The latest album from the Tribattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor promises high-energy disco — and rapid weight loss.
BY COLIN MIXSON
It’s like a Saturday Nigh Fever-dream.
Local community band the Tribattery Pops, Tom Goodkind Conductor, recently released its latest album, “Lose 20 Pounds in 20 Days,” in which the group of professional and amateur Downtown musicians cover disco classics from the 70s and — this time — they didn’t miss a note, according to the band’s irreverent leader.
“We really didn’t make any mistakes on this record, and that’s a big accomplishment for us,” said Tom Goodkind, the man who puts the “Tom Goodkind Conductor” in the Tribattery Pops, Tom Goodkind Conductor.
“Lose 20 Pounds in 20 Days” is the Tribattery Pops’ 13th release since the band’s debut in 2004, and covers disco tunes exclusive to the decade that gave birth to shag carpets, Quaaludes, and the polyester leisure suit.
The band performs around six shows a year, which will include the Steven Siller Tunnel to Towers Run on Sept. 25, where audiences can expect to boogie down to such tunes as “Hot Stuff,” “Staying Alive,” and “Disco Inferno,” among others.
Goodkind, a member of Community Board 1 and former rocker with the neo-beatnik folk revival group the Washington Squares, admitted that disco is pretty dumb, but said that’s part of what makes their latest album so great.
“It’s horrifyingly stupid,” he said. “It’s the dumbest stuff I ever heard, and you love it right away.”
Like any Tribattery Pops release, Goodkind struggled at times to wrangle enough local talent to make it happen.
Originally, Assembly candidate Jenifer Rajkumar was slated to provide vocals for the release, but then dropped out unexpectedly.
“We’re ready for the year, it’s the middle of January, and she sends me a nice e-mail saying, ‘I can’t do it, bye,’” said Goodkind. “I said, ‘oh my god, she must have looked up the lyrics.’”
Assuming Rajkumar thought better of performing “Shake Your Booty” while running for office, Goodkind went on to recruit his daughter Olivia, a student at Berkley College of Music, along with her friends, and a few members of the Men’s Choir of Downtown New York.
But Murphy’s Law prevailed. Goodkind’s daughter fell ill on the band’s only day of recording, and her friends bailed as a result.
Bereft of vocalists, Goodkind was forced to improvise. Luckily, he discovered that one of the audio engineers at the studio had a voice, and she was quickly drafted into the band, he said.
The Tribattery Pops’ albums are often acclaimed for their outstanding album covers — courtesy of band member Heidi Hunter — and this year’s doesn’t disappoint.
“Lose 20 Pounds in 20 Days” depicts Jane Fonda in a workout leotard as afro-topped silhouettes groove in the background and Quaaludes fall from the sky.
Initially, some band members objected to the image of Fonda, whose crotch was prominent in her workout onesie, so Hunter slapped a starburst over it with the words “High Energy 70’s Disco” — and there were no further complaints.
“Heidi put the sticker on her crotch, and they said, ‘Okay, that’s fine,’” said Goodkind.
Goodkind also plans to release the album in France, where Tribattery Pops’ previous offering of psychedelic covers, “Turn On, Tune Up, and Drop Out,” enjoyed viral success and generated more than 100,000 clicks on Facebook.
The band, which puts out an album every year, had envisioned as their next offering a jail-house performance of old Johnny Cash tunes for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, convicted last year of corruption and sentenced to a dozen years in the big house. But the disgraced legislator may see his conviction overturned after a recent Supreme Court ruling, so Goodkind may have to come up with another idea for next year’s album.
