Bicycle wheels, handlebars, hubs and frames make great musical instrument components.
In fact, spokes are actually tunable, said Glenn Weyant, one of the founding members of Bike-A-Stra, a band that creates and plays what they refer to as bike-centric instruments.
Bike-A-Stra will play Sunday night at The Hut to cap off a series of eco friendly festivals and events downtown and in South Tucson, which includes Cyclovia Tucson, the Synergistic Water Festival and the Solar Rock concert.
The Bike-A-Stra artists combine bike parts with repurposed artifacts such as a stool or podium, springs and bungee cords along with an electronic component to amplify the sounds, said Weyant, one of the group's founders.
The finished products can be percussed or bowed. And if they have an actual instrument part such as a mouthpiece, they can be played like you would, say, a saxophone.
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"There is no real right or wrong way to use them," said Weyant.
Bike-A-Stra, which is coming up on its one-year anniversary in July, has played in places such as Solar Culture Gallery, The Red Room and 2nd Saturdays Downtown. It's also drawn international media attention that includes mentions on a Japanese website.
Band member Scott Kerr constructs the instruments' electronic components. Steev Hise is the video jockey during performances, which is similar to being a disc jockey, but with videos and sound bites.
The music is ambient and psychedelic, although the appropriate musical term in this case is actually "cycle-delic," Weyant said.
While some delve in the novelty of the unique sounds, others are turned off by the atonal, industrial and somewhat abrasive metal on metal tunes, Weyant said.
All the instruments are unique to the group, although a band in Germany now claims to play the Kestrel 920.
"They say they play one because they think it's kinda funny," Weyant said. "I offered to make them one but I never heard back from them."
If you go
Bike-A-Stra
• What: Benefit concert to raise funds for classes that the bicycle co-op BICAS, and Bike-A-Stra will teach on how to create instruments out of bike parts.
• Featuring: Bike-A-Stra, Golden Boots, The Modeens, Technophobes, 21 Pump Street, and Parasol Project.
• Where: The Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave.
• When: Sunday, 5 p.m.-1 a.m.
• Cost: $5 donation.
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