he had a stint with the Marc Cherry Group, a contem-porary jazz band, who ended up competing twice on local WUSAT.V. They won first place in the jazz category, which earned them ashow at Blues Alley in D.C.
Brian also played drums for local R&B bands Bad Sneakers and RareDesign, whose music was a mix of original material and covers. Inearly 2000, he performed the drum tracks for local singer songwriterNancy Dougherty’s Be My Mirror CD. He is currently teaching drumsto aspiring young drummers in hopes, he says, of “finding the innerdrummer in all of us.”
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