Eclectic local band HABATAT vying for NPR Tiny Desk Concert slot

When HABATAT dragged a desk onstage at a recent concert, it wasn’t just an eclectic performance art prop.

The band, whose members hail from Greensburg and Johnstown, were getting ready to video a song for submission into NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert contest.

HABATAT was onstage at FUNKy FEST, an annual family campout/music weekend they host in June at Gibbon Glade in Fayette County.

Entering the contest was a last-minute thing, said Justin Banks, the band’s drummer and business manager.

Trombone player Mere Kae heard about the contest during the festival, and the band and video crew worked together quickly to get the submission ready.

“We got it in at 11:30 p.m. on the last night of submissions,” just before the midnight deadline, Banks said.

The song, “City Minute,” will be “the first single from our currently-being-recorded album,” Banks said.

“It’s about taking advantage of the time you have in your life,” he said. “Everyone goes through these life experiences, like birth, death, divorce, good things and bad. You need to stop and smell the roses. That’s what our festival is all about.”

Dozens of entries are in the process of being reviewed by a team of judges, including Tiny Desk creator Bob Boilen and producer Bobby Carter, performers and music journalists.

The winner will get a slot in the online series of bare-bones performances that Boilen started in 2008 in response to attending South by Southwest and being frustrated that he couldn’t hear the bands above the crowd noise.

The series features a wide range of artists, including pop performers Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato, indie acts like Fleet Foxes and The Flaming Lips, rappers Ty Dolla Sign and Gucci Mane, and classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The current contest is for artists from the United States who are not signed to a recording contract and do not have a commitment to a recording label. Song submissions must be original and cannot include samples.

Each act is allowed to submit one video of one song performed live.

Formed in 2012, HABATAT describes itself on Facebook as an “ever-blossoming psychedelic Jam/Funk/Rock outfit.”

“There’s about 120 years of live stage experience in the band,” Banks said.

Its seven current members are rooted in everything from church gospel to jazz to high school marching band music, he said.

“You can identify seven or eight different styles if you watch one of our shows,” he said. “We’re an eclectic bunch. That’s what makes it interesting.”

The band plays regional fairs and festivals, and bars and clubs in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. It was one of the bands featured in Westmoreland Cultural Trust’s VIP Experience online concert series.

They’ll be performing from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at Four Seasons Brewing in Latrobe.

All entries in the Tiny Desk Concert contest can be viewed at tinydeskconcert.npr.org.