Soul Survivors surviving the musical times

Practice makes perfect, or so the saying goes.

But for the eight members of the local cover band Soul Survivors, practicing is something they don’t have time for.

In fact, to them, practicing takes away from the fun they have when they hit the stage, roughly 35 times a year.

Each member holds a full-time job, so no one wants to spend the rest of the night practicing music after a long, stressful day at work, says Teddy Baudoin, 44, the Soul Survivor’s keyboard player.

So they don’t.

And the practice – of forgoing, well, practice – has kept the Houma/Thibodaux-based group together for the last 14 years.

“The reason why we like the band so much and probably why we are still together is because we don’t practice,” Baudoin jokes. “We only have to see each other on the weekends. We don’t want to add to the stress, so we don’t see a need to practice. We learn songs on the job.”

Each member takes home a CD and learns one song. By the time the entire band knows the same song, they add it to their play list.

To date, that play list includes a wide mix of musical styles: pop, rock, funk and soul. The group also pulls from the songs they grew up listening to in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

A quick check of the math and fans discover the band’s median age is 40-something. Some may call them old, others experienced, but to the bandmates, they are simply “Survivors.”

For the last 14 years, the Soul Survivors has secured a regular after-hours gig as a mostly private party band. Baudoin and his cohorts have built up a following with their unique sound and funky attitude onstage.

Fans of the soul classics – the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago, the Commodores, Tower of Power and the legendary Stevie Wonder – Soul Survivors musical vault includes some stealth selections, Baudoin is quick to note. The group mixes old school with new, too, throwing in some Outkast or a New Orleans soul artist just to shake things up.

For 14 years, Baudoin said most of the original players have remained with the band from the outset – Baudoin, bassist Cody Kelleher and the three-piece horn section consisting of trumpeter Jerome Stafford, trombonist Billy King and saxophone player Jerome Theriot.

All eight members have rich musical roots, for which Baudoin credits the group’s tight sound. Theriot and King are music teachers, Wells is a music producer, Kelleher owns Soundstage in Houma, Percle’s day job is at Hofman’s Music in Thibodaux and Baudoin and Lapeyrouse are actively involved in Christian music.

Since its inception, Soul Survivors has influenced a number of local bands – Souled Out, Water’s Edge and Soul Avenue have all mentioned the Houma/Thibodaux band’s impact.

With that degree of talent, Baudoin says the band regularly gets fan requests for a CD. But that’s not in the plans anytime soon.

Soul Survivors is, after all, just a group of guys who share a love for music having a good time.

“People will ask us if we have CDs and we say we just do it for fun,” he explains. “It’s a hobby. It allows us to get a little crazy on weekends and lets us relieve the stress from the week. We’re all beyond the part of making CDs.”

Soul Survivors was founded in 1994 by Baudoin and Kelleher, who were playing with other groups but wanted to set out on their own.

Through Charlie Positerry, a sound engineer from Houma, the two connected with Stafford, King and Theriot, who had just quit playing in a band.

The five got together, struck a chord and have been together ever since.

Their first big challenge was actually finding a suitable moniker. Soul Survivor’s name is derived from how they see themselves, survivors of the times.

“We started looking for a name that had soul in it,” Baudoin explains. “We are all kind of seasoned musicians. We were around for a while, so that’s where the word ‘survivor’ came in. We kind of survived the young rock age.”

“Another five years and we’ll go from Soul Survivors to Old Survivors,” he jokes.

Along the way, drummer Troy Percle and guitarist Pershing Wells, who is also a local producer, joined the band.

Soul Survivors’ biggest turnover has been at its lead singer slot. The current front man, Lonnie Lapeyrouse, is the band’s fifth singer in 14 years of performing.

“Because we have our full-time jobs, this can be tough to fit in the schedule,” he explains. “It just gets too busy sometimes and our lead singers find they can’t keep with it.”

Soul Survivors got its start playing the club scene. Baudoin says he quickly noticed, however, the band wasn’t getting booked as much as its members had hoped. They retooled their blues style, adding a blend of funk and soul and, suddenly, found a niche performing at private parties.

Today, 95 percent of Soul Survivor’s gigs are private functions including parties in Las Vegas, the House of Blues and Disney World. When they’re back in town, they do occasionally hit local stages.

“We play there maybe once every two months,” Baudoin says. “We look to play one club here and there to promote the band. It’s hard for people to come watch us at weddings. Some of them don’t want to do that. It gives them a place to see us and helps us promote the fact that we play for a lot of private events.”

“That’s actually how we get most of our gigs,” he says of the local bookings.

For a look at Soul Survivors’ upcoming play dates, check out their Web site at www.myspace.com/soulsurvivorband.