Thursday, 01 December 2011 12:46 By Jeremy J. Johanski

One of Northeast Wisconsin’s best cover bands, RPM, is set to warm up December football fans this year. Fans of good music and the Green Bay Packers often get to mix the two together on Packers home game weekends as music reverberates through tailgate parties at and near Lambeau Field.

A number of local sports bars and restaurants such as Kroll’s West host tailgate parties on game day for their patrons in addition to the Packers own Tundra Tailgate Zone, located in the parking lot at Lambeau Field. Live music is an important facet of any great tailgate party, and RPM will take to the stage twice this December doing their part.

RPM turns 25 next year — the group has won awards such as the Best Band in the Valley numerous times and their collection of crowd-favorite cover music keeps growing and charging up crowds.

“People can expect us to be very straightforward guys, who have a lot of fun and keep it interactive during a show,” said Don Dix, lifetime band member.

Dix plays the rhythm and acoustic guitars, as well as vocals alongside his other four bandmates. The band mixes up their music collection so much that everyone contributes vocals depending on which song is summoned to the stage.

“We play a mix of just about everything from country to top 40, metal, rock and even current or pop music… we’ll try just about anything,” Dix said.

About the only thing that poses a modest challenge to the all-male group — songs with female singers or vocals. Dix said those offer fun opportunities, though, for the band to break it up and rearrange an original so they can play it, sing it and have fun with it while still giving the fans the songs they want to hear.

In the nearly 25 years of playing regional venues, parties and even events such as Appleton’s Octoberfest and Country USA, RPM has seen crowds as large as 10,000 people at their shows, including opening for the BoDeans in the past.

While typical crowds change dependent on the venue, the band’s nuts and bolts have remained largely the same thanks to sound engineer Don Karner and lighting director Dan Miller. Both crewmembers have spent more than 20 years each literally setting the stage for RPM in front of festival and football fans alike.

Football fans and players are a perennial presence at most of RPM’s shows. The band played the club in Appleton’s Paper Valley hotel for a number of years on a regular basis and would see visiting Packers opponents stroll into their shows — and was even graced with the presence of The Kinks who checked out their performance once.

Having been relative newbies to the music world when RPM began originally and when Dix himself was only 17, he recalls very few kinks in their performances throughout the early years and beyond. One exception was a visit to an Oconomowoc show they were scheduled to play at… and showed up a day early.

“We literally showed up and saw another band there and had to turn around, go home and come back the next day,” Dix said.

The local band life allows groups like RPM to get an extended visit on stage with their crowd. Unlike typical big-band acts, local bands like RPM usually see shows with two 90-minute sets with a short break in between. The longer stage time commitment allows the group to get through a wide range of material, not that it’s a concern for the efficient guys in RPM. Dix said the group might get upward of 20 songs in each of their sets because they keep it moving and transition to different songs well.

While never seeking to go the route of national-level performing artists, Dix said the band has been happy to continue learning new music and performing locally as a rather successful part-time job.

In the summer festival-laden time of the year, RPM is booked for many of their performances, which add up to nearly 75 shows per year. Dix said while the band once played almost twice that many shows each year, raising a family, going to college and entertaining careers outside of the band keep everyone involved busy.

Lead guitarist Joe Perz works in a supervisory role at UPS and brings a musical background into RPM influenced by a solid foundation of musicians including John Mellencamp. Chris Okkerse (bass) has spent almost 20 years with RPM and is tuned-in to a bit more country.

“He’s a Brad Paisley fan… he’s in love with the guy,” Dix joked.

Mark Budwit of Omro covers drums for the band for the past six years and takes his musical interest into his daily life, teaching private music lessons when he’s not performing with RPM.

Multi-function man and 10-year veteran John Groff plays keyboard, organ and trumpet, joining the group from Milwaukee. Dix spends much of his own time when not playing in RPM working for The Boldt Company and running his bar, Bob’s Inn on Third Street in Kaukauna.

When fans know RPM is going to be at an upcoming concert or event, they can visit the band’s website at www.thisisrpm.com and request songs they might like to hear in advance of their show date, perhaps giving the guys some advance time to learn one they haven’t played before.

RPM starts with the general parameters of a set list according to Dix, but they leave plenty of room in their sets to hear from their crowd, see how it responds to the direction they begin playing and allow for interactive adaptation along the way.

Dix said the band has a wide variety of musical backgrounds and knowledge to draw from and they try to show that and use it to make sure everyone’s just having a good time at each show.

“We really truly enjoy what we do in RPM,” Dix said. “That’s why we’ve been doing it for so long.”

You can follow me on Twitter: @TripleJx or Facebook.com/triplejx.

Photo from RPM Archive

We can't wait to be back soon at The Bad Habit, and we'll see you this summer around the 4th of July for the huge Gresham 4th of July celebration. 

Stay warm!!!