Tuffcurls prepares for 'weird' weekend

Chicago-based cover band Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press, a band known for a “weird” following, will play back-to-back shows this weekend at the Bluebird Nightclub.

“I think it was the Halloween show,” said Ben John, an IU fifth-year senior. “I was dressed up as Aziz Ansari.”

John paused as he reflected on one of his favorite memories from a Tuffcurls show at “the Bird.”

“C.C. Ryder, he came down and I stood next to him and played the air guitar,” John said. “In retrospect, that’s really embarrassing, but I was having a good time.”
John was experiencing Rod Tuffcurls.

Tuffcurls is no newcomer to Bloomington or the Bluebird. The four-member band has been playing for four years, first gracing the stage of the Bluebird about two years ago, said drummer Dick Celebrity. Besides Celebrity’s percussion, Rod Tuffcurls is the lead guitarist, C.C. Ryder plays the bass and Uncle Sex is the lead singer. The band operates under these stage names, choosing aliases instead of their actual names.

John first found out about Tuffcurls from his roommates.

“They’ve built a cult following almost,” John said.
Celebrity said the ties between Tuffcurls and Bloomington might be new, but they are strong.  

“We also kind of struck a chord there, something about the combination of smart, quirky kids getting our off-brand humor,” Celebrity said. “Even the whole ‘let’s get weird’ thing.”

“Let’s get weird” is a chant the band does between songs. The crowd often joins. It helps create Tuffcurls’ interactive experience, John said.

“It’s a state of mind,” John said. “It’s a unifying factor that they want to get weird and we want to get weird.”

Hoosier fans often come out in droves to see the band play everything from Mariah Carey to Simon and Garfunkel to Wilson Phillips. Don’t expect original music from Tuffcurls — they are strictly a cover band and proud of it.

“We never approach it as ‘we’re not all we can be’ because we’re a cover band,” Celebrity said. “We go to the opposite and say, ‘oh, we’re a cover band, let’s be as creative as possible.’”

That creativity and energy keeps crowds at the Bluebird going for the band’s three-hour shows.

Bill Klump, an IU senior and Tuffcurls fan, has seen the band in Palatine, Ill., Chicago and Bloomington.

“Bloomington is different,” Klump said.

As compared to crowds and venues in Palatine and Chicago, the size of the Bluebird is small enough for the crowd to focus on the music and feel connected to the band, Klump said.

“The whole Bluebird is completely different when Rod Tuffcurls is there,” Klump said. “The crowd’s way more into it — it’s just a lot more fun.”

Tuffcurls has played other college towns but none have struck such a relationship with the band as Bloomington, Celebrity said. After his first time playing in Bloomington,

Celebrity said the southern Indiana college town was his favorite place to play — a fact he still brags about to the other three band members today.

“Bloomington has taken off like no other town we’ve played,” Celebrity said.

This weekend will be the band’s first back-to-back endeavor. Different setlists will be played each night, Celebrity said.

“I think it’s an experience everyone should have at IU,” John said. “Going to the Bluebird and seeing Rod Tuffcurls is probably one of my favorite things and experiences so far other than basketball and Little Five.”