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Pink Houses: Tribute band still going strong

Photo

Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Pink Houses members, including Edgerton resident Tom Reitz, front and center, practice Keith Urban's Kiss a Girl at a warehouse in Madison. The band is primarily a John Mellencamp tribute band, but are expanding their repertoire beyond that.

Photo

Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Pink Houses vocalists, front to back, K.T. Mazzie, Beth Blanck and Tom Reitz practice Keith Urban's Kiss a Girl at a warehouse in Madison.

EDGERTON — When Tom Reitz and his brothers were young, they made guitars from wood and string and air jammed in their basement.

Today, Reitz is an Edgerton dentist by day and rock star by night, fronting a 10-piece band and channeling John Mellencamp.

The band, Pink Houses, has been playing southern Wisconsin and the Midwest for seven years.

Reitz, 46, grew up in a musical family. His young influences include AC/DC, Van Halen and the Ramones. He played guitar in bands in the 80s, mostly hard-rock groups in the vein of Def Leppard.

But in 2000, Reitz was thinking of forming a big band with a big sound to set him apart from the many four- and five-member cover bands. He wanted to play bigger festivals and clubs and was thinking along the lines of rhythm and blues or soul because he already had a horn section lined up.

Then he saw Mellencamp play at Summerfest.

The performance was awesome, and the band and sound were big. He thought: “This guy’s in my voice range.”

The next two years, it was all Mellencamp all the time. Reitz immersed himself in the music as he mowed the lawn and moved around his dentist’s office. He lined up musicians and rehearsals. The first show was in November 2002.

Mellencamp is notorious for the variety of instruments and back-up singers on stage. Pink Houses covers all the bases, including a mandolin, banjo, accordion, violin and guitars.

“It’s just neat being able to do his music justice,” Reitz said.

The band was strictly Mellencamp the next five years, quite often playing at The Dry Bean in Madison. Today, it still is sought after as a tribute band at festivals all over the Midwest.

Mellencamp hasn’t gotten old after all these years.

“There’s still so many places and so many festivals that the act can play,” Reitz said. “You know the show so well, and the band is so tight.”

“I still get chills when we play ‘Pink Houses.’ I love that song.

“So often, people come up to me and say, ‘Dude, when I close my eyes, it’s just like I’m listening to Mellencamp,’” he said. “That’s a really, really nice compliment.”

Closer to home, the band expands its playlist. Members will riff in the style of Mellencamp. They cover songs by such artists as Keith Urban, Bryan Adams, Pat Benatar and Bon Jovi. They choose songs to showcase the bluesy voice of band member Beth Blanck.

Over the years, band members have drifted in and out. The turnover of great musicians keeps pumping new energy and talent into the band, Reitz said.

Some highlights over the years include gigs at Summerfest in 2003 and Chilimania for three years. Reitz helps organize the popular Edgerton event.

The band’s had several shows when it played before nearly 10,000 people.

“The amount of energy that creates inside of you, it’s phenomenal,” Reitz said. “You’re just flying.

“It’s very satisfying knowing you put on a really, really good show for everyone, and the crowd was so responsive.”

He still hopes to play Mellencamp’s hometown—Seymour, Ind.—and that might happen this year.

“Who knows?” Reitz said. “Maybe he’ll show up, and that will be a lot of fun.”

Lately, Reitz has been playing lead guitar at smaller venues in his brother’s band, Delta Ratz. It’s billed as a “blues band with a twist.”

His brother Jeff is a member of Pink Houses, too.

“Both of us were blessed with tons of energy,” Tom said.

“It’s fun to not have the pressure (of lead singer) on you,” Tom said. “And it stretches my playing limits and abilities. My fingers are moving into places they’d never been before.”

Ironically, the lyrics of “Pink Houses” are about chasing but not realizing the elusive American dream.

Tom Reitz has captured his childhood dream.