Laurie Beebe Lewis & Electric Underground

Music has been an integral part of singer Laurie Beebe Lewis’s life for as long as she can remember. As a teenage rock and roller, she was a part of the vibrant late 1960’s Michigan rock scene, with the band Pitche Blende, performing alongside the likes of Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper. She later became a member of legendary groups The Buckinghams and The Mamas and Papas, touring North America and Europe, while also taking part in numerous recording sessions. Now, Lewis has started a new project, Laurie Lewis & The Electric Underground

On March 25, Laurie Lewis & Electric Underground, debut their multi-media show at the Grand in Escondido. The band includes drummer Cat Zeman, guitarist / music director Andy Tirpak, singer Lori Wilson, keyboardist Mike Grossman and acoustic guitarist Bob Wade, with Wilson taking a “Mama” role on those songs and Wade taking the “Denny” (Doherty) role in the M’s & P’s songs. Also performing on the bill will be Mike Pinera of Blues Image, plus Robert Zapata and Charlie Munoz of Cannibal & The Headquarters.

For Lewis, it was time to step out on her own. “After many years of playing music with great musicians, I’ve always joined already established working groups,” she said. “This will be the first time I have put my own group together under my own name. I’ve thought about it from time to time, but I’ve always been more of a band member as a collaborator rather than taking the reins as band CEO.”

It was Lewis’s time with The Original Starfires, who released an EP on Pacific Records in 2020, that made her realize that she needed to break out on her own. For Lewis’s new project, she decided to go with the music she loved the most, classics from the 1960’s. “After Covid hit it was hard to book the band and I felt a definite shift in the direction of where we were going,” Lewis said. “Agencies were asking me for the obvious; to do a Mamas & Papas Tribute act. I was dead set against that as I felt it not only limited my capabilities as the singer I’d become, but I did not want anyone, including the Phillips family to think I was somehow trying to hijack the Mamas and Papas name in anyway, on any level.”

Thus, while her concerts do include songs associated with the Mamas and Papas, the show also encompasses other greats of the 60’s such as the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, The Zombies, CSNY and The Byrds. “I thought “If I don’t do this thing now I’m never going to do it,” so here I am, putting all my energies, ideas and visions into this group. It’s so new to me and totally out of my comfort zone to be the leader and put myself and my name out there on the line. It’s both exciting and frightening,” she remarked. “My manager John Jerd has been so supportive through all of this and he produced our promo video,” Lewis noted. “And maybe this is my time to face those fears. I’m actually creating more than a band. It’s a whole show. Taking the vision and the experience from my entire music career and creating something in uncharted territory. This is the music that I love to do, which is eclectic in style yet focuses on the most influential era of my lifetime, the 60’s because that is where it all began for me and where I found my passion!”

Lewis notes the show is more than just a loose connection of songs. “This is a concert production with music, lights, pictures and stories on a journey through one of the most historic eras of music,” she said. “I came up with the band name “The Electric Underground” as it represents connection. It’s a kaleidoscope of the senses with music, lights, sound, color; everything that we experienced during that era. Special guest guitarist Mike Pinera, the writer of Blues Image hit “Ride Captain Ride,” as well as a member of Iron Butterfly, is another connection to the big picture of what built the music scene during the 1960’s flower power era.”

Does Lewis still get as much pleasure out of making music as she did when she started out? “I absolutely love singing, and there’s nothing better than playing with really good players,” she said. “But, I will say this, put a microphone in my hand, throw me up on stage and let me sing a song or two, and I will pour out every inch of my heart and soul to whoever is in the room,” Lewis remarked. “It is something I was born to do and hopefully I can keep doing it for a few more years if the good Lord allows it!” www.lauriesmusic.com