Andy Frasco, Nick Gerlach & Shawn Eckels Join Dogs In A Pile In Denver

Dogs In A Pile settled in at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver this past weekend. The New Jersey-based band welcomed Andy Frasco, saxophonist Nick Gerlach and guitarist Shawn Eckels for a memorable guest appearance during their second set on Friday night.

Friday was DIAP’s first of two shows at Cervantes’. Break Signals kicked off the action before the headliners performed two lengthy sets.

Dogs In A Pile — guitarists Brian Murray and Jimmy Law, keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan, bassist Sam Lucid and drummer Joey Babick — linked fairly new originals “The Bag” and “Nicolette” to start Friday’s show. Staple “Ugly Song” followed before the quintet worked a cover of Daft Punk’s “Around The World” into their own “Stranger.”

Nick Gerlach became the first guest of the night as he added sax to the ensuing “Chop Shop.” Kaplan then led his bandmates through “Look Johnny.” Dogs In A Pile punctuated Friday’s opening stanza with covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” and Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus And Lucy.”

The five-piece showed off their improvisational prowess with extended versions of “Let U Go” and “Craig And Pat” at the beginning of the second set. DIAP kept the jams flowing as the high-energy “Bent Strange” came next and featured “Gumball” within.

Jeremy Kaplan then introduced Andy Frasco, Shawn Eckels of Frasco’s band The U.N. and Nick Gerlach. Dogs In A Pile and their guests performed the Andy Frasco & The U.N. original “Talk About It.” Andy Frasco handled lead vocals and served as conductor for the rousing rendition of his song. Frasco then teamed with Sam Lucid to front the ensemble of Limp Bizkit’s 2000 hit “Break Stuff.” Dogs In A Pile went sans guests to end the set with a nearly 20-minute “Bugle On The Shelf” and closed Friday’s show with a “Lazy Susan” encore.

Watch Dogs In A Pile team with Frasco, Eckels and Gerlach in Denver via fan-shot video below:

Setlist (via Go-Set.net)

Set One: The Bag -> Nicolette, Ugly Song, Stranger -> Around The World -> Stranger, Chop Shop[1], Look Johnny, Boogie on Reggae Woman, Linus and Lucy

Set Two: Let U Go -> Craig and Pat, Bent Strange -> Gumball -> Bent Strange, Talk About It [2] -> Break Stuff [3], Bugle on the Shelf

Encore: Lazy Susan

Footnotes:

• [1] with Nick Gerlach on saxophone
• [2] Andy Frasco & The U.N., with Nick Gerlach on saxophone – Shawn Eckels on guitar – and Andy Frasco on vocals and keyboards
• [3] Limp Bizkit, with Nick Gerlach on saxophone – Shawn Eckels on guitar – Andy Frasco on vocals and keyboards – Brian Murray on bass

Official Audio (via nugs.net)