image courtesy Garth Girard

The guys in Bull Halsey dress sharp and play the blues. That’s the band's unofficial motto, but it also says a lot about how its members approach their craft. The 3 old friends from Chelsea take an old-school approach to making new music that has its roots in the blues, jazz and swing without ever sounding derivative. “We have some bluegrassy stuff, some swingy stuff and we still play the old Elvis tunes,” said drummer David Oesterle. “But it always sounds like us somehow.”

Oesterle, bassist/singer Garth Girard and guitarist Wally Schmid form the core of Bull Halsey and the 3 have been playing together since they formed the garage-rock outfit Brothers Grimm in the 1990s. As that band fizzled, the 3 remained friends and each 1 began tracing his own musical roots back to their sources. “I wanted to be a jazz drummer and Wally wanted to be an authentic blues guitar player,” Oesterle recalled. “So we all kind of went backwards and backwards and we all realized that we were as motivated by the old guys more than anything else. “None of us ever really cared that much about being ‘rock stars’ per se — we wanted to be great players. We admire great players and great songwriters and great singers and that’s what we wanted to aspire to. That was 9 years ago and, aside from taking a year off for health issues, Bull Halsey has been plugging away, recording 2 fine albums — including the recently self-released “Hot Dry Work” — and winning new fans everywhere they play. The record was recorded mostly live in the studio using room microphones to capture the band's earthy sound. The result is a warm, authentic sound in which the band’s instruments actually sound like instruments. Drums crackle, guitars bite and sputter and Girard’s vocals, raw and distorted through an overdriven microphone, are appropriately menacing. If you close your eyes, you can almost see the tubes in their amps glowing. It’s the blues, sure. But it’s easy to hear other influences from jazz to country to boogie-driven rock ‘n’ roll creeping into the grooves of Bull Halsey’s music.

Listen to a selection of songs by Bull Halsey: “We just accepted that we wouldn’t be a blues band, but we didn’t want that to turn into a straitjacket that would confine us,” Oesterle said. “You just can’t get away from your influences and be honest with yourself.” Indeed, the band takes its influences to heart, right down to a visual sense. Like their jazz and blues forebears, the guys dress in suits for live gigs and Oesterle has installed a light in his kick drum that backlights the band’s logo. The combination, coupled with the band’s vintage tube amps and a collection of lacquered tweed suitcases to haul gear, contributes to the band’s retro vibe that’s fully in sync with its music. It’s a meeting of form and function that’s rare in an era when most bands show up to play in jeans and T-shirts. “I just think it’s important for us look good,” Oesterle said. “People come out to see us play, so we should appreciate them spending their time and money so we can comport ourselves in a professional manner. “We’re not a spectacular visual band, so if we can do something little, then that seems to make it easy and it allows us to have a style.” In fact, Bull Halsey has a lot of styles. From the blues to country to swing and everything in between — it’s music can’t be put into any 1 box, which is exactly the idea, Oesterle said. “We can play at the Elbow Room with straight-up rock bands with Marshall stacks or we can play bluegrass festivals, where I’m the only guy with a drumset and that’s okay, too,” he said. “We can adjust to different settings and turn up or down accordingly. “If nothing else, it's good business, because you don’t want to pigeonhole yourself into 1 area. But we’re too restless to play any one kind of music all the time.”

Will Stewart is a free-lance writer for AnnArbor.com.