Monica Topping
Tri-City Weekly

Over the last couple of months, I’ve let my love for our local Neil Diamond tribute band, The Solitary Men, be known. If it wasn’t enough that the original lineup of the band features members of some of my other favorite local bands of present and past, like Strix Vega, Que La Chinga, and the Great Salvation, the band is actually really good, and not just in an ironically hilarious way.

Before the Solitary Men had played their first show — a benefit for Six Rivers Planned Parenthood in early May — I sat down with singer and guitar player Bret Bailey at a local coffee shop, and I asked him why he was doing this. The audio fell by the wayside and I just finally found it.

A founding member and singer for local bands Que La Chinga and the Common Vice, Bailey grew up listening to Neil Diamond’s greatest hits album, which he figures has been embedded into his subconscious since he was an infant. At some point in the latter band’s life, Bailey had even considered turning it into a Diamond tribute — which he feels is far more dignified than calling it a cover band — on the side, but never got around to it.

“Vocally, I’ve always felt like I have my limitations,” says Bailey, “but I’ve always been able to do this semi-decent version of Neil Diamond.”

“‘Sweet Caroline’ has always been kind of one of my staple karaoke songs,” he says, “and there was once at Blue Lake Casino a couple years ago where I did it, and several ladies approached me afterward, and they were just gushing. They said that they had heard a Neil Diamond tribute band — probably a cover band — play a couple of weeks previous and that I did a better job, so it wasn’t like right away that I was like ‘Ooh, I should start a tribute band.’ It was like a funny idea that all of a sudden came into [fruition].”

Earlier this year, while hanging out at a local drinking establishment, Bailey brought up the idea of playing Neil Diamond songs to keyboard player Jorden Goodspeed — another former member of the Common Vice — and guitar player Ryan McGonagle of the Great Salvation and numerous other local projects.

“They seemed really stoked on it, and I kind of thought it would be one of those things where the next day happens, everyone’s sober again, and then they’re like ‘Well, whatever,’” says Bailey, “but they weren’t actually like that, so we started practicing acoustically.”

Common Vice drummer Clinton Smith joined in, and Bailey went on the search for a bass player. Strix Vega’s Andy Powell said no, the first two times Bailey talked to him about the Diamond tribute, but when he was asked a third time, he gave in.

Bailey’s first order of business for The Solitary Men was making sure all of his band mates — all Diamond fans of varying degrees — were familiar with more than just the greatest hits. The band’s set list includes everything from the most well-known tunes — “America,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Cherry, Cherry” — to more obscure tracks like “Dry Your Eyes,” which Diamond sang in the film “The Last Waltz.”

“We’re a tribute band and I think that there’s an expectation placed on us by certain individuals, like whenever they think of Neil Diamond, it conjures up this kind of Vegas cheesiness where I’m going to be wearing some white suit with chest hair glistening with sweat,” says Bailey, “and we might incorporate a little bit of that, but that’s not our primary focus.”

“We’re mainly looking at paying tribute to him as a songwriter — he wrote some really beautiful, yet simple, songs — and him as a performer. So we’re more interested in focusing on that, as interpreted by a rock band and all of us, individually.”

The Solitary Men play this Saturday on the F Street boardwalk in Eureka, during Arts Alive, then next Saturday, they’ll be at Nocturnum with local rockers, Magnum, in a show that benefits Eureka pirate radio efforts.

Monica Topping is the weekend mid-day DJ and host of the Slug Festivities Guide on 94.1 KSLG-FM. She loves singing along to The Solitary Men, but tries not to be too obnoxious about it, from the audience. She can be reached at Monica@kslg.com and through www.RadioRadioHumboldt.com.