Medicine Ball Bounces Back

July 28, 2004

Shades of local rock history... Rock songwriter Tim Callaghan is back on a roll with Medicine Ball, a band last heard in Northern Michigan five years ago. The band plays this weekend at Union Street Station in TC.
Medicine Ball had its heyday in 1999, after which Callaghan launched Volo, a trio which had the distinction of being named “Best Rock Band” by Northern Express readers in a “best of Northern Michigan” issue. Callaghan also had a brief satirical rap act before heading south for more fruitful musical opportunities.
“Last year I moved to Detroit and resurfaced some of our old tunes at open mics there. They got a good response, so I decided to get the band back together again,” he says.
The new lineup includes Jim Neu on drums, Robert Sherman on guitar, Robert Bennett on bass and Callaghan on guitar/vocals.
“We’re playing songs by Medicine Ball and Volo along with new material, so it’s a cross-pollination of things,” Callaghan says. “The new band is like a stripped-down Medicine Ball with more balls. We’ve done away with some of the subtleties and orchestration for more of a power chord thing, but you can still hear some of the Bowiesque-Morrison poetic element in the band.” By that, Callaghan is referring to his ability to perform a pretty fair parallel to David Bowie’s vocals during the Ziggy Stardust days. His Volo band also lived up to U2 on a cover of “It’s a Beautiful Day” and The Who with a version of “Sparks” that showcased Keith Moon fan Jim Neu’s drumming firepower.
The emphasis for the revived Medicine Ball is on original tunes, however, and Callaghan says they’ve received a positive reception so far at clubs such as Fifth Avenue in Detroit’s Comerica Park. They’ve also received airplay on 89X-FM, Windsor’s alternative rock station.
Callaghan’s heart may be in Traverse City, but he now lives full-time in Detroit where he’s established a recording studio and is producing a CD for a band called Azuri. He hopes to have a Medicine Ball CD out this fall.

Medicine Ball performs at Union Street this Saturday, July 31 and again on Sunday, Aug. 1 at a benefit concert for Kevin Kelly’s son Quinlan, who was injured in an auto accident. Kelly will also be performing at the benefit show.