Family-friendly duo Sugar Free Allstars getting funky with OKC Philharmonic: What to know

Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman
·6 min read

A decade after the first time he performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Chris "Boom!" Wiser can hardly believe that he's been able to play his funky jams with a full orchestra.

"We're playing on the same stage that we saw Bob Dylan two years ago," said Wiser, one-half of the "family funk super duo" Sugar Free Allstars. 

"If you had told us when we were still playing at The Deli — and The Deli is great — or at clubs like that, 'Hey, in about 20 years, you guys are gonna be playing the Civic Center with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic,' we'd be like, 'Uh, what? Nope. But it would be nice.' And it's happening — for the third time."

The Sugar Fee Allstars
The Sugar Fee Allstars

Back in 2006, Wiser and longtime musical partner Rob “Dr. Rock” Martin shifted their focus from making music aimed at adults to tailoring their funky-fresh rock 'n' roll stylings to children. As the Sugar Fee Allstars, they've emerged as repeat hitmakers on SiriusXM's Kids Place Live, been featured on the Grammy-winning children's album "All About Bullies ... Big And Small" and released last fall their first new music collection since their 2016 self-titled LP with an EP fittingly called "Extended Play."

Originally scheduled for January but postponed due to winter weather, the duo will perform their third "Funky Fresh & Sugar Free!" concert with the OKC Philharmonic at 2 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Civic Center. Shanti Simon, the director of bands at the University of Oklahoma, will conduct the Discovery Family Series Concert.

The Sugar Fee Allstars play the Norman Music Festival in April.
The Sugar Fee Allstars play the Norman Music Festival in April.

Wiser recently chatted with The Oklahoman about reuniting with the orchestra, preparing for the concert and helping families discover music they might not hear live otherwise:

Q: What are your thoughts on reuniting with the OKC Philharmonic?

Oh, it's gonna be awesome. ... The last time was in 2017; first time was in 2013. So, there's a good chance that not many, if any, of the children in attendance will have been born the first time we played a show with them, which is a fun thought.

This will definitely be the first time since the world shut down (for the COVID-19 pandemic), so it's gonna be exciting. And it's our first time to work with Dr. Shanti Simon ... and she's amazing. She goes by Dr. Jamz, so we'll have two doctors on the stage at this point: Dr. Rock and Dr. Jamz.

Q: How did you get started performing with the OKC Philharmonic?

Ben Folds did a show with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic ... in 2011, and Dr. Rock and I were both there. And later ... we really seriously talked about, 'How awesome would it be to play with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic? We know some people in the orchestra, I wonder if there's some way we can make that happen?'

Right around that same time, Kris Markes (now executive director of Oklahoma Youth Orchestras) and the other admins at the Phil were like, 'Sugar Free Allstars has a really good fan base. It would be awesome to have them play on a Discovery Family Series Concert and bring in some of their fans that might not have ever seen the orchestra before.' So, literally at the same time, both groups — us and them — were thinking the same thing. So, they reached out and we were like, 'Um, yes.'

Q: How has the response been to the new EP? Will you be performing any new songs with the orchestra?

Two songs that are on the EP were released as singles a year before, and the response was good. They both enjoyed some time on the SiriusXM Kids Place Live charts, and people have really responded well to the updated version of '6th Grade Band.' The video was hilarious.

'6th Grade Band' has always been a part of our orchestra show set, and we're adding 'I Like to Climb on Things.' This will be the first time we'll play it with them. Each time we play with the philharmonic, we rotate in a song.

Q: What's your favorite song to perform with the orchestra?

Boy, well, '6th Grade Band' is fun, because in the setup to it, we talk about, 'You don't just learn an instrument overnight. You have to start from the beginning and practice and work real hard, and everybody in the orchestra and Dr. Rock and I have all worked hard.' ...

Then, in the middle of that song, we have a 'Name That Tune' section, where we're like, 'Here's an example of some songs that, when you're learning an instrument, you would play.' You start out easy with 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and 'This is what you start with when you're first beginning an instrument. Then, it gets harder and harder.' So, the orchestra will play a little section, and everybody will shout out what the answer is. And it gets harder and harder and harder until we're doing classical orchestral pieces, and the amount of people that are answering gets smaller and smaller.

So, that one's always fun. Then 'Monster Truck' is a lot of fun, with the crashes and booms and explosions with an orchestra.'

Q: What does it take for you guys to get ready to play with the orchestra?

Do you remember the band Fellowship Students? So, Nathan Siler, their bass player, he's lived in New York for a while now, but he's the one that does all the orchestrations. ... His arrangements are awesome. Part of the reason it's so fun to play these songs with the orchestra is because his orchestrations aren't just transcriptions of the music. It's not like, 'Oh, well, take the organ part and put it here.' He's creating new parts. So, it's not like the orchestra is accompanying us. It's like we are all an ensemble, because they're playing some of the same parts, but then they have completely different parts, also. So it's always cool. ...

(In) our regular shows ... things can go all different directions. It's interesting to be like, 'OK, we have to listen to the recordings of our songs again to make sure we're playing them exactly right,' because there's no deviating here. ... All 40 of these people have music, and they're gonna follow the music. So, we've got to make sure that we're playing the parts to our own songs correctly.

Q: Do you hope your OKC Philharmonic show broadens horizons about what orchestral music is and what music can be?

Yeah, I would hope so. Part of our goal is to maybe instill a love of that sound. Some of these kids — I would be willing to bet many, many of the kids — that are going to come to the show have never seen an orchestra play live before.

So, hopefully, they can come in. because they want to see us, but then they're like, 'Whoa, this sound is amazing.' Then maybe, hopefully, they'll come back on their own, and they'll see another show.

SUGAR FREE ALLSTARS AND OKC PHILHARMONIC

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Sugar Free Allstars to play a sweet reunion with OKC Philharmonic