Two Wrongs Make A Band?

They call themselves The Wrong Men. But they agree their music is exactly right for this time and place.

The musicians making up the band, which debuts June 4 at Meteor Guitar Gallery in Bentonville, aren't new to the Northwest Arkansas music scene. Far from it, in fact. Bassist Eric Halsell was part of the extremely successful Southern metal band Wrought; frontman Matt Yeager was one of the founders of Phoenix-based Vessels of Wrath; Jeromy Weldon has drummed with WAKE and Chemical Discipline; "mad scientist" Brian Spence played guitar with Day I Die and FFOC; and "the best guitarist in Arkansas," Pat Pathoumthong, is a founding member of Everclear and a staple with party band Ultra Suede.

That begs an obvious question -- or two. Why are these musicians together? And what in the world are they doing?

The answer is equally puzzling -- until it's explained. The Wrong Men is a cover band ... a '90s cover band ...

"We get to play music we grew up with," Yeager says simply.

"It's not about the money, but we've all been in bands that made no money," Halsell adds. "So why not play music that's fun with a band of cats who know what they're doing -- and play for people who want to hear what we play?"

The concept, says Halsell, who is a sound man and promoter by day, started in his garage in 2003. It was intended as a side project to share with Yeager, who was still fronting VOW, and it was all about genre bending -- playing a country song as metal, for example.

"What was supposed to happen became Wrought instead," Halsell says. And with that band's success, The Wrong Men -- already named to mean "the wrong men for this song" -- was shelved.

"We're not 'wronging up' a lot of songs yet," he says of the new band. "Right now, we're in the main staying true to the original arrangements."

But that doesn't mean The Wrong Men will be a cliche cover band. With songs in its repertoire like "Meantime" by Spacehog, "Low" by Cracker, "Prison Sex" by Tool, "Got You (Where I Want You)" by The Flys, "Hashpipe" by Weezer and "Creep" by Radiohead, Yeager says audiences can count on something "a little louder" and Halsell adds "and a lot hotter."

"The majority of what we do is alt-rock," Halsell reminds. "The hard stuff we do is really selective."

With two 45-minute sets ready to go, the band now has to consider a couple of things. If its audience is itself -- children of the 1990s -- then where are those listeners found?

"Everywhere," Halsell says. "But our ultimate goal is casinos, festivals" -- like First Friday in Bentonville, where The Wrong Men will appear in July -- and, of course, George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville and Meteor Guitar Gallery in Bentonville.

"We can't play the small stage stuff," he explains. "We're a full five-piece band."

He does hope for private parties and "daring weddings," but he knows the band will have to travel to find its place. The first tour ring, he describes, is Eureka Springs, Fort Smith and Joplin, Mo.; the second Springfield, Mo., Kansas City, Lawrence, Kan., Tulsa, Okla., and Little Rock; and the third ring would be Memphis, Tenn., Dallas and Oklahoma City.

That's going well, too. The Wrong Men has been booked for the grand reopening of the restored 1926 Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, Kan. -- two nights, Yeager says proudly, Aug. 27-28.

"It'll be fun -- that's the whole reason we're doing it," Halsell says.

And maybe to prove they're the right men, after all.

NAN What's Up on 05/27/2016