Fourth Estate Newspaper

Issue date: 10/15/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Photo by Kari Merchant/Fourth Estate Groovatational Pull kicked off WGBX's Deep Fried Band series at the Phoenix Club Sept. 30 with its mix of reggae, rock, jazz and funk.

By mixing reggae with rock, jazz and funk, Groovitational Pull is easy to identify.
The band has won each UW-Oshkosh's and UW-Eau Claire's Battle of the Bands contest and performed at Summerfest in Milwaukee, to promote its debut album, "Flavor Grenade." Groovitational Pull rocked the Phoenix Club Sept. 30 raking in a large crowd.
Groovitational Pull is from UWO, where the members are juniors. The band consists of four people, Caleb "Papa Sanga" Nordhaugen, Brett "Father Zerubbabel" Miller, Jon "The Prophet" Kertzman and Kevin "Kev Bounce" Israel. The members would rather go by their stage names.
"When you are in a band, you're not a person, you're a personality," Kertzman said about the stage names.
That's why they randomly created the names and created their own image of this new band.
Groovitational Pull formed in the dorms on campus during its member's freshman year. None of the other students or staff seemed to appreciate they were a band in the dorms, with all the noise.
"We were on the top floor of the tallest tower, in Oshkosh, but now we all live together in a house and have our own little jam space," said Nordhaugen.
Now that they all live together, it's easier for them to write music and practice. They have all been part of the original band and joke around with each other.
Nordhaugen joked about wanting "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" at his funeral. Miller joked about his nickname and how he wanted it to be the band's name. Israel didn't crack many jokes, just about how he likes huffing gas, but it was more like the band was picking on him, perhaps because he's the newest comer.
Before Groovitational Pull gets ready to go on-stage, the band has particular ways of getting ready. Nordhaugen washes his hands right before he's ready to go on-stage.
"I never wear shoes, and after every show I have to collect the money, because I'm Jewish," said Israel.
Right before the show, Miller likes to lead a little service to get them energetic and ready to perform.
The band started the night by bringing lively personalities to the stage. The band sang their hit songs from "Flavor Grenade," such as "Morse Code" and "Skanq Party." They sang another song called, "Makes Me Wonder," in which Miller rapped.

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