Local band is at your Service

One of Philly’s leading prog rockers has a secret that perhaps even his most devoted listeners aren’t privy to: Justin Hallman’s band, Do You Need The Service?, is not a prog rock band.

“I don’t want the only people who like this band to be musicians. And that’s pretty much the only people who like prog rock,” says Hallman, sitting in a Kensington bar with a shot of whiskey and a can of Budweiser. “It’s important for us to make it interesting and simple — not self-indulgent. I want there to be catchy melodies. I want there to be repetition. I want it to be accessible.”

This weekend the band headlines Johnny Brenda’s and, as usual, they promise a spectacle. DYNTS? is fighting the notion that instrumental rock is pretentious at each and every show. The four-piece always wears costumes to their gigs — from ’70s tennis outfits to British postal worker uniforms — and while this week’s theme is tightly under wraps, Hallman does promise DYNTS?’s first light show.

“For me, it’s not just the music that’s important either. You’ve got to do something that’s fun to watch,” says Hallman. “People leave a show by seeing something and feeling a certain way. So we don’t put a lot of pretentious obligation on the music. We bust our ass on it, and we think it’s good.”