The Hole story

Checking out the song list that Five Hole draws from only tells part of the band's story. Most of the tunes will look familiar_ radio faves, some classic rock, and party standards (c'mon, who doesn't like "What I Like About You"?). But over its six years together, Five Hole has worked up arrangements to make even the most familiar songs sound fresh.

"Sometimes I can't even listen to a song on the radio that we do because it just sounds so different to me now," says Five Hole singer Ken Berry.

A prime example is Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." Five Hole has taken that rap gem and reworked it with a heavy rock groove into one of its more popular concert numbers.

Five Hole made its Wah debut last fall in a pre-season party at the mountain. The band returns Saturday playing in the Coppertop starting at 8 p.m. This show will be a little different as the group will be playing acoustic guitars and focusing on mellower tunes from the repertoire.

"We'll tone it down, and I like that, that's my style," Berry says. The band hasn't done a gig like this before so it is anxious to dust off some tunes it let fall from the play list or doesn't get to perform when a more rocking, electric set is in order.

 Berry mentions such tunes as Radiohead's "Creep" and Incubus's "Drive" as things he is looking forward to singing in the "unplugged" setting.

Guitarists Rick Brown and Cedric Mollet, bassist Bill Nelson, and drummer John St. Jean round out the Five Hole lineup. Berry says his band mates are more likely to tune into hard-rocking WAAF while he spins the dial to mellower WBOS. Yet the band fuses the members' different tastes into one entertaining package.

"They brought that Drowning Pool song 'Bodies,'" Berry recalls of a tune he never thought he'd enjoy singing. "It's super heavy, but it has legitimate vocals. We usually use it to end with, when I'm spent. But I have to hit real notes. Even though there's a lot of screaming, there is some real singing in there. The first time I heard that song, I couldn't imagine singing it."

Berry says Five Hole has found its niche as a show band, one that can get a crowd moving to both Blink 182 and Rage Against the Machine.

"We offer a lot of variety," Berry says. "We like being a little all over the place."