"Bricks In the Wall" channels the full Pink Floyd experience

BITW brings a musical and visual experience to behold

By: Kent B. - MSTv
Additional content from: Advocate.com

The BRLA concert staple, The Varsity Theater, was treated to something special last night as the Pink Floyd tribute band, Bricks In the Wall, rocked the house to its mortar roots. 

The nine piece group, formed in 1998, pays tribute and a disciplined homage to one of the most influential Brit pop-culture bands of the last five decades, Pink Floyd. 

And to their credit, BITW brings a highly detailed attention to their performances; their efforts to reproduce concert experiences that fans, young and old, could once only experience with the original Pink Floyd, shine through spectacularly. 

Spectators can see the care and quality being placed into a BITW concert.  But, few would guess that this polished band simply grew out of the mind of a 10 year old's love a a simple vinyl record. 

BITW creator and band leader, Travis Satterfield got a vinyl 45 copy of Pink Floyd’s single, “Another Brick in the Wall,” for Christmas in 1979.  He was only 10 years old and the song’s lyrics, "Hey, teacher! Leave those kids alone,"  struck an instant chord with him.

"I guess that was rebellion,” Satterfield said from Dallas.

From that tune, Satterfield moved on to The Wall album and all of the Floyd albums that preceded it.

“I was hooked,” he said. “I picked up the guitar so I could play Pink Floyd.” As he got older, Satterfield appreciated the band’s musical complexity and sociopolitical lyrics.

And from those original bytes of inspiration, Satterfield grew from fan to founder of the Pink Floyd tribute band, Bricks in the Wall.

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Feeling confident in his guitar playing following years of practice, Satterfield took out a classified ad in the Dallas Observer for singers and musicians interested in forming his Pink Floyd tribute band.

“I started getting answers and, before too long, we had a band,” he said. “After six months of practice we were out playing gigs. It really grew to what I always envisioned it to be, a full-on Pink Floyd experience with lasers and video screens, lights and authentic equipment and the giant pig that we’ll bring out on occasion.”

Following its formation in 1998, demand for Bricks in the Wall grew. The group later reduced its schedule to about 12 shows a years, including its exclusive Dallas and Houston area performances at those cities’ House of Blues locations.

The nine-member Bricks in the Wall is spending most of this year marking the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s classic 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

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The group’s Dark Side of the Moon show features original Pink Floyd video synced to the performance as well as synced lights and lasers.

With a highly enjoyable concert last night in Baton Rouge, plus a few more tours left in Louisiana and Texas, BITW can be an experience to relish and behold - whether you know nothing or are a diehard fan of the music of Pink Floyd.

Not many bands can bring stadium-sized concert experiences to smaller venues; and do so effectively.

But luckily for us, Bricks In the Wall, like their source of inspiration, looks to buck and defy most stereotypes of success geared for their audiences.

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