Bull City Syndicate

Where do I start! I was actually the father of the groom and charged with providing the entertainment for the reception. I searched on-line for several months and narrowed my choices to a few bands. Then I decided a road trip was necessary in order to hear the bands live. We live in Southern West Virginia and made a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to hear Bull City Syndicate at a local night club. Within a few minutes we knew they were the one!! I signed my contract on the spot and wrote a check for the deposit. On the day of the wedding at Glade Springs Resort in West Virginia a transformer blew and left the building without power. Glade Springs was totally unprepared for this disaster. Therefore, I sprang into action and contacted one of my friends who was a licensed commercial electrician. RW Electric quickly arrived on the scene with a diesel powered 100,000 watt generator and Bobby and I began the long process of providing power to the kitchen and to the band. The Glade Springs Resort staff provided candle lighting on all the tables and that was about it. Bobby and I completed the temporary power just in time for me to get to the church in time for the wedding. Keep in mind the resort had no power to any of their hotel rooms, the parking lot, or any of the grounds area. After the wedding, the band played softly in the background during most of the cocktail and dinner time. Then they took of their handcuffs and kicked the doors down!!!! The dance floor could not contain all the people - guests of all ages were shaking and moving till they dropped!!! I personally wore out my 53 year old wife, 71 year old aunt, and several of the college age young ladies!!! And the band kept on playing and playing and playing. No we were not just a bunch of dumb uneducated drunk hillbillies either. The party was made up many of my sons Ivy League classmates who had never been to West Virginia before. There were stockbrokers, doctors, teachers, consultants, bankers, accountants, contractors, electricians, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Baptists, Catholics, and Jews. We all had an awesome time!!! I couldn't tell you how many people commented that it was the best reception they had ever attended!! Bull City Syndicate stole the show!! At the very end of the night they downloaded John Denver's County Roads and everyone gathered around the dance floor in a large group hug and sang the words "take me home to the place where I belong, West Virginia" What a night!!!! I enjoyed them so much I also have them booked for our high school 70's decade (1970-1979) reunion in June 2012!! They were the best part of the wedding!!!! P.S. Glade Springs Resort is highly overrated. They agreed to pay for the generator and labor for the temporary power but have yet to pay the invoice. Take my advice and spend the extra dollars and go to The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs.

We hired Cafe Mars, which is a subset of the larger band Bull City Syndicate. I have mixed feelings about their performance. The singer has a great voice and the band are all good musicians. They learned 2 new songs for us for our 1st dance and father-daughter dance. BUT they played the wrong kind of music. We wanted stuff that people would dance to (e.g. Twist and Shout), but they mostly played disco and songs that no one knew. At one point, we asked them to shift gears and play more stuff people could dance to. That helped a bit, but still people weren't inspired enough by the song choices to get out on the floor. Go ahead and hire them because they're a good band but don't make the same mistake we did of leaving the play list up to them. Tell them what you want!

By far the best band in the Triangle area. Steve Baker and BCC made our wedding a night to remember. They allowed us to choose our Yes and "Heck No" song lists, and were talked about all night long. They knew how to use our event space perfectly, and their sound was a perfect fit for our style and musical tastes. This talented group of musicians really made our wedding extraordinary!

Bull City Syndicate was awesome!! The energy they brought to the reception made the perfect dance party and a night to remember for everyone!!! I just wish they would have played a little longer...