Don’t let the name fool you. The rock band No Commitment, returning as the headliner for the Medford fireworks on July 19 at Freedom Park, is as committed as it gets.
The Cherry Hill-based band had more than its share of schedule juggling to do when the nasty weather forecast caused the Medford Celebrates fireworks at Freedom Park to be rescheduled to July 19. Lead singer Zach Birnbaum, a former American Idol “Hollywood Week” contestant, left with his family on July 4 to attend a pre-college program in Boston that runs until early August. But before he made it to Boston, Zach carefully planned how he would leave the program to make it back to Jersey in time for the July 19 Medford show.
“We have put so much effort into stepping it up a notch for this year’s show that I couldn’t possibly think of missing out on it,” Birnbaum said.
To Birnbaum’s point, the band is out to top last year’s performance, which earned rave reviews from the Medford crowd. Last year, the band, which normally performs in a five-man format, added a four-piece horn section and additional singers. This year, not only is the horn section back, but the band added even more singers to provide more depth and diversity to the band’s sound. Back with the band this year is Seanna McCall, who dazzled the crowd last year with her rendition of “Make You Feel My Love.” The band has also added two new vocalists in Michela Hall and Chelsea Campbell. Campbell’s appearance was far from certain when the rain entered the July 3 forecast, but then she agreed to take a seven-hour bus ride each way from her college prep course in Virginia Beach to make it back for the July 19 rain date. “Chelsea adds a lot to our sound, so we are beyond excited that she will be able to join us on July 19,” Birnbaum said.
The band has also added even more singers to allow them to tackle more complicated vocal arrangements. According to Birnbaum, the additional vocalists will allow the band to cover some of music’s most influential groups, such as the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, and even Queen. Birnbaum said the reason for the extra effort was the Medford crowd: “The crowd in Medford was so great to us last year that we wanted to do something unique for them this year, so we added a small choir to help out on some really great vocal arrangements that we put together of some of our favorite songs. We hope the audience likes it as much as we do.”
Patrick Oberstaedt, the band’s lead guitarist and horn arranger, said that the band’s desire to do something special also extended to the “Assistant Managers of Rock ‘n Roll Horns.”
“The horn section this year is doing some new arrangements that we are really excited about,” he said. “Not only are we adding some classic songs by icons such as Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, but we are also adding some really cool songs by bands like Los Lonely Boys and Hewey Lewis that have some really great horn charts. I think people are going to love the new songs the horn section is playing this year.”
“You can watch the fireworks from various places, but you can’t match the excitement at Freedom Park. There is no place I would rather be on July 19 and we hope to have a huge crowd there to dance, sing and party with us,” Birnbaum said.
To see a preview of the band’s set, which they recently performed during a multi-night stand at Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, visit their website at www.nocommitmentband.com .
