Historical Recollections
Once upon a time, before Take Solace existed, Dirk Watkins and David Klapatch attended 2nd grade together at Southern Door Elementary located in Brussels, Wisconsin. Mr. Raye was our teacher that year. He would take the class to the media center for breaks from the school day and play songs for us on his guitar. One of the more memorable is “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens. That year Mr. Raye gave Dirk his guitar pick and sparked Dirk’s interest in playing the guitar.
David Klapatch was always interested in the stringed instrument. He started playing the Hot Lixx guitar in the 80’s. Later he upgraded to the more traditional 6 string acoustic guitar.
Dirk and David started writing songs together in High School and played informally at house parties and bonfires. After High School, Dirk went off to college where he met Chris Lubinski, Dave Pawl, and Tom May. Dirk, Chris, Tom, and Dave Pawl jammed informally under many different band names, including the Condom Mints, Hymen Breakers and Dildozer.
Band Bios
skills: Invoking lyrical musings of boastful ignorance, punch drunk vocals and buoyant arrangements to program the songs of take solace. Artfully photographing and codifying recent events and posthumous transmigrations while maintaining and inspiring social networking cultures.
weapons of choice: vocals, lyrics, guitar, toys, keyboards, parallax errors, kazoos
hero: e.e.cummings
skills: Using financial models to produce youthful acoustic rhymes, fragrant mandolin melodies and harmonic mouth harp dramatics. Advising of the monetary calculations required to perpetuate take solace’s transportation and living expenses.
devices utilized: mandolin, guitar, harmonica, alto sax, backup vocals, misc. percussion
favorite Mythological Character: Pygmy
Chris Lubinski was an experienced electric and bass guitar player from way back. He performed around the Milwaukee area with a well known Ska band, Melk and the Evil Acquaintances.
skills: Drawing biological influences to chemically paint stuttering riffs and shifting dynamics through the use of colors matched to perfect harmonies. Telemarketing.
tools mastered: mandolin, guitar, banjo, broken twigs, bass guitar, keyboards
favorite Color: periwinkle
Dave Pawl was in many bands in the past as well. One of the more well known bands is Sweatheart Tripwire, where he rocked lead guitar and vocals, and Bakkus where he played bass.
skills: Artfully crafting forward-looking rhythms and harmonious percussives whist vocalizing musings tuned to present component frequencies of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.
devices utilized: percussion, backup vocals
primary folkloric focus: African Drums and Folklore
One of elements to Take Solace’s unique sound is brass player Tom May. The New Berlin native started playing french horn and baritone in grade school, moving onto the cornet and trumpet throughout high school. In 2004, Tom added the valve trombone to the brass arsenal. His musical style is greatly influenced by The Slackers, The Toasters, and Cake.
skills: Engineering utilitarian modules for brass harmonies whilst manhandling pyrotechnics. Mixology and amplificationology.
instruments efficiently maintained: trumpet, valve trombone, various mixers
favorite call letters: WUWM