barber mack
a long time ago, barber mack gtrist ron geida and i had a band without a singer. it didn't last very long, and we didn't gig very often. ron 'n' i got the idea after witnessing derek trucks playing with the allman bros. band, and the original intent was to play long 'n' let the grooves breathe. unfortunately, nobody seemed to believe in the concept, least of all the guys in the band. "we can't play out without a singer," the keyboard player, a wise and prudent man, insisted. "they'll _kill us_." (sure, bertha coolidge were doing it back then, but they were sophisto jazzcats, whereas we were _mostly_ just dumbass rawk 'n' blooze musos who'd grown tired of playing interminable versions of "cold shot" and "midnight hour.")
so i have to say i feel somewhat, um, _validated_ by the latter-day profusion of post-bertha instrumental bands here in the fort: first confusatron, then sleeplab (at least when crystal casey isn't up front), and a number of enterprises built around drummer josh clark, the latest of which is barber mack.
in fact, barber mack is the fruition of a coupla different strains that have run through the last few yrs of foat wuth music: the jazz strain (respect to cats like johnny case, joey carter, keith wingate, dave karnes and dave williams who've kept the fire burning); the instrumental / improv 'n' groove strain (lee allen, marcus lawyer); and the reggae strain (i remember a coupla yrs back, pablo and the hemphill 7 frontman joe vano was talking about reggae taking over the fort, and it damn near did, between his band and outfits like darth vato, sally majestic, the brokers, and kulcha far i -- a band that included future barber mack players ron and bassist-leader john shook).
kulcha far i is where shook and geida pulled it together and formed a tight little triad with drummer jeffrey williams. they brought varied experiences to the partay: ron the transplanted new englander had jazz training before playing in the civilians (whom i originally thought were a christian band but weren't), country rockers jasper stone (with whom he got to tour europe a coupla yrs back and with whom he still gigs), and a plethora of blues 'n' rock cover bands (sometimes several at a time); shook was a teenage bassplayer with bluesman hosea robinson and toured europe with kulcha frontguy chris hakata (for a cat who's only 24 now, he's been around). when shook got the idea of starting a band to play the music of jamaican jazz gtrist ernest ranglin and showcase underrated confusatron gtrist andrew skates, he first offered the drum chair to williams, who's been focused on developing his singer-songwriter chops since the wheels came off kulcha far i while the band was touring the u.s. last fall. jeffrey declined.
enter josh clark, a likable kid who hit the scene last spring and within six months had played with seemingly evabody: ph7, confusatron, the brokers, the wreck room's wednesday night jamcats. he formed a band, c.s.s. (since rechristened caffeine chemistry), with confusatron's skates brothers. he went on the road as kulcha's percussionist, then took off for four months to play on a caribbean cruise ship. he got back in town the beginning of april and barber mack played its first gig a month later.
onstage at the black dog last night, the barber mack boyzzz dug a li'l deeper into their trick bag than they had time to at their fredfest debut the previous weekend. (unfortunately, i had to cut out early as i was feeling the f/x of advanced sleep deprivation, but there'll be other times.) their music has a lope and ease that's redolent of the islands, but there's also a high level of musicianship that never deteriorates into technique-for-its-own-sake wankage. it's easier to hear andrew skates in this sparser soundscape than it's ever been in confusatron. he gets a clean, biting tone from his telecaster, and spins out jazz-inflected, vibrato-free lines that put me a little in mind of mike bloomfield in the prehistoric paul butterfield blues band. in contrast, geida's sound is warmer 'n' darker, replete with bluesy, beckoid bends, smears 'n' chromaticism and employing a few tasteful f/x. i've said before that jaco disciple shook's the best point-to-point bassplayer in the fort; he grooves hard and plays deft, staccato solo lines on his fretless fender.
to these feedback-scorched ears, the big news in this band is josh clark. sure, he doesn't swing like dave karnes, groove like damien stewart, or hit as hard as lotsa mofos whose names you could call, but he does appear to have come up with an approach to the trapset that's as original as, say, clay stinnett's is. josh mixes trip-hop beats with reggae one-drop, and does a good job of simulating spacey dub f/x on the natch. on my favorite toon in barber mack's set, he plays crazy timbale-sounding shit on his toms while around him, the gtrs weave chattering lines that interlock like a zairean soukous band's. his crisp, intelligent solos display as much musicality as they do force and velocity. clearly a young cat to watch. at this point, you can still hear him and shook feeling each other out, learning each other's riddim. mark me: in six months, these cats are gonna be devastating.
