Pastel Black approached the stage of Acoustic Café at 8:30 p.m. Saturday July 31, 2010 eager to play. Although the band consisted of middle-aged men, the expression on their faces and look in their eyed made them no more than 18.

Pastel Black consisted of lead vocals and guitarist Bill Lanik, vocalist and guitarist Jim Humble, bassist and vocals Travis Norman and drummer and vocalist Adam Zanzig.

According to Lanik, the band got their name from the infamous film Spinal Tap. In the film, the group members claimed to have pastel black as their favorite even though pastel black isn’t even a color. Continuing with the theme, Pastel Black’s motto is “we go to 11,” referring to an amplification amount on a speaker that is inexistent.

Performing mostly covers, Pastel Black reminisced on their youth and “went back into their era” by performing hits by Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and of course, originals from the one and only Spinal Tap.

The expressions on the audience’s faces were of mutual enjoyment as most of them were able to share in the flash back and let loose.

As the set continued, there was no ignoring the pure enjoyment on the band’s faces. It was obvious they were absolutely thrilled to be their performing and sharing their passion with family, friends and even strangers, such as myself.

“We’ve been doing this a long time and we love it. We all have full time jobs, but this is something that we just love to do. Getting together and playing for everyone and having fun,” Lanik told the audience as they joked around about how old they were—in exception to Norman who was said to be young enough to be Lanik’s son.  

Although the set was short, Pastel Black made the most of every moment playing favorite songs and having fun. They were fun to watch and even more fun to listen to.