Scrap Arts Music salvages for the sake of song

The upcoming performance by Scrap Arts Music at the Lied Center comes with a warning: If you bring your children, they may start begging you for a drum set.

Take some old bike parts, salvaged sewage pipes, mixing bowls, and other recycled odds and ends, add five hyperactive young hipsters and a set of drumsticks and the result is Scrap Arts’ dizzying shower of beats. The five-member ensemble uses kinetic instruments built from recycled and salvaged materials, such as sewage pipe and artillery shells.

Transformed into Gong Arrays, Plankophones and Ziggurat Drums, these original creations developed by Scrap Arts co-founder/artistic director Gregory Kozak take the stage in a combination of new-world artifacts, transformable sculptures and whimsical music-makers. Kozak, who is an experienced composer of dance and is schooled in jazz improvisation and world music traditions, arranges and choreographs the repertoire.

The Vancouver-based ensemble, which is often compared to STOMP! and Blue Man Group — bounces around on stage with a combination of gymnastic agility and percussive drive. They alternate between hitting, moving and bowing their instruments, amid eye-catching choreography.

Scarp Arts was founded in 1998 by Kozak and Justine Murdy. The ensemble presented its first show during halftime of an NBA game in February 1999. In 2001, the company released its debut CD, and in February 2002, Scrap Arts Music was nominated in the “Best Live Performance” category for a West Coast Music Award by the Pacific Music Industry Assn.

Scrap Arts’ performance is part of the Lied Center’s family series.

Scrap Arts Music will perform 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lied Center as part of the venue's Family Series.

What: Scrap Arts Music.When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.Where: Lied Center.Tickets: Adults, $28 and $23; students and children, $14 and $11.50; seniors, $27 and $22; KU faculty and staff, $24 and $20.Ticket info: 864-ARTS.Other: Scrap Arts Music will conduct a workshop with Van Go Mobile Arts and give a mini-performance from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Hawks Nest in the Kansas Union. That performance is free.