so i have to say i feel somewhat, um, _validated_ by the latter-day profusion of post-bertha instrumental bands here in the fort: first confusatron, then sleeplab (at least when crystal casey isn't up front), and a number of enterprises built around drummer josh clark, the latest of which is barber mack.
in fact, barber mack is the fruition of a coupla different strains that have run through the last few yrs of foat wuth music: the jazz strain (respect to cats like johnny case, joey carter, keith wingate, dave karnes and dave williams who've kept the fire burning); the instrumental / improv 'n' groove strain (lee allen, marcus lawyer); and the reggae strain (i remember a coupla yrs back, pablo and the hemphill 7 frontman joe vano was talking about reggae taking over the fort, and it damn near did, between his band and outfits like darth vato, sally majestic, the brokers, and kulcha far i -- a band that included future barber mack players ron and bassist-leader john shook).
kulcha far i is where shook and geida pulled it together and formed a tight little triad with drummer jeffrey williams. they brought varied experiences to the partay: ron the transplanted new englander had jazz training before playing in the civilians (whom i originally thought were a christian band but weren't), country rockers jasper stone (with whom he got to tour europe a coupla yrs back and with whom he still gigs), and a plethora of blues 'n' rock cover bands (sometimes several at a time); shook was a teenage bassplayer with bluesman hosea robinson and toured europe with kulcha frontguy chris hakata (for a cat who's only 24 now, he's been around). when shook got the idea of starting a band to play the music of jamaican jazz gtrist ernest ranglin and showcase underrated confusatron gtrist andrew skates, he first offered the drum chair to williams, who's been focused on developing his singer-songwriter chops since the wheels came off kulcha far i while the band was touring the u.s. last fall. jeffrey declined.
enter josh clark, a likable kid who hit the scene last spring and within six months had played with seemingly evabody: ph7, confusatron, the brokers, the wreck room's wednesday night jamcats. he formed a band, c.s.s. (since rechristened caffeine chemistry), with confusatron's skates brothers. he went on the road as kulcha's percussionist, then took off for four months to play on a caribbean cruise ship. he got back in town the beginning of april and barber mack played its first gig a month later.
onstage at the black dog last night, the barber mack boyzzz dug a li'l deeper into their trick bag than they had time to at their fredfest debut the previous weekend. (unfortunately, i had to cut out early as i was feeling the f/x of advanced sleep deprivation, but there'll be other times.) their music has a lope and ease that's redolent of the islands, but there's also a high level of musicianship that never deteriorates into technique-for-its-own-sake wankage. it's easier to hear andrew skates in this sparser soundscape than it's ever been in confusatron. he gets a clean, biting tone from his telecaster, and spins out jazz-inflected, vibrato-free lines that put me a little in mind of mike bloomfield in the prehistoric paul butterfield blues band. in contrast, geida's sound is warmer 'n' darker, replete with bluesy, beckoid bends, smears 'n' chromaticism and employing a few tasteful f/x. i've said before that jaco disciple shook's the best point-to-point bassplayer in the fort; he grooves hard and plays deft, staccato solo lines on his fretless fender.
to these feedback-scorched ears, the big news in this band is josh clark. sure, he doesn't swing like dave karnes, groove like damien stewart, or hit as hard as lotsa mofos whose names you could call, but he does appear to have come up with an approach to the trapset that's as original as, say, clay stinnett's is. josh mixes trip-hop beats with reggae one-drop, and does a good job of simulating spacey dub f/x on the natch. on my favorite toon in barber mack's set, he plays crazy timbale-sounding shit on his toms while around him, the gtrs weave chattering lines that interlock like a zairean soukous band's. his crisp, intelligent solos display as much musicality as they do force and velocity. clearly a young cat to watch. at this point, you can still hear him and shook feeling each other out, learning each other's riddim. mark me: in six months, these cats are gonna be devastating.
posted by stashdauber at 7:13 PM
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