A couple dozen people showed up at Salt Lake City's pre-eminent dive bar, Burt's Tiki Lounge, one recent Sunday. • They were there to see the harp duo Harptallica — a Metallica tribute band whose arsenal is a pair of harps played by two classically trained musicians. • "I guess Sunday night in Salt Lake City is not a huge night for going out," lamented Patricia Kline as she and harp partner Ashley Toman made their way by vehicle from Salt Lake to Spokane, Wash., a couple days later. • They are in the middle of their second minitour, a three-week jaunt that brings them to Tucson's Club Congress Saturday. Last fall, they spent five weeks on the road, introducing audiences to a Metallica tribute like none they had ever witnessed. • No vocals. No crashing guitars or thumping drum rants. • Just two women. Two harps.
"Some of the songs, like 'The Unforgiven,' were really easy, but 'Master of Puppets' was hard to do," said Toman, who arranges the Metallica songs for double harps. "Some of the songs and the guitar solos we have to take some liberties with."
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Toman conceived the idea for Harptallica in 2006. She was inspired by her husband, Ben Toman, fellow musician-turned-tour-manager/roadie and a big Metallica fan.
"At first it sounds like a guitar when it first opened up. But then it sounded like harp after that," Ben Toman said of his wife's arrangements as he steered them to Spokane.
Toman, who lives in Louisiana, roped in Kline, a former classmate from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester (N.Y.). She was game; she was tooling around her hometown in Massachusetts doing a bit of orchestra work, some teaching and picking up private gigs, including weddings.
"She needed a second harpist, and I just love to do anything that exposed" the harp to bigger audiences, Kline said.
Toman transcribed nine Metallica songs for duo harp — including "Enter Sandman," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "One" — that the pair self-recorded. Then they hit the road last fall.
"We were really nervous about it at first, but people have been really enthusiastic about it," Kline said, a sound of relief in her tone. "We get people out here."
Admittedly, what they are doing is odd — covering Metallica's often brooding, angst-ridden, heavy-metal tirades with the soft touch of a harp. There is no vocal element, which puts the burden on the angelic harp to speak heady volumes. The result is an almost coffee-bar-esque New Agey acoustic rendition of "The Unforgiven." Toman's transcriptions of "Enter Sandman" and "Fade to Black" are more sophisticated. You hear the bass guitar lines below higher ranges that fill in the blanks for the electric guitar and a piano on "Sandman" and a distinctive voice in Toman's lead role in "Fade to Black."
"It's great music. A lot of it (translates) well for the harp," Kline said. "It's a very different instrument, but a lot of it translates very well, especially the really slow songs like 'Unforgiven.' "
Whether the pair is successful is still open to debate. If you are more a fan of Metallica lead singer James Hetfield's deeply gnarled vocals or the band's thunderstorm of screeching guitars, you might find Harptallica a bit tame.
Toman and Kline, who are both 25 years old and have each clocked more than a dozen years studying harp, say they want to branch out to other rock bands.
"At this point, I think we're just along for the ride," Kline said. "It's kind of exciting to bring the harp to another audience and to bring Metallica music to the classical audience."
"I know harps have been in little bars before, but I think playing Metallica, people who don't expect us are shocked to see us there," Toman added. "For a lot of them it's the first time they've seen a harp performed live. The Metallica stuff is familiar, so they will tend to clap."
If you go
Harptallica
• When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
• Where: Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
• Tickets: $8 in advance at www.ticketweb.com; $10 day of show through Club Congress, 622-8848.
• Et cetera: This is a 21 and older show.
• Online: Hear sound bites at www. harptallica.com or www.myspace.com/ harptallica
• Freaky coincidence: Metallica headlines KFMA Day today at Pima County Fairgrounds.
