Las Vegas show Recycled Percussion: Every three-year-old worth his salt knows how powerful he becomes when placed in front of a group of metal pots and pans, wooden spoon held at the ready in his hands. “Recycled Percussion” is what happens when four passionate musicians harness their inner-children and the untapped sonic power of countless garage sales, flea markets and hardware stores.
Accompanying each ticket to their Las Vegas show is a pair of drumsticks and something you can hit with them — not so subtle hints that you’re about to become part of the band.
The do-it-yourself quartet includes drummers Ryan Vezina and Justin Spencer, DJ Todd Griffin and guitarist Jim Magoon. Their genius idea for a high school talent show in 1994, coupled with loads of talent, athleticism and natural charm brought them from relative obscurity into a starring role on stage in the world’s ultimate entertainment city.
Rarely does a Las Vegas show draw on the collaborative efforts of the audience and the talent to combine for spectacular effect, but this is exactly what makes Recycled Percussion so powerful and engaging. The musicians perform rock and roll’s best melodies, coupled with a groundbreaking approach to percussive details, using anything from metal sheets and buckets to an incredibly athletic and melodic tapping of rungs on a twin set of giant ladders. With each section of the Las Vegas show audience just waiting for the cue to start banging on their own implements, the entire place becomes a nexus of rhythm with a constant pulse that detonates like pleasure bombs for concert-lovers everywhere.