Music performed by Hairbangers Ball is always a tribute to the 1980s hair metal bands era. However, the selection of songs typically varies with the audience.
The band regularly performs songs by Motley Crue, Guns & Roses, Poison, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.
“Occasionally, we get into music from bands like W.A.S.P. and Cinderella,” lead singer Brian Durbin said. “Each particular town has a thing that they like from us. If we play a college town when it’s in session, the young kids like to hear the certified, 100 percent A-level hits. A lot of Wisconsin places or Bolingbrook, Ill., like to hear more of the deeper cuts from some of the bands. We don’t do a one-size-fits-all setlist. We change up our setlist pretty regularly.”
Hairbangers Ball will perform on the main stage from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. July 4 at Noblesville’s fireworks festival at Forest Park. It’s the second consecutive year the band has played the July 4 festival in Noblesville.
Durbin said the band will play many of the greatest hits from ’80s bands.
“We’ve played in Indy (area) often enough to have a following from the Vogue Theatre,” Durbin said. “Sometimes we get people from the Bluebird in Bloomington, which we call our home away from home. So, because we get some of our regulars in Noblesville, we’ll throw in some of our deeper cuts, too. We have to be a little more selective because it’s a family event. We want to play songs that even 10-year-olds know because these songs are like almost the soundtrack of America if you really think about it. Even though all the bands aren’t necessarily are from America, the Midwest is the area that truly loves this type of music.
“When you have to play those family festivals, you have to play what I like to call America’s hits.”
The band has performed for 21 years, and Durbin has been a member for the past six years. Durbin, who also plays the guitar, performs under the stage name Mick Jäger as in Jägermeister.
The band has five members, but occasionally a second female singer joins as a sixthmember.
“We’re typically a Midwest band but we play other places if opportunities come up,” Durbin said. “We mostly do covers, but we do some original songs that we started releasing after the (COVID-19) pandemic. We had nothing else to do at the time.”
Durbin previously played for Love Blast, which performed in the Chicago area.
“We released a couple of albums and I got picked up by Jen (singer Jennifer Remis) by Hairbangers Ball,” he said. “I’ve just been having the time of my life playing with my friends in Hairbangers, and on the side I record some of my own music.”
For more, visit hairbangersball.com.