Cover Band Hello McFly Shoots for Originality

By DON LAVIANO

Updated 11:30 AM EDT, Thu, Jun 4, 2009

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“Hello McFly, is anybody home?”

Yes, the East Hartford duo Hello McFly uses one of the most quotable lines from the 80’s classic movie ‘Back to the Future’ as their band name.

“We just wanted something fun,” said lead singer Brandon Jones. “We’re kids of the 80’s, so we wanted a nod to something people our age could get a kick out of. It’s a name where people do a double take because they know they recognize it and then they discuss it.”

The acoustic cover duo has been together for about a year and a half now. Jones had been in the bands Ghostbox and The Hype in the Orlando, FL area before moving back to Connecticut to reunite with high school friend and lead guitarist James Hajkowski, who currently plays in another cover band Dirty and had been in the local bands Endiya and Slick 66.

“We’ve both done original projects before, now we just wanted to go out and do something that was more relaxing and fun, like having a party,” Jones said.

Hello McFly has put together a very interesting and diverse set list. They play songs as far back as Elvis Presley all the way up to current rock and pop songs. It is their strong point because they satisfy both the Top 40 lover, someone looking for oldies and the hair metal head. Jones said it is important to choose and play songs that everyone knows, but also to stand apart from other cover bands.

“The one complaint we hear from people is that everyone is playing the same stuff like ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Summer of ‘69’,” Jones said. “So our goal is to play songs that no one else is doing but the audience still recognizes and loves.”

At a recent performance at Tailgators Sports Bar & Grill in Derby, Jones and Hajkowski got the best reception while playing a version of The Bee Gees disco hit ‘Stayin’ Alive’.

“With ‘Stayin’ Alive’, we were able to take a song that people love but don’t expect to hear at an acoustic show and turn it on their heads,” Jones said.

Being in a cover band you always hear requests from the audience, and Jones said he enjoys it because it makes each set fresh and spontaneous. At Tailgators they obliged a Rolling Stones fan with ‘Gimme Shelter’ and a KISS fan with ‘Hard Luck Woman’. And of course there is the token shout out for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’.

“That joke is played out, it was funny in ’82,” said Jones. “I think half the people that shout it out have no idea what the song is. Sometimes I’ll start to play it and they have no idea what it is.”

If you would like to see Hello McFly and shout out requests, their next show is at City Sports in Bristol on Saturday, June 6. To see a complete list of their shows click on the website at www.hellomcfly.net and to hear some of their songs check them out on MySpace at www.myspace.com/hellomcflyrocks.